Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, is a significant religious holiday in

Samaritanism Samaritanism (; ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic ethnic religion. It comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Samaritan people, who originate from the Hebrews and Israelites and began to emerge as a relative ...

, commemorating the

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

exodus from Egypt The Exodus (Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yəṣīʾat Mīṣrayīm'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four of the five books of the Pentateuch (specifically, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuterono ...

and their liberation from slavery. The Samaritan Passover is celebrated every spring with a pilgrimage to and sheep sacrifice atop

Mount Gerizim Mount Gerizim ( ; ; ; , or ) is one of two mountains in the immediate vicinity of the State of Palestine, Palestinian city of Nablus and the biblical city of Shechem. It forms the southern side of the valley in which Nablus is situated, the nor ...

, the holiest site in the Samaritan religion. This ritual is a direct observance of the commandments found in Exodus 12, and it involves the slaughtering of sheep, dabbing the animals' blood on the participants' foreheads, and roasting the meat for the Passover meal.

Observances

Samaritans observe Passover with a pilgrimage to Mount Gerizim, their holiest site, where a central sacrificial ceremony takes place. This practice directly follows the instructions outlined in Exodus 12, involving the slaughtering of sheep, marking participants' foreheads with the animal's blood, and roasting the meat for a communal feast. The sacrifice and blood-smearing symbolize the Israelites' marking of their doorposts in Exodus to protect against the Angel of Death. Following the sacrifice, the roasted sheep meat is consumed with unleavened bread (

matzah Matzah, matzo, or maẓẓah ('','' : matzot or Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashk. matzos) is an Unleavened bread, unleavened flatbread that is part of Jewish cuisine and forms an integral element of the Passover festival, during which ''chametz'' (lea ...

) and bitter herbs, mirroring the instructions in the Torah. Samaritans prepare and consume homemade matzah, a thin, pancake-like bread, differing from the flat matzah crackers commonly used by Jews. This celebratory meal takes place at midnight, accompanied by prayers and chants. The

animal sacrifice Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spread of Chris ...

during Passover is a unique practice among contemporary Western religions, with the Samaritans being one of the few remaining groups to observe it. This practice distinguishes Samaritan Passover from its Jewish counterpart, where animal sacrifices are no longer performed.

Calendar

Samaritan Passovers are each one day long, followed by the six-day Festival of Unleavened Bread – for a total of seven days. Due to variations in their respective calendars, Samaritan Passover often falls approximately a month later than the Jewish Passover.Tour to the Samaritan Passover Sacrifice 2018 - Israel Tour Guide
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References

{{Samaritans, state=expanded Samaritan culture and history Spring (season) in Israel Mount Gerizim

Observances

Calendar

See also

References