A scent for Pesach!

[Silvertree]

I thought I'd submit this to the owners of noses more experienced than my own. This Saturday, my family is hosting the Seder for the first night of Passover. For those of you not familiar with Judaism, Seder means "order" in Hebrew, and is a combination of service and meal with many symbols and traditions. Passover is observed to remember the children of Israel's freedom from slavery and subsequent exodus from Egypt. For about a week (depending on your level of observance), Jews abstain from eating leavened bread and most grains to remember the flat bread (Matzah) our ancestors carried out of Egypt.

 

Additionally, Passover brings in aspects of regrowth and renewal, as Spring comes back to the world. I think I remember hearing somewhere that the Last Supper was actually a Passover seder (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), and Easter and Passover are usually very close to one another in terms of calendar dates. The only reason Passover is almost a month later this year is that the Hebrew calendar, a lunar calendar, periodically inserts an extra month to keep the dates from slipping too far out of season.

 

Anyway, I could babble on about this for a while, but I'll get to the point!

 

I have a fair amount of scents to choose from, but I'm rather at a loss as to what I should wear. I have Tzadikim Nistarim and several Sephiroth scents, to go for one connection, but I mostly want to get away from the darker, spicier scents I usually reach for. After all, one of the over-arching themes of Passover (and one of the Four Questions) is "Why is this night different from all other nights?"

 

There will be about 15 people at our house, and a lot of food, so another reason I don't want to wear something heavy or spicy is that it will quickly become overpowering as the room heats up.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Edited April 20, 2005 by Silvertree

[laochodia]

Hmm....try something herbal but with a bite. I'm having first night at my place, and I'll probably end up in either Sol or Wolfsbane. Don't forget that part of the night is about 'eating reclined, as if we were people of lesiure'--sounds like a soft and comfy scent time for me

[anshara]

I'd go with Geburah, or Sea of Glass, or Chokhmah..... Chag Sameach btw.... You done cleaning?

Edited April 20, 2005 by anshara

[Silvertree]

Hmm....try something herbal but with a bite. I'm having first night at my place, and I'll probably end up in either Sol or Wolfsbane. Don't forget that part of the night is about 'eating reclined, as if we were people of lesiure'--sounds like a soft and comfy scent time for me 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Hmm, I don't have either of the two you mentioned, but I definitely have some herbal scents. Don't want any bitter Maror, although I'll probably smell like the Charoset I'm making!

 

I like the "soft and comfy" idea, too! Hmm. Chaste Moon is incredibly comforting to me, like mint buttercream frosting. So many beautiful choices! Thanks for your input!

 

I'd go with Geburah, or Sea of Glass, or Chokhmah..... Chag Sameach btw.... You done cleaning?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'll resmell those tonight. Cleaning is not even close to being done! My parents are staying home from work on Friday to give the house a thorough going-over, I'm in charge of a couple of the rooms, and then we'll do the traditional chametz sweep that night.

 

Chag Sameach, ladies! Next year in Jerusalem!

[Tess]

I'm very lucky that my sister is hosting Seder. =D I'm probably going to wear something with dragon's blood in it, since that'll give me a bit of a bite without being incredibly overpowering. Although I DO like the idea of wearing something spicy and herbal. (Great idea, laochodia!)

 

Call me a dunce, but I didn't think there were other Jews on the board. *laughs* Label me pleasantly surprised.

 

Chag Sameach! =D

[voodoobaby]

Also glad to know that there are others of the old Biblical faith here. I personally am of the Messianic persuasion (for the most part--I'm kind of a combination of things as far as details are concerned), so forgive me if my suggestions are biased or unorthodox.

 

I personally am wearing Circe at this year's Seder for the spring connotations, but seeing as that is discontinued, I'll suggest something more symbolic.

 

Since the name "Passover" refers to the Angel of Death passing over the doorposts that were anointed with blood, a dragon's blood scent would be great. The obvious choice would be Blood, but since Blood Kiss is foodier and more comforting (reminiscent of the joyful feast eaten while reclining, perhaps?) that might be a better idea.

 

I also like the idea of an herbal scent to represent the bitter herb. Wolfsbane was suggested, which is great, but Yggdrasil would be my personal choice.

 

You could also do a representation of the salt water by wearing an aquatic. Maybe Jolly Roger? Or you could combine both the blood idea and the salt water idea and go for Dragon's Tears.

 

If you too are Messianic, you could wear something with lily in it to represent the Messiah, or even Penitence. Of course, that is bordering majorly on Christian traditions.

 

For general Jewish traditions, I'm fairly sure I read that sandalwood oil was pretty sacred and widely used as an anointing oil. Also, if you want to get creative, in Exodus it describes an anointing oil made of two parts myrrh, one part cinnamon, one part cane (whatever that is), and two parts cassia, with olive oil used as a carrier. Personally, I think that sounds divine. I might just have to make a post in the Suggestions forum.

 

OK...I went pretty crazy with this idea. Can you tell that Passover is my favorite holiday? Still, I hope these suggestions helped!

[darkling]

What a great thread! I hadn't even thought about what BPAL I am going to wear to the Passover seder that I am hosting.

 

I love the idea of Tzadikim Nistarim particular because of the warm fruity scent. I also find this blend incredibly strengthening which would fit well with the theme of overcoming suffering.

 

However, I think that voodoobaby's suggestion of Blood is fabulous. What a way to commemorate the plagues!

 

*giggle*

 

It would be morbidly entertaining to have scents for each of the plagues. We already have Blood and Darkness. Wolf's Heart could fill in for beasts. There is mantis so locusts aren't too far off. Although, I don't think I want to know what cattle disease or boils would smell like;)

[voodoobaby]

However, I think that voodoobaby's suggestion of Blood is fabulous.  What a way to commemorate the plagues!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That's not what I meant, but it's a very funny concept. My Blood idea was more based on the idea of sacrifice and salvation. Remember, I like my Judaism with a special Prophesy Sauce and a nice side dish of Christian Connotations.

 

The plagues would be hilarious. Imagine what a scent called Frogs would smell like!

[laochodia]

and instead of dripping wine onto your plate, you'd put a drop of each plague on your arm...

 

I think a scent with suffering but redemption would be good. Can't think of one, but it'd be good

 

-sigh- no pizza for a week.

[voodoobaby]

and instead of dripping wine onto your plate, you'd put a drop of each plague on your arm...

 

I think a scent with suffering but redemption would be good. Can't think of one, but it'd be good 

 

-sigh- no pizza for a week.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Yeah, no kidding. My birthday is two days after Passover starts. Now that sucks.

[Silvertree]

Wow- thank you, guys, for the great suggestions! It's definitely nice to see other MoT (Members of the Tribe ) here, although I hope nobody thought I was asking for responses from Jews only. I hope people didn't feel excluded...

 

I love the Ten Plagues idea. FROGS! My mom loves frogs, and we always put out her (fake) frog collection on the Seder table. It's almost as entertaining as my cousin and me slumping or falling off of our chairs to represent the Tenth Plague. Hey, we were 10 and 8, respectively. We thought we were funny. Speaking of the Tenth Plague, I don't think I have it in my collection, but Wings of Azrael would probably be appropriate.

 

Hmm, special Passover scents- Hillel Sandwich? Apples, sweet red wine, cinnamon, and bitter herbs, grounded by the weight of unleavened bread.

 

I'm definitely going to miss carbs.

 

Voodoobaby, the annointing oil sounds fantastic! Could the "cane" you mentioned

be cane sugar? I love myrrh and cinnamon. In terms of Passover birthdays, (Happy Birthday, by the way!) my family has some great Kosher-for-Passover dessert recipes; my mom will be making Mississippi Praline Meringues (brown sugar & pecans. I eat these things by the bucketful), and I'm tackling a Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte (four ingredients: chocolate, butter, eggs, and sugar. GUH.) with a fresh raspberry sauce. My sister's Bat Mitzvah was during Passover, so we came up with a bunch of great dishes and desserts to have at the reception. The only thing we missed was my mom's amazing challah!

 

I'll post the recipes in Eat, Drink, and Be Merry sometime in the next couple of days.

 

Chag Sameach, everyone!

 

(p.s. I find myself wishing that we could have a BPAL Seder! How much fun would that be?!?!)

[voodoobaby]

Wow- thank you, guys, for the great suggestions! It's definitely nice to see other MoT (Members of the Tribe  ) here, although I hope nobody thought I was asking for responses from Jews only. I hope people didn't feel excluded...

 

I love the Ten Plagues idea. FROGS! My mom loves frogs, and we always put out her (fake) frog collection on the Seder table. It's almost as entertaining as my cousin and me slumping or falling off of our chairs to represent the Tenth Plague.    Hey, we were 10 and 8, respectively. We thought we were funny. Speaking of the Tenth Plague, I don't think I have it in my collection, but Wings of Azrael would probably be appropriate.

 

Hmm, special Passover scents- Hillel Sandwich? Apples, sweet red wine, cinnamon, and bitter herbs, grounded by the weight of unleavened bread. 

 

I'm definitely going to miss carbs. 

 

Voodoobaby, the annointing oil sounds fantastic! Could the "cane" you mentioned

be cane sugar? I love myrrh and cinnamon. In terms of Passover birthdays, (Happy Birthday, by the way!) my family has some great Kosher-for-Passover dessert recipes; my mom will be making Mississippi Praline Meringues (brown sugar & pecans. I eat these things by the bucketful), and I'm tackling a Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte (four ingredients: chocolate, butter, eggs, and sugar. GUH.) with a fresh raspberry sauce. My sister's Bat Mitzvah was during Passover, so we came up with a bunch of great dishes and desserts to have at the reception. The only thing we missed was my mom's amazing challah!

 

I'll post the recipes in Eat, Drink, and Be Merry sometime in the next couple of days.

 

Chag Sameach, everyone!

 

(p.s. I find myself wishing that we could have a BPAL Seder! How much fun would that be?!?!)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Oh wow, that would be wonderful. I'll keep a lookout for those recipes. My boyfriend's birthday is three days after mine, and I'll probably be making a cheesecake for him.

 

BPAL Seder! I'll bring the special, extra hot horseradish! I have interesting horseradish stories.

 

ETA: Haha, I missed the part in your post about the Hillel sandwich. My suggestion was for plain Haroseth. Mmm! I would buy a bottle of either one in a heartbeat.

Edited April 21, 2005 by voodoobaby

[Tess]

voodoobaby - Okay, I'm totally embarrassed to admit it... but what exactly is the Messianic tradition? *blushes* The only thing I've heard about them is that it's a group of ethnic Jews who converted to Christianity. I heard that from my sister, but I don't trust her in the least about it, at least partially due to her tone of voice at the time. (She's Conservative, trying to take the final steps to Orthodox.)

 

Sorry if the question seems out of line. *blushes* I'm just curious.

[voodoobaby]

No probalo! The Messianic tradition is similar to what your sister said. I, along with the people I do Seder with, follow the basic Jewish traditions, but we believe in Yeshua as the Messiah. Passover for us is indeed closely tied with Easter in that the lamb represents Yeshua (which is why my first suggestion for a scent was Blood, because of the whole redemption thing). Of course, I'm in the other side of the same boat as you; I'm not really versed in Orthodox Judaism, mostly because I'm not ethnically Jewish. So really, I don't know how this compares to Orthodox traditions.

 

A lot of people think it's a cult, but really, we're just big prophesy geeks who see major parallels between events in the Old and New Testament, and follow both them equally. Personally, I find the faith very liberating, and I even hesitate to label myself Messianic. Like I said in one of the other forums, when it comes right down to it I consider myself an eclectic Theist who happens to find the whole Bible inspiring. I also consider myself "born again", so Messianic is more of a descriptive word for my faith than a label. That's not the case with some, but for me it is.

[Tess]

voodoobaby - Okay, now I'm REALLY confused. *laughs* From what you've said, it seems that it's a bit like what I do; I celebrate the Jewish holidays and traditions with my family, although religiously I follow an earth-based religion. Messianic people (do I call them Messianic Traditionalists? Messianic Christians? *laughs* So confusing.) follow the Jewish culture, but have Christian beliefs? Although now I'm completely confused, since you're non-ethnically Jewish. =)

 

I'm learning something, hurrah!

Edited April 21, 2005 by Tess

[Rosabella]

Hmm, special Passover scents- Hillel Sandwich? Apples, sweet red wine, cinnamon, and bitter herbs, grounded by the weight of unleavened bread. 

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

That sounds really good!

[voodoobaby]

voodoobaby - Okay, now I'm REALLY confused.  *laughs*  From what you've said, it seems that it's a bit like what I do; I celebrate the Jewish holidays and traditions with my family, although religiously I follow an earth-based religion.  Messianic people (do I call them Messianic Traditionalists?  Messianic Christians?  *laughs*  So confusing.) follow the Jewish culture, but have Christian beliefs?  Although now I'm completely confused, since you're non-ethnically Jewish.  =)

 

I'm learning something, hurrah!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Gah, I never was good at explaining these things. Basically, we see the religion represented in the Bible as one, rather than two separate entities (Christianity and Judaism). In the outside world, they are two very different things, yes. But, well, think of it as old-time Christianity: Jesus came and started a following that was an off-branch of Judaism. He said to follow the law of Moses, and that's what we do, except like Orthodox Christianity (or rather, unorthodox ) we believe that he is the Messiah. We keep the festivals and eat kosher and all the rest of those things, but we are considered "born again". And for the record, most (or at least many) of us are what would be normally considered converts. To me it makes perfect sense--it's just a unification of all the teachings in the Bible--but I could see how it could be confusing to someone else, especially on the ethnicity part. You might call us posers, which is understandable; however, I just call us Biblical followers.

 

But like I said, I don't really label myself as far as religion goes (aside from, well, the Biblical follower part). I know what I believe, and really, no word is powerful enough to express what that entails. However, my friend Linda is a lot better at explaining this than me, mostly because she's been into this far longer than I have (there's at least a 20-year age difference). If you're still curious and not offended (I hope not ), I'm sure she would be glad to give you the low-down on our beliefs. If you want to get in contact with her, just drop me a PM and we'll work it out.

 

And...should this be split into a new thread? It is getting a bit off-topic.

Edited April 22, 2005 by voodoobaby

[Tess]

*kicks the thread back on topic*

 

After doing some scent pruning, I'm going with an Egyptian musk scent that comes across as very tangy with a splash of juniper. (I'd been forbidden to wear anything sweet by my sister, as it gives her a headache. *laughs*) It's the first Seder with the newly extended family, so I also can wear anything too outlandish, either. =P Like I'm ever outlandish...

[Silvertree]

I'm finding this thread even more fascinating than I originally imagined it could be!

 

I like reading about the ties between religions- even though I identify mainly as a Reform Jew, I love reading about other faiths. I'm especially intrigued by symbols that are important to people across the lines of religion, like the Tree of Life (looks at forum name).

 

Voodoobaby, I'm curious as to what your thoughts might be on Jews for Jesus. Are their beliefs similar to those who follow the Messianic tradition? If you want to take this to e-mail or PM, please let me know!

 

Keeping this on topic, I may go with the Apothecary. It's nice and herbal. Or maybe an apply scent, although apples belong to Rosh Hashanah.

 

I would love to have a scent for Miriam! Strong and a bit mysterious, but warm and caring and joyous. Maybe a little aquatic (for Miriam's well, and her involvement in putting Moses into the river), or citrusy (for the orange on the Seder plate). Actually, I would love a spicy citrus scent (does anybody know of any others?). I'm imagining clove and star anise and orange, like the orange pomanders you make by sticking cloves into an orange and letting it dry. Yum! It could also have some pomegranate, because those taste like Israel to me.

 

Also, I wants me some Pomelo. Citrus from the Holy Land, anyone?

 

ETA: For those not familiar with the orange on the Seder plate, I had heard a story from my congregation's Rabbit that apparently during a talk given by Susanna Heschel, there was some guy who griped about female Rabbis. He said that having a woman on the Bimah was like having bread on the Seder plate. In answer to his comment, she supposedly answered, "No, a female Rabbi is like an *orange* on the Seder plate. It doesn't traditionally belong there, but it is not forbidden. So now some put oranges on the Seder plate to show that they're in favor of having women be Rabbis.

 

Incidentally, my Rabbi is female.

 

Oh, and further ETA: I found this link explaining the orange story... which is vastly different from the one I heard. Further explanation is here.

 

I also like having Miriam's Well represented on the table, but I can't remember if we do that at my house or not.

Edited April 22, 2005 by Silvertree

[voodoobaby]

Oh, a Miriam scent! That would be awesome. I might be forced to buy something like that.

 

Silvertree, I will try to PM you later tonight. I'm kind of in a rush right now, and I'd hate to give you a big explanation of my beliefs when I can't think straight.

[Muppetk]

I also like having Miriam's Well represented on the table, but I can't remember if we do that at my house or not. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I think we do that. We have a lovely blue glass bowl half-filled with water. Of course, it also has whimsical little frogs that my mom hung around the edges. Mom's sense of humor is.... special. Let's just call it special.

 

Funny, they forgot the orange this year. Especially amusing in light of the link you posted -- we have 2 extremely Out members of the family. But I've always heard the more common story about it.

 

And now that I'm completely off topic... let's make a vague attempt to reel it in. As to the charoses scent that someone suggested -- apples, red wine, cinnamon & a hint of herbs -- that sounds a bit like the description of Tintagel. A bit.

[Silvertree]

Voodoobaby, that would be great! I'll post those recipes tomorrow morning for you.

 

I think we do that.  We have a lovely blue glass bowl half-filled with water.  Of course, it also has whimsical little frogs that my mom hung around the edges.  Mom's sense of humor is.... special.  Let's just call it special.

 

Funny, they forgot the orange this year.  Especially amusing in light of the link you posted -- we have 2 extremely Out members of the family.  But I've always heard the more common story about it.

 

And now that I'm completely off topic... let's make a vague attempt to reel it in.  As to the charoses scent that someone suggested -- apples, red wine, cinnamon & a hint of herbs -- that sounds a bit like the description of Tintagel.    A bit.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Oh, our table is covered with frogs! In fact, the table isn't considred set until we make sure that the Plagues are well represented! I like your mom's sense of humor- it sounds very familiar.

 

I put the orange on the plate half-way through dinner, as we had forgotten it. When we went to the 2nd night Seder, at my parents' friends' house, there was a lot of discussion about its meaning, but I didn't want to blurt out the story in front of 20 or so older people. You never know how they'd take it...

 

I'll have to swipe Tintagel back from the boy. I wore Ides of March on Saturday, though. Mmm!

[rhubarbbear]

i don't know if i even wore perfume bad bpaler! in retrospect, i'd probably go for something softly spiced...maybe queen of sheba? of course, it was *snowing* here, so that probably colors my thoughts a bit...in warmer weather i'd go for something sharper, to cut the heat.

 

i loooove the idea of a miriam scent! that would be wonderful!

 

and i, um, put a lemon on my seder plate this year. i didn't have an orange

 

am the only one who LOVES matzoh with butter? i could eat that stuff all day...

[darkling]

I went with Tzadikim Nistarim for the seder. It is one of my favorite scents and somewhat festive.

 

We also didn't have an orange so we substitued a mango

[Silvertree]

and i, um, put a lemon on my seder plate this year. i didn't have an orange   

 

We also didn't have an orange so we substitued a mango

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I love it! As my (gay) friend Kev would say, "it's all fruit!"

 

I *really* want a Miriam scent now.