The seder starts in the same way any other festive meal does: lighting candles, kiddush (קִדּוּשׁ, “blessing over the wine”) and hamotzi (הַמּוֹצִיא, “blessing over the challah”). Once the ‘regular rituals’ are completed, we begin with the seder or the simanim (סִימָנִים, “symbols”). A variety of dishes may be served, centered around specific foods including dates, pomegranates, apples and honey, leeks, beets, and carrots. Using the Hebrew or Aramaic name of the food and connecting the root of this word (see below) to a word with the same root, a blessing is given before eating each food, putting forth a hope for the coming year. To better understand this, we need to understand a bit more about Ivrit.