The Feast of Pesach ("Passover") is one of the three Jewish pilgrim festivals on which pilgrimages have been made to Jerusalem since Biblical times. In the Temple which stood there until 70 CE, gifts were brought from the harvest. Outside Israel, Pesach is celebrated for eight days between 12 and 22 Nisan (March/April), and the middle four days are known as semiholidays. The festival commemorates the Exodus of Jews from slavery in Egypt. The festival begins with a family meal called Seder, with readings from the Pesach Haggadah telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt as a decisive salvation. The festival is epitomised by the matzo, a form of unleavened bread, since the abruptness of the departure from Egypt had left no time to allow the bread to be leavened. No leavened bread may be eaten during the eight days of the festival, nor may bread or other food containing yeast be stored in the house. Cooking and eating vessels are either changed over or if possible ritually cleansed.