Passover

The term Pasqua derives from the Latin transcription of Easter (Pascha) of the Hebrew word Pesach (in Aramaic Pasha). Passover is composed of two major celebrations: the immolation of the firstborn lamb (a propitiatory feast celebrated by the shepherds who, with protective intent, sprinkled the other animals and their huts with the blood of the sacrificial animals) and the custom of unleavened bread (the ceremony consisting in the spring agrarian ritual consumption of unleavened bread). The two holidays, respectively named Pasha (a term that exemplifies the rite of seasonal passage and that literally means “pass over”) and Hag hamatzot (the feast of unleavened bread), were brought together when they become sedentary tribes: this brought about the recurrence of Pasha-Hag hamatzot.