Elijah’s Cup Passover Craft

Brenda Ponnay, author of the Secret Agent Josephine blog, is a regular contributor to ToriAvey.com. Her craft blogs are kid and family friendly; each project will help children learn the deeper meaning of the Jewish holidays. Today’s craft: Elijah’s Cup for Passover

Elijah’s cup is an important part of Passover Seder. Every year, Elijah the Prophet is invited to the Seder meal. A place is set at the table for Elijah, and we pour a cup of wine in his honor. We decided it would be fun to create a beautiful, crafty wine goblet for Elijah– a craft that children can participate in. While you wrap the colorful string, let little fingers help and tell your children the story of Elijah!

First you will need to gather your supplies:

• natural jute or wool string in several colors
• a paint brush
• an inexpensive wine glass or goblet (I bought the one pictured at a thrift store for 99 cents)
• white craft glue or Mod Podge, and a receptacle for holding the glue
• gems or sequins for decorating the cup (optional)
• scissors
• damp paper towels or wipes for cleaning up sticky fingers

Starting at the top of the glass, paint a liberal stripe of glue all the way around the circumference.

Carefully wrap your first color of string around the top. You can secure the end by overlapping a length of string. Don’t worry too much about loose ends. If you can’t get the end to hold, dab an extra bit of glue onto the end and hold for ten seconds or until it is secure.  Wrap the string around and around, descending with each lap until you you have created a stripe in the width you desire.

Cut off your string and hold it for ten seconds before you start with your next color.

You can overlap your ends with the next color or just wrap the string close enough that there is no visible stop and start. Wherever the string does not feel tight and secure, paint on some extra glue. Don’t worry about it looking messy because your glue will dry clear.

Keep wrapping more stripes of color. As you get to the curve of your glass, it might be easier to turn the glass upside down.

Wrapping the underside of the glass is probably the trickiest part but have patience and apply glue liberally.  It will hold, just wait and see.

Then wrap the stem (the easiest part!) and move onto the base.

Coil your string around and around until you reach the outside of the base. Tuck your end under and apply another dollop of glue. Hold for ten seconds to secure.

If the cup isn’t colorful enough for your taste, you can add sequins and gems. Just dab on some glue and apply wherever you fancy.

When it’s done just let it sit for an hour or so, until it is dry.

Then set your Seder table and wait to see what Elijah will think! I’m sure he’ll find it quite beautiful, especially because it was made with little hands.

Note: If you fill this cup with wine at the Seder table, you will need to rinse it very carefully– best to use a damp cloth to wipe it out, rather than put it under running water. Or, use it as a decorative, symbolic Elijah’s cup. Just be careful if you’re adding liquid or washing the cup, if it touches the jute string on the outside of the cup, the colors may run.

Why is Elijah the Prophet invited to the Seder?

If you are not familiar with the custom of Elijah, the post above from Chabad.org will help to explain the tradition.

To learn more about the Jewish holiday of Passover, click here.

For more Passover craft ideas, click here.