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What was Jesus doing in Jerusalem in the first place, though? In the times when the Jerusalem Temple still stood (it was demolished in 70 CE), Jews were obligated to make a pilgrimage there at least once a year, for one of three holidays: Passover (''Pesah''), the Feast of Weeks (''Shavuot'') or the Feast of Booths (''Sukkot''). As a pious Jew, Jesus never failed to fulfil this obligation, even though he knew he wasn’t as safe in Jerusalem as he was in his native Galilee. Eventually, during one of these pilgrimages, he ended up being charged with blasphemy, sentenced to death and executed by crucifixion; it all happened on the first day of Passover.
I’ve [[Eat Bread with Joy, Drink Wine with a Merry Heart#Annual Holidays|already written]] about how Passover combines an ancient pastoral festival of lambing ewes and a an ancient agricultural festival of new barley. I’ve also written about how this combination was later associated with the Biblical story of of the Jews’ supposed escape from slavery in Egypt. But I haven’t yet written about how Jews celebrate the eve of the first day of this seven or eight-day long holiday. On that night, “different from all other nights”, Jews gather at a ceremonial supper called ''seder''. It features seven traditional foods, each charged with some symbolic meaning, of course.
{{Video|url=https://vimeo.com/202227066|szer=400|poz=right|opis=The seven seder dishes<br>{{small|By Nina Paley}}}}
