Many ancient near eastern cultures celebrated the rebirth of spring as the beginning of the year. Our Passover is actually a combination of two older holidays, and the two names in the Bible for the holiday reflect our dual roots. These two ancient holidays provide the combined symbols of our modern Passover celebration. Later in Jewish history, the story of the Exodus from Egypt, an archetypal struggle for freedom from oppression and slavery, was overlaid onto these older and universal themes of birth, renewal, and sacrifice. Symbols from the older rituals were infused with new meanings connected to the story of Moses and the children of Israel leaving the tyranny of Pharaoh and finding their freedom.
Some people add new symbols to their Seder plate to ensure that the holiday stays fresh and vibrant.
This is a grand bit of urban folklore. Therefore many people place an orange on the Seder plate as a symbol of the sweetness of freedom and equality. A potato . In 1987 thousands of Ethiopian Jews emigrated to Israel. They came from a land of famine and starvation.