Thursday, April 21, 2011

Maundy Thursday Seder

Tonight I organized my first Christian Seder. It was about a third as long as the ones my father led when I was a kid. And there was no Hebrew. (The length I didn't miss so much; the Hebrew I did.) The kids didn't love the experience but behaved fairly well. (They would have revolted during my dad's longer prayers.)

Both girls agreed that their favorite parts were the sparkling red grape juice and the haroset. Parsley dipped in salt water was distinctly unpleasant for both and Ada detested the bitter herb though Ellie didn't even blink as she took her required tastes. Spilling drips of "wine" as we named the plagues was also pretty fun. And the eggs were a hit with all though the matzos were surprisingly unpopular and neither child was interested in searching for the afikoman.

Paul had never attended a Seder of any kind (since there was a script this one wasn't too hard for him to lead) but thought it was "neat" and was glad we did it. Me, too!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now I'm confused.

Sarahlynn said...

Me, too. In many (most? all?) Christian traditions Passover gets a bit overshadowed by Easter but it's still a significant holiday and my father was insistent that we observe it respectfully. He's actually a . . . not "ecumenical" because that's pretty much just Christian but he's more a . . . dabbler in many different world religions, perhaps?

Anyway, I think the idea of a Maundy Thursday Seder is that Jesus sat down to a Seder meal with his disciples as The Last Supper so it fits nicely into the holy week narrative. But I figure it was the dad part that was confusing. That's just the tip of the iceberg with my experience of religion.