The Purim celebration

In the Spring, the Jewish celebrate Purim. People dress up and  come together to eat and exchange gifts. But perhaps the most important part is reading the book of Esther from the Bible. History has it that Queen Esther saved the Jews from a massacre a long time ago.

After the book of Esther has been read at the evening service, the people come together and eat biscuits called Hamantaschen. They are triangular and filled with poppy seeds, jam or Nutella.

There is also a tradition to give food to family, friends, the sick and the poor. This is normally sweets, pastries and wine. There should be at least two different types of food given and the food is placed in decorated baskets called Mishloach Manot.

Pesach

Pesach is considered to be the most important Jewish holiday. It is celebrated in spring, as nature comes out of hibernation and new crops are sown. In old times, Pesach was celebrated by people gathering in the Temple in Jerusalem. Although Pesach is often mentioned as the “Jewish Easter”, it is actually a tradition that started long before Christianity.

According to the Bible, the Jews were slaves to the pharaohs in Egypt. Pesach is celebrated in memory of how Moses, with the help of God, rescued the Jews from being held captured. Each generation passes this traditional celebration on to the next.

To make sure that this happens, a ritual meal – seder – takes place at home with the family. Food to symbolise Jewish history is prepared. Some of the food is eaten, while other dishes are only symbolic. The meal can take several hours and the whole story of the liberation of the Jews from Egyptian captivity is told with the help of the food.

The Sabbath meal

In Judaism, the Sabbath is celebrated every week. The word comes from the Hebrew word shabbat, which means rest. The Sabbath lasts from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday. Before the family eats, the Sabbath candles are blessed and lit. The oldest man in the house blesses the wine – kiddush, and cuts the Sabbath bread – challah.

The Sabbath ends when three stars appear in the night sky on Saturday.

Buddhists wish to be aware of the damage that they may cause to nature, and in turn try to make this damage as small as possible. We shouldn’t leave a larger footprint than absolutely necessary.

In Buddhism, many live as monks. These monks live by their own set of rules when it comes to lifestyle, and they also follow strict diet rules. For example, they can’t eat after 12 noon.

Holy Communion

The first Christians

Paul the Apostle believed that Christians did not need to relate to old Jewish and Roman diet rules. He wanted them to have a relaxed relationship with food and drink. 

He believed that the food rules were orders from men and not from God.

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul wrote, among other things: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days” (The Bible, Col 2, 16)

Christmas food

Christians eat a lot of good food at Christmas time, and the celebration is quite similar across the world. The biggest difference is probably that Orthodox Christians and Catholics have a period of fasting linked to Christmas, whereas Protestants do not.

In Norway, the tradition is to eat cod, pork ribs, turkey or pork chops on Christmas Eve, as well as Christmas cakes, rice cream, cloudberry cream, clementines and marzipan. We don’t cut back on food when it comes to the biggest holiday of the year.

For those who can’t afford expensive party food, there are many organisations that offer food and gifts.

The Catholic faith is spread across many different countries, so Christmas traditions will vary quite a bit.