Remembering the bitterness of the story, we eat bitter herbs:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל אֲכִילַת מָרוֹר

Blessed are you, God, who makes us holy with your good rules, including the eating of bitter herbs.

REMEMBER THIS DAY, when  you   went out of the Narrow Places, out of the house of bondage, for with a mighty hand, God took  you  out of here.
— Exodus 13:3.

I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
— Psalms 119:45.

We shall live at last as free men on our own soil.
— Theodore Herzl

Freedom often improves with order; thus the Seder:
table-setting, candle-lighting, sacred-making, hand-washing, vegetable-dipping, Matzoh-breaking, question-asking, story-retelling, hand-washing again, motzi/matzoh/maror/Hillel-sandwich-making, EATING!, afikomen-finding, grace-reciting, Elijah/Miriam-welcoming, singing and - having consumed four or five or more cups of wine - hoping for more freedom.

חַד גַּדְיָא, חַד גַּדְיָא

One little goat, one little goat:

Which my father brought for two zuzim.

Then came the cat who ate the goat

Then came the dog who bit the cat

Then came the stick that beat the dog

Then came the fire that burned the stick

Then came the water that quenched the fire

Then came the ox who drank the water

Then came the butcher who killed the ox

Then came the angel of death who slew the butcher

Then came the Holy One, Blessed Be God who smote the angel of death. . .

Washing at this point raises the question: why now?  Is it because slaves had no time to do it? Is it in gratitude for clean water?

Rabbi Elazar said that Rav Oshaya said: Anything that is dipped in a liquid before it is eaten requires the ritual of washing of hands, preventing people from making food ritually impure.
— Talmud Pesachim 115b

Wash this time without a blessing.
— Shulchan Aruch 158:4 

Pour cup of water over one hand three times then the other; pat dry with a nice towel.

Holding up the three matzot from the Seder plate is a reminder that there was no time for yeast in bread-dough to rise - the Israelites did not have time to prepare.

Together all are welcome to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread - now and for generations to come - because it was on this very day that God brought you and I out of the Narrow Places.

This year here; next year hopefully in Jerusalem.

Remembering the ancient Temple sacrifice of this day, break the middle matzoh into two unequal sections.

From the Greek work, "epikomen," which means "that will come after," the larger piece of the broken Matzoh is called the Afikomen.