Passover commemorated the night when God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. In the first century it joined family remembrance, a special meal, sacrifice, and pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
The festival was followed by the days of Unleavened Bread, and the entire season could simply be referred to as Passover.
The festival originated in the Exodus tradition. During the Second Temple period, the Passover sacrifice was associated with the Jerusalem Temple, drawing large numbers of pilgrims to the city.
Families had to prepare for the festival, obtain food, remove leaven, arrange the meal, and, for pilgrims, plan the journey to Jerusalem and find lodging. Passover therefore involved considerable practical preparation as well as worship.
Archaeology in Jerusalem reveals the roads, ritual baths, residential areas, cooking facilities, vessels, animal remains, and other infrastructure of a city that regularly received pilgrims. Such evidence helps reconstruct the physical setting of Passover even when individual remains cannot be assigned to a particular celebration.
Exodus 12 provides the foundational Passover account. Josephus and Philo describe Passover in the Second Temple period, while all four Gospels place the final days of Jesus' earthly ministry within Passover season.
Passover recalled the Exodus, the blood of the lamb, Israel's deliverance from slavery, and the beginning of the nation's journey from Egypt.
Passover forms the setting for the Last Supper, the arrest of Jesus, His trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. The festival background is therefore fundamental to the Gospel passion narratives.
Passover was a major Jewish festival associated with remembrance of the Exodus, sacrifice, a shared meal, unleavened bread, and pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Some features of later Passover seders developed after the first century, so the Last Supper should not simply be imagined as identical to a modern seder.
Understanding first-century Passover illuminates both Jewish family life and the setting in which the central events of the Christian Gospel occurred.