Passover commemorates the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt. In the biblical narrative, the Israelites are enslaved under Pharaoh, and Moses demands their release. After a series of plagues, the final plague kills Egypt’s firstborn, while Israelite homes marked with lamb’s blood are spared; Pharaoh then allows the Israelites to leave.
The departure becomes the central historical and religious memory of Passover. The holiday begins on 15 Nisan and is observed through the Seder, whose readings and symbolic foods retell the movement from slavery to freedom. Matzah recalls the haste of the departure, when bread had no time to rise, while bitter herbs represent the hardships of bondage.
A common mix-up is confusing Egypt with Canaan. Canaan is the destination described in the Exodus story—the promised land—not the land from which the Israelites escaped. Babylon is associated with a much later exile, and Persia was the setting of other Jewish historical events, not the Passover Exodus.