How Passover got its name

Exodus chapter 12 starts with God describing the Passover Festival with his people.

Passover got its name because at the time, each household had to kill an animal (either a one-year old goat or sheet) and roast it.  The blood from the animal would be smeared on the outside door as a sign to the Angel of Death to "pass over" this house and go on to the next one.  The purpose of this was because God told the Egyptian king that if he did not let his people go out into the desert and worship Him, He would kill the first-born of every Egyptian family, even the king himself.

God also told His people to bake unleavened bread--meaning, bread without yeast.  This may seem mind-boggling at the time, but as the Israelites travelled out into the desert, leaving Egypt behind forever, they did not have time to properly prepare leavened dough.  God knew this and thereby ordered His peope to not waste their time with their usual bread dough.

Through chapter 14, it tells of how the Israelites crossed the Red Sea--parted by God--and the destruction of the Egyptian soldiers who pursued them.  God did this in order for His people to remember the tough journey getting out of Egypt.  They also got to witness God's power and were in awe of it.