(click the HOSH
sign for a downloadable/printable version to hang on
your doors if you do not have necklaces, etc.)
It is recommended to read the
essays
"Feasts and Holy Days of the Lord" and
"New Year, Passover, and Other Symbols" in
Essays 1 of
THOTH for further
understanding of the Holy Days which He commanded we
keep "for ever and ever." Also the Satsang
Passover, 4/9/90, has a complete explanation of
the symbolic significance of Passover.
God commanded Passover to be kept on the evening
(the end) of the fourteenth day of the first lunar
month (Eve in the
Calendar
of God). Because it begins at the end of
the fourteenth day, Passover also goes into the
beginning of the fifteenth day, which is the first
day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Passover starts at 6:00 PM (or sunset).
All the leavened bread (with yeast) and baking yeast
should be out of the house by this time.
Everyone gathers together at 5:30 PM around the
HOSH table (preferably round).
The food which is to be eaten for the Passover meal
is prepared before this time and placed on the
bottom shelf. Included are the Passover
crackers or bread (any type can be used that is
unleavened), and several HOSH
necklaces which will later be hung on the outside
doors. Someone reads Psalms 100 and then, with instruments, all
move around the table singing the HOSH
mantra (kirtan,
also see this related Satsang).
We are offering this food (bread, the body of
Christ) to the Lord, in which the leavening (sin)
has been removed, so we may experience the ecstasy
of the wine of being One with Him. We offer it
as a Prasadam (food, or the body of Christ in
offering to God).
At 5:50 PM we all stop singing the HOSH
mantra and face the center of the table. We
perform the
Reminder as a group, the modified standing
version,
following the leader as he recites each verse (the
modified standing version is used as there may not
be enough space for the full Reminder
- the leader should know how the standing version is
performed, or
contact the Mission for
instructions).
After the Reminder is done, we
all sit around the HOSH table, in a
circle facing the center, recite and sing
Samgacchadvam, and then meditate for thirty
minutes. After this is completed, the leader
recites "The
Divine Path" and the collective meditation is
finished.
To complete the service, the Satsang
Passover is read aloud to remind all of the
meaning of Passover, its symbolic significance, and
why God commanded to keep it Holy.
The HOSH necklaces (or
any kind
of HOSH sign) are then put
on the door frames, in place of the blood of the
lamb. The reason that the blood is no longer
necessary is that the Lamb (Christ) has already paid for our
sins. So it is no longer necessary to put the
blood on the door posts. Now the Lord looks
for the HOSH sign as a sign of
obedience to Him. The HOSH
signs can be taken down the next day, after the
Passover night is finished.
The food is eaten, in joy, together as an
offering to the Lord (Prasadam).
The seven days following the Passover make up the
Feast of Unleavened Bread (for more information,
read
"Feasts and Holy Days of the Lord" in
Essays 1 of
THOTH).