Passover 2018

March 2018 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Daylight Saving Start Sunday March 11 -6 years, -9 months, -11 days or -2478 days 12 13 14 15 16 17 St Patricks Day Saturday March 17 -6 years, -9 months, -5 days or -2472 days 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Palm Sunday Sunday March 25 -6 years, -8 months, -28 days or -2464 days 26 27 28 29 30 Good Friday Friday March 30 -6 years, -8 months, -23 days or -2459 days 31 Passover Saturday March 31 -6 years, -8 months, -22 days or -2458 days

Passover for the year 2018 starts on Saturday, March 31st and ends the 7 day holiday on Friday, April 6th. For the Jewish calendar night begins before day, thus the holiday begins on the sunset of the previous day on the evening of Friday, March 30th. For Reform and Reconstructionist Jews who follow the Biblical text they celebrate the holiday over 7 days, however, Orthodox, Hasidic, and other Jews in the Diaspora will celebrate the holiday as 8 days ending on Saturday, April 7th.

Passover is a spring festival that begins in the months of March or April on the Gregorian calendar. Passover starts on the 15th day of the month of Nisan which is on the first night of a full moon after the northern vernal equinox (except leap months can make the festival start after the second full moon after the northern vernal equinox as in the year 2016).

The 7 or 8 day festival is one of the most important celebrations on the Hebrew calendar commemorating the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. It begins with families gathering together the first night (first 2 nights for many communities outside Israel) for dinner called seder (meaning “order” of “arrangement” in Hebrew) and ends 7 to 8 days later.

Why do Jewish holidays start at nighttime?

According to the Torah, the story of creation in Genesis says “And it was evening, and it was morning day one”, “And it was evening, and it was morning; the second day”, thus night comes before day. So for the Jewish calendar all days begin at nightfall and end the next day at nightfall including holidays.

Days to Passover 2018

Saturday, March 31st is day number 90 of the 2018 calendar year with -6 years, -8 months, -22 days until the start of the celebration of Passover 2018.