It's holiday time again, which of course, for those of us interested in recording family histories, is a perfect time to ask family members to recall, and ideally to document, memories of holidays from the past.

Last week I posted a request on Facebook, asking my Facebook friends for Passover or Easter memories they would be willing to share.  One friend recalled his family bringing their Easter baskets to Church on Saturday before Easter to have them blessed.  From a Polish American heritage, his family's baskets were filled with rye bread, Polish sausage, hard boiled eggs, horseradish and lamb--not just Easter eggs and little chocolates.  Although I am Jewish, I remember my friends getting real baby ducklings in their Easter baskets.  Another friend of mine recalled the time when her father ate some horseradish at the Passover Seder that was so hot, he ran from the table to get some water, taking the dining room drapes down with him.  Another friend wrote about his daughter's tradition of griping about having  to sit at the kids table every year, even though she is now 30-something.  In my own family, my mother still wants me (now 55 years old) to  take a nap before the Seder so I don't get cranky.  Many families also have their own unique traditions for the Afikomen, the piece of matzoh that is eaten to end the Passover Seder.  In my family, the father hid the Afikomen and the children looked for it.  In my husband's family, the children hid it and the father looked for it.  In my friend's family, the mother hid it.

Of all these stories, though, I was particularly moved by the recollection of Hani Hara, an Egyptian born Jewish man who now lives in Columbus Ohio.  Hani's family fled Egypt to come to the United States in the late 1950's.  This was the time when Nassar's mission was to "nationalize" Egypt.  Jews who lived in modern day Egypt were no longer welcome--even those, who like Hani's family, had lived in Egypt for centuries.  Hani remembers his first Passover Seder in America, when he was 10 years old, being struck by the parallels between the Jews in the Biblical Exodus and his own family's journey to a land where they could live freely, without persecution.

What struck me when I received Hani's response on Facebook, was that although I had known him and his family casually for probably twenty years, I never knew about his Egyptian background.  So take the time this holiday season to ask those around you about their backgrounds--their life stories.