Though originating and celebrated widely in the Sephardic community (Jews of Mediterranean background), a small number of North American Ashkenazi Jews (those of Eastern European background) have started celebrating this festival in recent years.

Tonight, families will be filling the cities parks, many with tent and will welcome anyone who walks by. In case you didn't gain some "kilos" during Passover, you have a good chance of doing so tonight!

Theories About Its Origins

The Moroccan Jews are known for Mimouna, the exuberant festival held on the evening and day after Passover, and whose origins are unclear. According to one explanation, it is the yahrzeit (anniversary of the death) of Maimon ben Joseph, the father of the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, also known by his acronym Rambam), a scholar in his own right who lived in Fez (Morocco) and wrote on Jewish-Islamic relations. He died around 1170.

Others say Mimouna is derived from the Arabic word for wealth and good fortune (literally “protected by God,” ma’amoun). Since Passover is the beginning of the new agricultural year, when the world is judged for produce, it is a time to pray for plentiful crops, symbolic of general prosperity.

Still others connect Mimouna with the word emunah (“belief”), claiming it celebrates belief in Israel’s redemption. Along the same lines, there is also support (said to be traced to Maimonides’ explanation) for the word being an Arabic adaptation of the phrase Ani ma’amin (I believe), the classic expression of faith in the coming of the messiah (ana for ani, placed after the verb ma’amin, as is common in Arabic, yielding ma’amin ana, which became maimouna in the local Judeo dialect). It may have been a greeting exchanged to bolster one another’s disappointment that Passover had come and gone without the long-anticipated return to Jerusalem.