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Passover is a holiday celebrated long before Easter became a holiday. It celebrates the exodus of the Israelites out slavery in Egypt and the deliverance through the hand of god into a life of freedom under the leadership of Moses.

Easter is the celebration and commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus, the events that lead up to this, but most importantly for Christians, the resurrection, and through the resurrection proof to his followers that his is the Messiah.

It is through his resurrection that Christians believe in salvation.

On the surface there does not seem to be any similarity, but a closer look will reveal the strong connection.

Let's take a look at the background to Easter. Jesus (no offense intended to anyone) was born, lived and died as a Jew. His teachings were predominantly aimed at his fellow citizens. All his teachings are based on his Jewish background. He had been teaching for approximately three years before the final journey to Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, like so many tens of thousands of other Jews from Judea, Galilee and the diaspora.

Passover also coincides with the first harvest of the year, the barley. This was the time when Jews came to Jerusalem bearing the tithe of the first harvest. As such the holiday was also seen as the beginning of the new year of harvest, falling of course within spring.

The meal that has become known in the Christian world as The Last Supper was actually the first meal of the Passover holiday, known as the Seder Meal. During this meal Jews recount the story of the exodus, but are told in one of the first lines of Hagada (The Story) to see themselves as having been personally delivered from slavery.

The food eaten during this meal bear great symbolic importance. The bitter herbs to remind of the bitter years of slavery, matzo (the unleavened bread) to remind that they did not have time to yeast their bread before the exodus, the shank bone of the lamb slaughtered before the holiday and to be eaten during the Seder meal a reminder of the lamb slaughtered before the tenth plague, and others.

It is really only the first day of the holiday that was known as Passover reminding Jews how god passed over the homes painted with the blood of the slaughtered lamb. The rest of the holiday was known as The Feast of the Unleavened Bread.

Many of the events leading up to The Last Supper clearly show that this meal was the Seder Meal, such as the disciples asking and being told about the room prepared - that is it had been cleaned according to biblical injunctions. Jews thoroughly clean their homes prior to Passover to remove all vestiges of yeast foods.

Events and teachings by Jesus again show that they were partaking in the Seder Meal. Jews are supposed to drink four glasses of wine during the meal. All Jewish meals start with the breaking of bread and on holidays with the blessing of wine. Jesus refers to both during The Last Supper with reference to his body and his blood.

It was common for Jews at the time to use a triclinium style sitting. The triclinium was a horse shoe shaped low table, where you reclined on couches on the outer sides.* Jews still till today talk about that in the Hagada. This style of seating was considered symbolic of freedom, of being free men. It was the common Roman style for the rich and free citizens, and adopted by other peoples under Roman rule. The daily style of seating were either on low stools or squatting. *

The Passover holiday was at the time the holiday where the Jewish yearning for the coming of the messiah is strongest, symbolized through the glass of wine place for Elijah, who is believed to appear as a messenger of the coming of the messiah.

The events following Passover (the first evening) have no relationship to the Jewish traditions. The trial, the judgement and the crucifixion itself were Roman.

* When Da Vinci painted his magnificent painting "The Last Supper" he used table style sitting as was the norm for his days. He did not know of the triclinium style seating.
* Tables and chairs as we know them today had not yet been invented.

Learn more about this author, Birte Edwards.
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