Mimouna and Seharane

• Open doors. As soon as Passover ends at nightfall, families set out a lavish table of cakes, pastries, and sweets and welcome friends, neighbors, and visitors. The celebration continues through the next day.
• Mufleta. The star of the table is the mufleta, a very thin pancake made from flour, water, and oil, cooked in a pan and eaten warm with butter and honey.
• Help from neighbors. Since Jewish homes held no flour during Passover, families in North Africa relied on their Muslim neighbors for flour and other ingredients. In Libya, Berber and Arab neighbors brought milk, butter, honey, and fresh produce.
• Blessings for the year ahead. Mimouna is a time of wishes for good luck, prosperity, and happy marriages. In some families, guests are sprinkled with mint or other greens dipped in milk.
• The next day. Families went on outings to the seashore, fields, and orchards. Some splashed sea water on their faces to recall the crossing of the Red Sea.

Where does the name come from?

No one knows for sure, and the debate is part of the fun. Ideas include:

• Maimon ben Joseph, the father of Maimonides, who lived in Fez, Morocco, and died around 1170.
• The Hebrew emunah, “faith,” or ani ma'amin, “I believe.”
• An Arabic word for wealth or good fortune.
• Manna, the food that sustained the Israelites in the desert.

The Jews of Kurdistan, a mountainous region that today spans parts of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria, trace their history back to ancient times. Their name for their spring festival is probably related to the Kurdish word sayran, a picnic or outing in nature.

• Into the countryside. Preparations began the night Passover ended. Families traveled out of town and set up camps with tents and bonfires, as almond trees bloomed around them.
• Music and dance. People wore their brightest clothes and best jewelry, danced in circles, and played the zurna (a reed pipe) and dahola (a large drum).
• Food and stories. Families cooked over campfires and shared dishes such as stuffed vegetables and kubbeh selek, a beet soup with meat dumplings. Evenings were for storytelling.
• Good neighbors. Local Muslims sometimes joined in as guests, or came to sell goods.

From spring to fall

After Kurdish Jews from Iraq moved to Israel in the early 1950s, Seharane was rarely celebrated for about twenty years. In the 1970s, community leaders revived it as a public festival and moved it to the Sukkot holiday period in the fall, partly so it would not compete with Mimouna. Sources differ on exactly when the move began.

Today, Seharane gatherings fill parks with picnics, music, and dancing, and non Jewish Kurds have been invited as guests.

Morocco

The best known home of Mimouna. Families open their doors to a table of sweets and mufleta, served with honey and, often, mint tea. Records of the celebration go back at least to the eighteenth century.

Libya

Libyan Jews baked a round loaf with a hard boiled egg held in place by strips of dough, and enjoyed a dairy meal of buttermilk, sweets, and muflita with honey. Single men and women were blessed that they would marry in the coming year, and girls wore white.

Algeria

Algerian Jews, like Moroccan Jews, opened their homes to visitors for Mimouna.

Iraqi and Iranian Kurdistan

Seharane could last anywhere from one day, as in Iranian Kurdistan, to a week. Some communities held it during the middle days of Passover instead. Visiting the graves of revered sages was part of the holiday for some.

Israel: Mimouna

Mimouna became a mass public celebration in Israel from the late 1960s. Since the early 1970s, a central gathering has been held in Jerusalem's Sacher Park, attended by crowds and national leaders, while families across the country host open houses and picnics.

Israel: Seharane

Kurdish Jewish families gather for Seharane each year around Sukkot with dancing, Kurdish dishes, and memories of the old homeland.

North America and beyond

North African Jewish families brought Mimouna to France, Canada, South America, and the United States, where the evening marks the close of Passover. Some Jews of other backgrounds now join in too.

Morocco today

A Moroccan group of Muslim students and young professionals chose the name Mimouna for their association, which works to preserve Jewish history in Morocco.

In the public school classroom

• Compare spring festivals across cultures, such as Newroz, which Kurds of many faiths celebrate, and discuss why so many peoples mark spring outdoors.
• Map the journeys: trace families from Morocco, Libya, and Kurdistan to Israel, France, and the Americas.
• Explore hospitality and neighborliness: how did Jewish and Muslim neighbors help each other at Mimouna?
• Teach about the customs as culture. Do not have students perform blessings or rituals, and follow allergy rules if sharing food.

In Jewish schools and communities

• Host a Mimouna open house after Passover, with mufleta, mint tea, and a table of spring symbols.
• Invite Moroccan, Libyan, and Kurdish families to share memories, songs, and recipes.
• Read Kurdish Jewish folktales aloud, as Seharane evenings once ended with stories.
• Explore the Sephardi & Mizrahi Education Toolkit and JIMENA's Mimouna and Passover guide.

At home and with family

• Make mufleta together and serve it with butter and honey.
• Ask relatives: How did our family end Passover? Who came to visit?
• Take a family walk or picnic in nature, in the spirit of Seharane.
• Record an elder's memories for JIMENA's oral history project.

Watch and listen

Read

From Distinctions, JIMENA's journal

Explore online

From JIMENA