A New Year celebration provides the opportunity to reflect on the past and make a fresh start for the future. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year celebration, begins with the blowing of the shofar (the ram’s horn) in synagogue. This marks the start of the ten High Holy Days of the Jewish calendar.
The Jewish New Year, unlike many cultures, it isn’t celebrated with wild partying. This holiday is a time of prayer and reflection shared with one’s family and friends. It’s a time to ask for forgiveness for one’s actions over the past year, and to commit to a fresh start in the coming one. There are many traditions and symbolic foods associated with it.
Several traditional recipes for this holiday incorporate honey, representing the hope for a sweet year ahead. Sweet and seasonal fruits and vegetables like apples and carrots are also traditionally part of the holiday’s symbolic ingredients. Challah bread, typically baked as a braided loaf, is shaped into a round loaf at this time to represent the cycle of the year. Ladders or birds are sometimes imprinted on the loaves symbolizing the desire that prayers will go up to heaven.
Even if you do not subscribe to the Jewish faith, take a moment to recognize the turn of the season, reflect on the previous year and look forward to the season upon us.
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