Ever wonder why we eat ham and hot cross buns at Easter, and matzoh at Passover? We explain where the traditions came from.
by Deborah TukuaUpdated: November 8, 2023
‘Tis the season forEaster and Passover. While there are many celebrations, customs, and religious observations that occur this week, there are also many traditional foods that are served and consumed. Ever wonder why we eat certain Passover and Easter foods during these holidays?
Traditional Foods Eaten at Passover
Some of the traditional foods served during Passover include:
Matzoh – Three unleavened pieces of matzohs are placed in folded napkins as a reminder of how quickly the Israelites had to flee Egypt, leaving no time for the dough to rise.
Horseradish is served to symbolize the bitterness of slavery.
A mixture of apples, nuts, wine, and cinnamon—referred to as Charoses—is another food eaten during Passover and is supposed to remind people of the mortar used by the Jewish slaves when they constructed buildings.
Roasted lamb shank bone, referred to as Zeroah, represents the paschal offering.
A bowl of vegetables, usually celery, called Karpas, is another traditional food that represents hope and redemption.
Easter Food Traditions
Christians celebrate Easter with some traditional foods but seem to have more regional and family favorites rather than religiously dictated foods.
Ham is often served at the Easter table, which may seem odd since Jesus was Jewish and wouldn’t have eaten pork. It seems that this holiday food comes more from the timing of Easter rather than a religious meaning. Years ago, hams served during the Easter holiday were from meat that was originally slaughtered in the fall and cured throughout winter months. Since the holiday of Easter falls in spring, this celebration was cause to use the last of the winter-cured meats.
Eggs are a big part of the Easter tradition. Eggs are traditionally connected with rebirth, rejuvenation, and immortality. Since Easter is celebrated as the resurrection of Jesus and is observed in the spring (a time when flowers, grass, and other vegetation is born again), there’s an obvious connection with this food that reminds people of rebirth. Another reason may be that eggs during early Christian days were forbidden during Lent. So after the 40 days of not eating them, Easter was a welcomed day to eat eggs once again.
Hot Cross Buns —Bread is a big part of many religious traditions and ceremonies, but the origin of hot cross buns predates Christianity in Europe. Supposedly the buns were made to celebrate the spring equinox in pagan societies, and have since been served during the Easter season.
What other traditional foods do you eat/serve on either Easter or Passover? Tell us in the comments below.
Deborah Tukua
Deborah Tukua is a natural living, healthy lifestyle writer and author of 7 non-fiction books, includingPearls of Garden Wisdom: Time-Saving Tips and Techniques from a Country Home, Pearls of Country Wisdom: Hints from a Small Town on Keeping Garden and Home, and Naturally Sweet Blender Treats.Tukua has been a writer for the Farmers' Almanac since 2004.
According to the Torah, we are supposed to eat matzo and abstain from eating wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and oats for the eight days of Passover. The category of foods called kitniyot (corn, rice, and beans) have also been off limits for many Ashkenazi families.
These two religious celebrations are inherently connected due to the fact that Jesus and the Twelve Apostles were celebrating the final day of Passover on Holy Thursday. This is when Jesus instituted the Eucharist.
Leavened and fermented grain products are prohibited to commemorate our freedom from Egyptian slavery. When the Jews escaped Egypt (led by Moses), they didn't have time to let their breads rise before going into the desert. Because of this, any type of leavened bread or bread product is prohibited during Passover.
Easter arose as a celebration of the resurrection of Christ, and many of the foods we eat during the Easter holiday can be traced back to traditions that began hundreds of years ago. Hot Cross Buns – Traditionally eaten on Good Friday to mark the end of Lent, which involves 40 days of fasting.
Passover is often celebrated with great pomp and ceremony, especially on the first night, when a special family meal called the seder is held. At the seder, foods of symbolic significance commemorating the Hebrews' liberation are eaten, and prayers and traditional recitations are performed.
If the Last Supper was a Passover dinner, held by Jews then as now to commemorate the exodus from Egypt, the meal would have likely included lamb. Scripture provides us with another clue: unleavened bread and wine were also on the menu.
History reveals the combination of the Greco-Roman government, implemented by the ecclesiastical authority of the Popes and Catholic Councils over the centuries, replaced Passover with Easter.
When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."
John records three Passovers during Jesus' ministry—the first at its beginning (2:13), when he was baptized by John the Baptist, who had begun his own ministry in AD 29 (Luke 3:1); a second midway through, while Jesus was ministering in Galilee (6:4); and the last just before Jesus' death, when he and his disciples ...
The tradition goes back to the 13th century, when custom dictated a prohibition against wheat, barley, oats, rice, rye and spelt, Rabbi Amy Levin said on NPR in 2016.
This group of foods—which includes rice, beans, corn and peanuts—was originally banned because the items were often mixed with wheat, which Jews refrain from eating during Passover except in the form of an unleavened flatbread called matzah, David Holzel reports for the Times of Israel.
During Passover, Jews move culinary mountains with matzo: cheesy lasagna with layers of the unleavened bread instead of noodles; peanut and caramel brittle; homemade pasta; and even pizza.
Aside from simple meals of bread and locally caught fish, local experts believe that Jesus also ate olives. Local experts believe that Jesus drank wine with his meals. “Only bread and wine are mentioned (in the Bible) — a simple meal, for simple folk who have been traveling, do not have a lot of money ... .”
Another reason explains that we avoid eating meat during Holy Week to start the reflection process by remembering Jesus' sacrifice for all creations on Earth.
Easter Sunday marks Jesus's resurrection. After Jesus was crucified on the Friday his body was taken down from the cross and buried in a cave tomb. The tomb was guarded by Roman soldiers and an enormous stone was put over the entrance. On Sunday Mary Magdalene and some of Jesus's disciples visited the tomb.
During the 8 days of Passover Jewish people cannot eat anything leavened or fermented. Some branches of Judaism also avoid legumes (e.g. beans, soy, rice and corn). Apart from fresh food, everything else is sanctified for eating during Passover and carries a special label.
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