Cultural Weekend

Jake and I got to go to a Passover Service at BYU. A Professor named Dr. Ludlow is over Ancient Studies, and has been doing this passover service for students, families and friends for about 17 years I think he said? That’s a long time! Since I got the chance to study Orthodox Jews in my Religion of the World class, this was really neat for me! They gave us a pamphlet that had a list of all the nights festivities that were going to take place. This is me sitting with aw, that mine had a blue star on the top of my program, and didn’t see anyone elses with a blue star on it.These were are neat programs. We found out that the blue star meant that I needed to read a passage out of the program out loud to the whole group. Good thing Jake is great at that kind of thing, I passed my program off to him 🙂 To start the passover off, Dr. Ludlow reviewed what would be happening that night, and talked about how a passover is held in many Jewish households. We recited (1) The Kiddush, (2) Washing of Hands,
(3) Greens Eaten. You take a piece of greens (lettuce, parsley, or watercress) and dip it into salt water and say, “Praised be Thou, O Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the earth.” The salt water is supposed to represent the tears of the Jewish captive slaves in Egypt. (4) The Afikomen. “The leader breaks the middle matzah in two, leaving the smaller piece between the two whole ones. The other half, the Afikomen, is hidden and will be eaten at the end of the meal.” By hidden, the piece of Matzah is put in a napkin and passed around the table underneath peoples laps. You never want to get the Matzah back to the leader. The leader is the Eldest male at the table, and he is charge of leading the whole service, leading and reading. (5) The Passover Story Recited. If you are hungry, eat a light snack before the service because reading the story takes quite a bit of time. It was neat to finally find out the whole purpose of passover about the slaves being delivered out of Egypt and waiting for the prophet Elijah. (I have learned threw the years though, Elijah has already come to Joseph Smith, in the Navou temple, to restore some keys…..But I would say, Passover is still a really cool tradition, something to learn from, and a way to thank God, and prepare for Easter, and what the true meaning of Easter is.) You then do “Dayenu”, go over the passover symbols and (6) The Hands Washed. (the ” marks means I am quoting what was written in my pamphlet..put together by Dr. Victor Ludlow.) “The celebrants wash their hands for the matzah and the meal and recite the following benediction: Praised art Thou, O Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe, Who sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.” (7)The Blessings over the Matzah. “A piece of matzah is distributed to each celebrant.” Then you recite another phrase again. Next, was an intense part of the meal.
(8) The Bitter Herbs. On the left, the white stuff is bitter herbs. The right top is what you make a (9) Hillel Sandwich-a reminder of the temple days, sandwich from, and bottom right is the Matzah. So, you start off with a third of your bitter herbs on your spoon and eat it!Next, you eat a piece of the bitter herbs with an apple, fruit concoction. The original sweet and sour. You would think that the sweet apple sauce would make up for the bitter herbs. False, it does not.Yes I know, really attractive picture right? Thank you…Jake caught this picture as I toke my first bite of bitter herbs. Oh yuck. I give people that do this year after year major props.

(10) Passover meal is served. Wahoo! dinner time! The meal was a chicken with potatoes. It was yummy. This was fun during this time because we actually got to talk to our table and get to know the people at it. It was really fun! We had two girls that were from Brazil going to BYU, a couple from Idaho and 2 of their family members. During this time, we kept passing around the Afikomen. Who ever ends up with the Afikomen at the end of the Passover service meal, the leader has to “pay a price” to get that piece of Matzah back. This could be money, favors, trips to Hawaii, ext.A yummy bread was served. You were supposed to rip the bread off with your hands and not cut it to symbolize partaking. I dont remember partaking of what though…I need to look that up.For dessert we had a strawberry shortcake deal. I remember my religion teacher saying that that could be a traditional dessert. After the meal the (11) The Afikomen, is reviled. “At the meal’s conclusion, the children are given an opportunity to bring forth the concealed Afikomen. After the leader barters with the person who has it and redeems it for “a price,” and all partake of it, it is customary to eat nothing else. After that (12) Grace After the Meal is said. I like that. I think is a great idea. To have a prayer, before saying thank you for the food, and after saying thanks again for the food and a great meal! Wonderful Idea. The The Cup of Elijah, which is set in the cenre of hte table, is now filled with wine, or grape juice. “The door of the house is opened. The company rises as if to greet the prophet Elijah, the long expected messenger of the final redemption of mankind from all oppression.” In a household, people could play games, chat, or do activities together as they wait for Elijah to come. As they realize, Elijah is not coming this year, they close the door, and wait again for yet another year. (12) The Psalms of Praise. This is a back and forth between leader, and people at the group reciting phrases. Next, “It is customary at this point in the service for those present to join in hte singing of of Passover melodies, which are to be found in most Haggadah texts.” This part was fun, and nerve racking. The song we sang was called “Who Knows One?” Sister Ludlow mixed up the parts and conducted all over the place, and if you were not looking or following along you may be the only one singing. Then a (14)Closing Prayer, is said, and the night is concluded. We were there from 6:30 to 10:30. I bet in a real home, it may take a lot longer because Dr. Ludlow said that sometimes reading the passover story could take 2plus hours. I bet the preparation to get ready for such a huge dinner, is quite the task, but well worth it in the end. It was fun to go to this Passover service. The Jewish Culture is really family orientated and they have a lot of fun games and traditions. A really neat religion.

SATURDAY: FESTIVAL OF COLORS
This was the add on thier website telling about this years festival: www.utahkrishnas.org

Holi is the Festival of Colors, a traditional Indian holiday celebrated in our own innovative fashion. By far our biggest festival of the year, during Holi 2009 thousands of revelers flooded the temple and grounds for a day of brightly colored powder, mantra, music and a bit of “holi” mayhem.
This year, realizing that Holi has developed a national following especially among college festival-goers, we are preparing more
parking and more colors (by far) than ever before. The music, the dance, the worship, the facilities — everything is being upgraded for Holi 2010.

This is the temple. Every time I see it, it is shocking to me to see it, in the middle of Utah. Random right? but COOL! We left at 9:30 so we would not get stuck in traffic and be able to have some time to buy our powder and some food. Last year, I tried to come, but I was stuck in traffic for 2 hours and missed the event. It then took 2 hours to get home. I am glad we left super early this year! Worth it!A Elephant.
Oh, I forgot to tell you all I joined a boy band and this is our front cover of the album.