פסח

First, to those who are celebrating Passover: חג שמח

Now, *clicks into lecture mode*

Passover. פסח
Known in English as Pesah or Pesach, it is one of the major Jewish holidays. Origin of Passover comes from the Exodus story, which can be found in Exodus 11-13 in both the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and the Old Testament portion of the Christian Bible. I personally like the Jewish Publication Society translation, which can be found here.

If you're not the reading type, there are always movies like The Ten Commandments and Prince of Egypt.

The Exodus theme has been adopted by various cultures as a symbol of freedom against oppressive dominant power. The one example that jumps to mind is the African American struggle against slavery during the 1800s. Various "Negro spirituals" reflect the exodus theme:
~ Didn't Old Pharaoh Get Lost
~ Go Down Moses/Let My People Go
~ Ride On Moses
~ Turn Back Pharaoh's Army

Wikipedia article on Passover: here


On a slightly different note, celebration for Holy Week begins for Orthodox Christians. Their Easter is very late this year—good way to grab all the leftover Marshmallow Peeps and Easter accessories from their non-Greek Orthodox counterparts' post-Easter sales.