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| Samaritan
Passover |
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Source:
Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 166. |
Mount Gerizim
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During the feast of unleavened bread, from the 14th to the 21st of the first
month (Nisan), the Samaritans, when it is possible for them to do so, close
their houses in the city and live in tents pitched in the form of a half-circle
on a sheltered plateau at some distance below the summit of Mount Gerizim (Jebel
et Tūr). Sometimes they go there a few days earlier, but more frequently they
only remain on the mountain for two days, to celebrate the sacrifice of the
Passover, and to partake of it during the intervening night. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 2, p. 18.) |
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Ruins on the Summit of Mount Gerizim, on
the Site of the Samarian Temple |
Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, p. 234. |
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The scene of the sacrifice is on a terrace
a little way above the place of encampment.
Here towards the close of the day all is in
readiness for the service. Two cauldrons
filled with water are standing over a long
trench, in which a fire made of thorns and
brushwood is crackling and blazing. A few
paces higher up a deep circular pit is
thoroughly heated to serve as an oven. Near to
the trench, within a space marked off by
stones, stand twelve men in white garments and
turbans, reciting prayers, their faces turned
towards their "Holy Place," or Kibleh. In
front of them stands the ministering priest
looking towards the west, as if watching for
the going down of the sun. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 2, p. 18.) |
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Source: Matson Collection. |
Samaritans Praying on
Mount Gerizim |
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Presently six or seven youths, dressed in
white, advance, each holding a white lamb,
"according to the number of souls" about to
celebrate the Passover. (Until recently seven
lambs were required.) They take their places
near the oven, and behind them a little group
of women and children stand. At the moment of
sunset the chief priest rises, and with a loud
voice pronounces a blessing three times, and
repeats the words, "And the whole assembly of
the congregation of Israel shall kill it in
the evening" (Exodus xii. 6). The slaughterers
stand with their knives ready, and as these
words are uttered the lambs are slain, all at
the same instant. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 2, p. 18.) |
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Family Eating Passover Sacrifice |
Source: Matson Collection. |
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The lambs are rubbed with salt and spitted,
and then forced into the glowing oven . . . .
In the meantime, unleavened cakes seasoned
with bitter herbs are distributed by the chief
priest. Soon afterwards nearly every one
present retires to rest, except the twelve
white-robed men, who return to their original
station within the enclosed space, and
continue reciting and chanting by the light of
the full moon until midnight, when the
sleepers are aroused, and in the presence of
all the men of the community the lambs are
withdrawn from the oven and carried in new
straw baskets to the enclosed space, where
they are eaten "in haste," each man having
"his loins girt and a staff in his hand."
There are slight variations from year to year
in the manner of celebrating this festival,
but none of great importance. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 2, 19.) |
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See
Samaritans,
Good Samaritan,
Woman at the Well, or
Jews |
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