From Indian Jews to Jewish Bears: A Passover Photo Gallery

Scenes of the Jewish holiday in its full diversity: refugees, Barack Obama, Jerusalem, the animal kingdom, and more

Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem burn bread and other leavened products as part of the traditional preparations for Passover. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

It's that time of the year: Passover, the Jewish holiday celebrating the story of the Exodus, has arrived. Many Passover traditions—avoiding leavened bread, serving matzah and other symbolic foods, retelling key aspects of the Passover narrative—are more or less constant around the world, but as these photographs show, the traditions can vary wildly in look and feel depending on where they occur. Here's a gallery of Passover celebrations worldwide.

Women in Gondar, Ethiopia, bake unleavened bread to prepare for Passover. Eliana Aponte/Reuters

Barack and Michelle Obama host a Passover Seder, the holiday's traditional meal, in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House. Ho New/Reuters

To prepare for Passover, a worker removes notes from cracks in Jerusalem's Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site. The cleaning was necessary to make room for more notes to God, which are traditionally inserted into the wall. Ammar Awad/Reuters