Seder

Max and David, two teachers at school, are both of Jewish descent. Tuesday night, Max and Lori invited us all over for a Seder, the celebration in honor of Passover and the exodus of the Jews out of Egypt. Nineteen of us sat at the table set with wine and unleavened matza bread to begin the ceremony. Max had printed the instructions and prayers so all of us could follow along and participate in the recital. It was very interesting to learn about the history in a different light from a different culture, for example the meaning of the unleavened bread. What was the symbolism behind it? It turns out that there is a very simple explanation. When the Jews fled Egypt, there wasn’t time to allow the bread to rise because they had to leave so quickly. I then asked what the reason is behind the unleavened bread or wafers in Christianity. One person said that it represents the body of Christ, which I knew, but why unleavened? Then the resounding voices of the multitude proclaimed. At the Last Supper, Jesus and His disciples were celebrating Passover. Ahh, it all makes sense now. I don’t remember learning that in bible school. I always thought that the last supper was wholly a Christian tradition. It is amazing what you can glean by experiencing a larger community of customs. Then began the delicious meal, as authentic as you can get in Honduras. It was prepared by Max, Lori, David and Sarah and included authentic Mexican-Jewish tamales prepared by the Rangels,. We ate until our bellies were full, washed it down with a bit of wine (we drank four glasses of wine as part of the ceremony) and sat down to a nice discussion about religion over dessert. We learned much from Max about the topic of the Gaza strip conflict and its causes. Max has some very good insight on the subject and presents it in a non-judgmental manner. He is sympathetic to the struggle of both sides. We said our thank yous and went home for a good night sleep.

Thursday afternoon we will be helping with the construction of the sawdust alfombras (carpets). We will begin at five p.m. and work through the night to finish them for the next morning. I will have more to share later. We have also been invited by our Spanish teacher Nellie to join their gathering at the river on Saturday for food and activities. It appears that all of the festivities will commence on Friday. There's no school on Monday to culminate our holiday week, so we don't know if we'll be celebrating until Monday or if that is a day of rest after all of the Semana Santa activities. More to come.