Time to Hide the Matzah

April 13, 2006

At every seder table, three pieces of matzah on a plate are covered with a special cloth, called a matzah cover. Early in the seder, before the retelling of the Passover story, the middle piece is taken out, held up for all to see, and then broken in half. The larger piece - the afikomen - is wrapped in a napkin, or placed in its own special bag, and hidden.

At the end of the Passover meal, all the children run to look for the afikomen. The winner gets a prize, which might be chocolate "gelt" or a silver dollar. It is a nice custom for the winner to give pieces of the afikomen to the other children, so that they can "sell" back their pieces to the leader for a prize as well. The afikomen is then eaten as the last food of the seder - as the dessert.

Here's an afikomen bag for younger children to make.

You Will Need: one quart-sized plastic bag that zips closed with no writing on it; 2x4-inch piece of paper, on which you have written the word "afikomen"; one roll of colored masking tape; a piece of white paper cut to the same size as the inside of the plastic bag; various colors of sticky tape, cut into squares, rectangles, circles and triangles; stickers - look for Jewish stars or special Passover ones; markers and/or crayons.

First, attach the word "afikomen" to the outside of the plastic bag by neatly framing it with colored masking tape.

Decorate the piece of paper cut to fit inside the bag with sticky tape, stickers, markers and crayons.

Place this decorated paper inside the plastic bag. Use this to hold your piece of afikomen.

Older children can try making this felt afikomen bag.

You Will Need: two 9x12-inch pieces of felt; a hole punch; a piece of yarn, about 45 inches long; masking tape; precut sticky- backed felt letters spelling "afikomen" or cut your own out of peel-and-stick felt; Passover shapes and decorations cut out of sticky tape (use the template shape below); fabric markers and puffy paint.

First, put the two pieces of felt together, and punch holes an inch apart along the two sides and the bottom edges. Adult assistance may be needed.

Wrap a small piece of masking tape around one end of the yarn, so it looks like a shoelace.

Starting with the top left or right hole, make a knot with the yarn, and sew around the three sides of the felt pieces using a running or saddle stitch. Make another knot at the end and cut off the extra yard.

Attach the stick-backed felt letters to the front of your felt pocket to spell out afikomen.

Decorate the front of the felt bag using fabric markers, puffy paints and sticky felt shapes.