Editing Passover (section)

===Barley harvest plus Exodus narrative===
A further hypothesis maintains that once the [[Priestly Code]] was promulgated, the Exodus narrative took on a central function, as the apotropaic rite was, arguably, amalgamated with the [[Canaan]]ite agricultural festival of spring which was a ceremony of [[unleavened bread]], connected with the [[barley]] harvest. As the Exodus motif grew, the original function and symbolism of these double origins was lost.<ref>{{cite book|first=Tamara|last=Prosic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BVCvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23|title=The Development and Symbolism of Passover|publisher=A&C Black|year=2004|pages=23–27|isbn=978-0567287892|access-date=April 23, 2016|archive-date=April 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403035020/https://books.google.com/books?id=BVCvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23|url-status=live}}</ref> Several motifs replicate the features associated with the [[Akitu]] spring festival of [[ancient Mesopotamian religion]], which celebrates the sowing of&nbsp;barley.<ref>Prosic, p.&nbsp;28</ref> Scholars [[John Van Seters]], [[Judah Segal]], and [[Tamara Prošić]] disagree with the merged two-festivals hypothesis.<ref>Prosic pp.&nbsp;28ff., 32ff.</ref>