The history behind Easter and Passover traditions

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By Olivia B. Waxman

Staff Writer

For Passover (April 5-13) and Easter (April 9), we’re spotlighting stories on the history of the holidays in the TIME archives. Some highlights:

A look at the scientists who have been studying whether the plagues of Egypt could really have happened.
The history behind Passover traditions, from matzo to the seder plate
As Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, the Ukrainian Easter egg decorating tradition has been experiencing a resurgence.
Speaking of Easter eggs, here is how eggs came to be associated with the holiday.

HISTORY ON TIME.COM

The Surprising Origin of the Word 'Easter'

By Katy Steinmetz

Why do we use the word Easter to describe the spring's eggiest holiday? Here are the likeliest theories, dating back centuries

Here's Where the Easter Bunny Came From

By Alexandra Sifferlin

An Easter Bunny that delivers colorful eggs does not appear in the Bible, and its exact origins are clouded in mystery

Here’s Why Easter Eggs Are a Thing

By Olivia B. Waxman

Their beginnings can be traced to centuries of Christian tradition

The History Behind the Ukrainian Tradition of Decorating Pysanky Easter Eggs

By Olivia B. Waxman

Decorating a 'pysanka' has become a gesture of peace, as war has brought new meaning to an old tradition that dates back to pre-Christian times

COVID-19 Has Upended Traditions for Passover and Easter

By Olivia B. Waxman

But religious traditions have adapted for past pandemics, too

Column: What Is the Point of Celebrating Easter During a Pandemic?

By N.T. Wright

If we want to see fresh hope the other side of the Pandemic—signs of Easter, after a Lent for a whole year—then the church must shape up.

Did the 10 Plagues of Egypt Really Happen? Here Are 3 Theories

By Olivia B. Waxman

Scientists have looked for evidence that could be linked to the Exodus story

The History Behind 7 Passover Traditions

By Sarah Gray

From the Biblical story of Exodus to traditional foods, this is everything you need to know before you attend a Passover seder

The Roots of Surprising Passover Seder Traditions From Around the World

By Olivia B. Waxman

Joan Nathan, author of the new cookbook King Solomon's Table, sheds light on the roots of Passover traditions from around the world

3 Counterintuitive Lessons From Passover

By Rabbi David Wolpe

A man in a desert alone is not free

Column: COVID-19 Is Upending My Family's Passover Tradition—We're Staying Apart So We Can Be Together

By Lori Fradkin

I could hear my mom in another room once again asking someone if the kosher beef ribs had arrived. Or maybe it was the kosher…

FROM THE TIME VAULT

This week in 1964: novelist John Cheever

“The Wapshot Scandal (TIME, Jan. 24), the second of his two novels, is selling at a brisk 2,000 copies a week, and has already topped the total sales of his first novel, The Wapshot Chronicle—although the Chronicle won the National Book Award in 1958. Movie rights to both have been bought for $75,000, but it seems likely that any movie will mirror merely the realism. Cheever has been long acknowledged as a master of the short story, of which he has written over a hundred…Ultimately, Cheever tries to ‘celebrate a world that lies spread out around us like a bewildering and stupendous dream.’ Says he: ‘One has an impulse to bring glad tidings to someone. My sense of literature is a sense of giving, not a diminishment. I know almost no pleasure greater than having a piece of fiction draw together disparate incidents so that they relate to one another and confirm that feeling that life itself is a creative process, that one thing is put purposefully upon another, that what is lost in one encounter is replenished in the next, and that we possess some power to make sense of what takes place.’” (Mar. 27, 1964)

This week in 1974: Henry Kissinger

“For the President, who takes a special pride in his mastery of foreign policy, there may well be particularly poignant irony in the fact that Kissinger is now widely viewed as an autonomous operator who might well survive the collapse of the Nixon Administration. (Vice President Gerald Ford has made it clear that, should he become President, he would ask Kissinger to stay on.)… Sums up Presidential Aide Alexander Haig: ‘I think the President considers Henry a unique national institution.’ For Kissinger personally, the success of his Moscow trip is particularly crucial for the continuation of his grand vision of American policy, for the maintenance of the accomplishments he has both achieved and has still in the making. So swiftly and dramatically has the Secretary of State worked radical changes in U.S. diplomacy—detente with Moscow, friendship with Peking, progress toward a settlement in the Middle East—that he has acquired something of the mystique of a magician, pulling doves of peace out of a hat for a fascinated circle of world watchers.” (April 1, 1974)

This week in 2003: Iraq War begins

“Although the battlefield produced the usual fog of conflicting reports, at least one thing was made clear with the first salvo: the principal target of Gulf War II is not the Iraqi military but Saddam himself. Inside the U.S. war rooms, quickly decapitating the Iraqi regime is seen as critical to bringing about the destruction of the enemy. ‘We want to turn the Iraqi military into a chicken with its head cut off,’ a senior Navy official says. Saddam ‘might be able to strike back, but it will be uncoordinated and ultimately fruitless.’ Defense sources say that U.S. forces will rush to Baghdad as quickly as possible to try to corner Saddam and flush him out into the open; if a coup or assassination fails to dislodge him, U.S. air and ground forces plan to launch more strikes against critical targets inside the capital in an effort to kill him. A senior U.S official told TIME that covert U.S. intelligence personnel have infiltrated Baghdad, hunting in the shadows for the Iraqi leaders. ‘We've had some folks on the ground over there now for weeks,’ the official says.” (Mar. 31, 2003)