Samaritans Passover Sacrifice at Mount Grizim

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Sacrificial lambs are butchered, cleaned and roasted in pits.

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Samaritan in prayer during Passover sacrifice ceremony.

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Samaritan men prepare pits as ovens for roasting sacrificial lambs on Passover.

04/18

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Young Samaritans deliver the lambs soon to be sacrificed for Passover. Each family sacrifices a lamb.

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Young Samaritans deliver the lambs soon to be sacrificed for Passover. Each family sacrifices a lamb.

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Samaritan men in conversation awaiting the beginning of the Passover sacrifice.

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Elderly Samaritan men in prayer prior to the Passover sacrifice.

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Elderly Samaritan men in prayer prior to the Passover sacrifice.

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Chief Samaritan Priest Aharon preparing to bless his community for the Passover holiday.

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Young red-headed Samaritan boy. As Samaritans strongly uphold marriage only among themselves there are many red-heads in the community.

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Samaritan men sharpen knives and prepare for the Passover sacrifice.

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The sacrifice of some 50 lambs for Passover takes no more than a minute.

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The sacrifice of some 50 lambs for Passover takes no more than a minute.

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A young Samaritan boy closely watches as sacrificial lambs are butchered, cleaned and roasted in pits.

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Sacrificial lamb internal organs are burned as offerings on the altar. Sacrificial lambs are butchered, cleaned and roasted in pits.

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The Passover sacrifice units the Samaritan community.

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Sacrificial lambs are butchered, cleaned and roasted in pits.

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Sacrificial lambs are butchered, cleaned and roasted in pits.

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The Passover holiday plays an important part in Samaritan tradition. Celebrated at Mount Grizim its climax is the sacrifice of some fifty lambs in which the whole community takes part.

The Samaritans are an ethno-religious group adherent to a religion closely related to Judaism and based on the Samaritan Torah. Their name is based on the Hebrew word shomrim - 'the keepers' (of the law), and they claim their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the Babylonian Exile.

The Samaritans number about 700 today and reside on Mount Grizim in the West Bank and in the Israeli city of Holon.

The Passover holiday plays an important part in Samaritan tradition. Celebrated at Mount Grizim its climax is the sacrifice of some fifty lambs in which the whole community takes part.