I really enjoyed our Family Passover Seder this year. Even though I tried to keep it pretty simple, the whole process did seem to take the good part of my day. There are moments when I'm preparing for a special family time when I wonder if I'm off my rocker for going to the trouble. But it was definitely worth it! We aren't authentic or even thorough in all of the traditions surrounding this Seder. I have focused on just having a special family time, explaining the basic elements of the Seder Plate and remembering the meaning of the season. But I feel like it is growing on us...the kids seemed to understand even more this year.
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| One night we made "Lent Pretzels"....they are to reminded us of our arms folded in prayer... |
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| Loved this craft they brought home from church for Palm Sunday |
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| I was disappointed that when I ordered my Passover serving set from Dayspring the Seder plate (which I paid for!) was out of stock. So I just improvise with my own dishes and use a custard bowl for each Element of the plate. |
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| My mom got us these adorable individual kid seder plates...the picture isn't clear, but each section is marked with a picture of the element and its Hebrew & English name. |
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As we were preparing the meal, the kids and I reviewed the meanings of the season, the meal and the elements. We talked about the deliverance of the Hebrew children and how it corresponds to our deliverance from the bondage of sin. We talked about the difference between "leavened" and "unleavened" bread....that yeast represents sin in the Bible, and that the Hebrew children had to prepare and eat the passover meal in a hurry! (I did totally cheat on the meal. I included leavened bread and other non-passover things simply because I wanted to include things the family loved for the special meal.
Before we ate, the kids preformed their own depiction of the Passover through a skit they made up.
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| Daddy & Corin sharing a moment as we sat to watch the kids' Passover skit. |
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| The kids decided to do their skit in pantomime - a couple of times they had to interpret, but it was generally very clear and neat the things they came up with. First they busied themselves for the Passover.... |
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| I loved their creativity in putting together costumes at the spur of the moment....This headdress doubles as Corin's favorite "blankie" |
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| This one needs some explaining....This is their horse and cart, all loaded up and ready for the big Exodus! |
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| Kayla was in charge of slaughtering the family lamb. She laid the lamb on the ottoman, used a comb as the instrument of death, then quickly threw Corin's red blankie over the lamb to represent the shed blood |
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| They spread the "blood" on the doorposts with a palm branch (representing hyssop) |
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| And Caiden shimmied up the doorposts and hung a cross on a nail in the corner of the door |
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| David and I had no idea what to expect from their skit, and this was an especially touching moment....getting to watch them make the emphasis on the cross and the shed blood in their own unique way. It was awesome. |
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| Karissa prepared a salad for their meal (Out of Easter grass) The small ball is a beanbag matzo ball that came with one of our Passover kits. |
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| I think here they're leading the horse as they escape from Egypt |
After the skit, we headed back into the kitchen for our meal.
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| We did something a little different this year...each of the kids was in charge of presenting & explaining one element of the Seder plate or meal. |
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| Charoset is an apple/nut mixture that represents the bricks the Hebrews had to make. My family is nuts, but they're not big on eating them....so I made my own version: Chopped apples, peanut butter (nuts!) mini marshmallows, honey or syrup, maybe cinnamon....and I can't remember what else. But it was yummy! And it still looked mortar-ish. Like I said, we kinda do our own thing. : ) |
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| Kayla explains the significance of the hard boiled egg (we use the idea of Pharaoh's hardened heart) |
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| Karissa explains the meaning of the parsley ("Karpas") and dips it in salt water (representing tears). We also improvised and dipped the parsley in ketchup (as a visual symbol that they dipped the hyssop in blood to apply it to the doorposts.) |
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| Caiden was in charge of explaining the Matza (I had to use crackers this year because I didn't make it to the right store to get real Matza). The holes poked in the Matza represent Jesus' pierced side. |
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| We had pumpkin pie for dessert. Has nothing whatsoever to do with Passover and isn't even really appropriate, but David loves it and it's a special dessert for us. |
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| After the meal, we played a Passover card game |
"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."
Here are a few interesting videos explaining some of a Passover Seder. Obviously, these are more Jewish in their orientation. Our focus is obviously Messianic....There is also a helpful but longish "Christian Passover Seder" video here. (And we use Welch's Grape Juice, by the way!)
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