It’s the Jewish festival of Passover (aka Pesach).
You know the story. Israelites don’t want to be Egyptian slaves anymore. Pharaoh says “nah”. Moses asks nicely. Pharaoh says “nah”. Moses chats to the Big Fellow, organises the ten plagues to convince the stubborn pharaoh chop to “let my people go!” He relents when all the Egyptian firstborn’s land up dead. Moses and the Israelites gap it, cross over the Red Sea through parted waters. The chasing “we changed our minds, we want you back” Egyptians get super moist by the closing waters. The GPS-less Israelites wander around the desert for the traditional 40 days and 40 nights, before settling on a piece of land that subsequently becomes one of the most contested pieces of the planet for the next thousands of years.
Pesach observes the passing over of the homes of the first born, the exodus from Egypt, and the subsequent establishment of Israel as the land of “milk and honey”. It’s a pretty big deal in the Jewish faith.
The wine is used to symbolise the fact that the Israelites could eventually eat and drink like nobility in their new found freedom. You drink four cups of wine through the course of a Pesach Seder.
I would assume it is a kosher wine, just curious @GregRedd since I now work for a company with a lot of Jewish people. Some who are very strict Kosher - how strict are you and your family?
Not strict at all. We’re a very modern hybrid family. My Jewish wife took care of that when she agreed to marry me, a very unreligious, very lapsed Catholic.
We observe the high holy days and a few of the minor festivals, try do Friday night dinner as regularly as possible, and follow Jewish customs and traditions. But we’re not an overly religious household at all.
We also mark the major Christian celebrations for my and @Pamar’s sides of the families. My mom was born on Christmas Day and is named Nöelette, so that’s been a big part of things all my life too.
