The eight-day Jewish festival of Passover begins tonight at sundown with the lighting of candles just before 7 p.m.

A highlight of Passover is gathering for a ritual meal called the Seder.

The Seder is usually held in homes on the first and second nights of Passover.

The Seder is as much about storytelling and drama as symbolic food.

At the Seder, Jews retell the story of Moses challenging Egypt’s Pharaoh to “let my people go,” and the escape from bondage by reading a Haggadah (special prayer book for Passover) and partaking of items such as matzo (unleavened bread) and marror (a bitter herb) as symbolic representations of captivity and perseverance. The term Passover refers to the tenth plague of Egypt, when the first-born sons were killed by the angel of death and Jewish homes were passed over by marking their doors with the blood of a lamb.

The Seder features unleavened bread, eaten as a reminder of the haste in leaving Egypt during the Exodus. They left so fast the bread didn’t have time to rise, according to tradition.

As Passover begins tonight, the three Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam will all be observing major holidays.

For Christians, it’s Holy Week, leading up to Easter Sunday. Jesus of Nazareth was a practicing Jew who arrived in Jerusalem for Passover the week of his death nearly 2,000 years ago.

Muslims are observing their holy month of Ramadan, which requires daytime fasting that is broken at sunset each night with a communal meal.