Before we break the matzah in two and the children ask the Four Questions, we dip some veggie into saltwater and eat it.

In Hebrew, Karpas actually means parsley, which many people actually use. Among Chabad families, it is customary to use raw onion or boiled potato.

The Hebrew letters of the word Karpas, when reversed, read samach [the Hebrew letter samach has a numeric value of 60] and perech [meaning exhausting work], alluding to the sixty myriads of Jews subjected to harsh labor.