(April 12, 2013 at 2:01 pm)thesummerqueen Wrote: Passover IS the myth. The two are inextricably intertwined. During the Seder, the story of the Exodus is read from the Haggadah, along with prayers and descriptions of ritual movements, such as hand washing, wine drinking, breaking matzos, etc.
Passover contains things, like eggs and herbs, which most certainly came down from prior polytheistic celebrations, but the feast of Passover itself had no (as far as I know - Min, come in and correct me if I'm wrong) prior incarnation as a 'spring festival'. There is no dying or resurrection or celebration of sowing or anything within it. We have other holidays that celebrate such, like Sukkot for the harvest. This one was created as far as I know to celebrate a fictitious exodus.
Are you suggesting that people would begin an annual celebration based on nothing at all? The Exodus was passed down orally, so it must have been pretty important to the Hebrews.
