The seder is a way for each participant to relive the Exodus as a personal spiritual event. 

The  seder is of a religious nature with a carefully prescribed ritual that makes the dinner quite unlike family dinners held on civil holidays.  The ritual is laid out in the haggadah, a book that is followed during the seder.
The head of the family  begins the ceremony by sanctifying the holiday with a benediction (Kiddish) over a cup of wine. In all, four cups of wine (arba' kosot) will be drunk at certain intervals.
After all have washed their hands, the master of the seder presents celery or another raw vegetable (karpas) dipped in vinegar or salt water to all participants.
Then a shank bone, symbolic of the Paschal lamb eaten in ancient times, 

and (commonly) a hard-boiled egg, symbolic of God's loving kindness (or, according to some, a mournful reminder of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem), are removed from the seder plate, while all recite a prayer. 
After a second cup of wine is poured, the youngest child asks four standard questions about the unusual ceremonies: 
"Why does this night differ from all other nights? For on all other nights we eat either leavened or unleavened bread; why on this night only unleavened bread? 
On all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs; why on this night only bitter herbs? 
On all other nights we need not dip our herbs even once; why on this night must we dip them twice? 
On all other nights we eat either sitting up or reclining; why on this night do we all recline?" 
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