Wearing Grateful Dead-inspired kippot and tie-dye shirts, some 200 people packed the annual Deadhead seder on Saturday to raucously celebrate Passover.
The crowd — mainly baby boomers and Gen Xers — danced to live renditions of Grateful Dead tunes and Passover songs. They also worked their way through “The Deadhead Haggadah” inside the Marin Rod and Gun Club in San Rafael.
Wendy Garf-Lipp, who has been organizing and running the seder for the last decade, said she was “ecstatic that more than 50% of the crowd said it was their first time coming to the seder.”
Deadhead seder shirts and sweatshirts were on sale during the annual event. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Participants dance through the “Red Sea” during the Deadhead seder. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Deadhead seder organizer Wendy Garf-Lipp claps. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
A man waves a streamer while crossing the “Red Sea.” (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
“The Deadhead Haggadah,” created by Wendy Garf-Lipp, shows the Four Questions in various languages, from Spanish to “Valley Girl” — and of course, “Deadhead.” (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Rabbi Shalom Bochner holds up matzah before breaking it to create the afikomen during the Deadhead seder. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
People filled the room at the Marin Rod and Gun Club in San Rafael for the annual event. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
A table at the front of the room was set with a seder plate, matzah and the rest of the seder trappings. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
A man dances mid-seder. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Participants embrace. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
The Deadhead seder uses the “The Deadhead Haggadah,” of course. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
A woman dips her finger in wine during the recounting of the 10 plagues. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Many participants donned 10 plagues masks and party hats. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
A woman dances during the acoustic music set that preceded the Deadhead seder. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
“Some people said it was their first seder they’ve gone to in 20 years,” she added.
Grateful Dead founding member and bassist Phil Lesh, who passed away in 2024, was often a major part of the event in previous years and would read the story of the Exodus. But the spirit of the event lives on.
The haggadah, which Garf-Lipp created, follows the typical order of a seder, including the four cups of wine, the Passover story and a meal. It has its unique additions, though. During the blessing for the first cup, for example, the haggadah references wine both as a form of “mind revelry” and “intoxication” and explores the idea “that no object is intrinsically good or intrinsically bad. Its nature is determined by the way we use or misuse it.”
Garf-Lipp said her favorite part of the haggadah is the rendition of the Four Questions, which features languages ranging from Spanish to French to Klingon to Valley Girl (“Like, why is this night like, totally different from all other nights?”) — and, of course, Deadhead: “Why can’t we eat veggie burritos tonight? Will I be miracled? Will they play ‘The Wheel’? Will Phil sing?”
The event came to a climax during the seder classic “Dayenu.” Instead of merely singing the song, organizers donned costumes and people danced through a “Red Sea” made up of four people ruffling two long blue blankets that represented the waters.
Within minutes, most of the guests rose and danced their way through the sea, waving streamers and waggling egg shakers as they embraced one another with big smiles. Participants continued dancing after the seder to an electric music set that carried into the night.
Colorful kippot, many with Grateful Dead-related imagery, were on display. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Colorful kippot, many with Grateful Dead-related imagery, were on display. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Colorful kippot, many with Grateful Dead-related imagery, were on display. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Colorful kippot, many with Grateful Dead-related imagery, were on display. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Colorful kippot, many with Grateful Dead-related imagery, were on display. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Colorful kippot, many with Grateful Dead-related imagery, were on display. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Colorful kippot were on display at the Deadhead seder. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Available for purchase at the event were kippot that Garf-Lipp had painted with skulls, lightning bolts and colorful images of leaves or rainbows, in part to support the volunteer musicians who played Passover and Grateful Dead tunes for the event.
Garf-Lipp noted the complex times people are living with and offered a solution.
“How do you make peace with your enemies?” she asked during the seder. “You get up and dance with them. Who’s better to get that than Deadheads?”