Food Meets Art for Passover

Passover commemorates redemption of the Jews from slavery to freedom. The weeklong celebration begins March 31 at sundown, but you can get into the spirit early with this clever beach ball ($8.25) by Shulsinger Judaica Inc. and a huggable matzo ball pillow in the same design ($11). Both items are available at Audrey’s Museum Shop at the Skirball Cultural Center, which holds a Passover Festival for all ages today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The festival will offer cooking contests, special foods and new recipes, as well as Passover melodies to learn for your own Seder. At noon and 2 p.m., the intercultural and multiethnic Alan Eder Ensemble presents “Reggae Passover: Music of the Jewish and African Diasporas.” There will be family art projects, storytelling and traditional Afikoman Hunts for hidden matzo all day. The museum galleries will be open, presenting artist Larry Rivers’ “History of Matzah: The Story of the Jews” and core exhibition “Visions and Values: Jewish Life From Antiquity to America.”

Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. Festival admission: $8; ages 65 and over, $6; children 12 and under, free. (310) 440-4500.