The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-04-01
Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday.
To-day is Easter Sunday, and we tax,
from the New American C~yclopedia the fol.
loEing abridged account Of the Easter fes-
tIval; The English name Easter and The
German Ostern have been supposed by some
writer's to have been derived from the name
Of the feast Of the Teutonic Goddess Osiera
tthe Goddess of Spring., which was ceIebra-
ted by the ancient ssxons in the spring,
and for which the early missionaries sub
stituted the Christian festival. According
to Adelung, both the English ami the Ger
man words are derived from the old Saxon
word ester, Ostsn, which signifies rising, be-
cause nature arises anew in the spring.
According to the Mosaic law, the Passover
among the Jews was celebrated on the l4th
day Of the month Abb, afterwsr6 called
Nisan, that is, within a day or two before or
after the Vernal equinox. The early Chris
tians differed in regard to the time Of eele-
braling Easter. The churches in the West,
taught, as they declared, by st. Philip and
ST. Paul, observed the nearest Sunday to
the full moon of Nissan, without taking ac-
count Of the day on which the Passover was
celebrated. The Asiatic churches, on the
other Eand, in accordance as they said, with
the tradition derived from st. John, fol-
lowed by the Jewish calendar, and adopting
the l4th of Nissan as the day of the cru
ei6xion, celebrated the festival Of Easter on
the Sd day following, whatever day of the
week that might be. From this circum-
stance they were called Quartodecimsus.
The dispute on his point in process of time
Became serious, and neither side was able
to convince or convert the other. The ven
cradle Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, went
to Rome, A. D. I55, and had q conference
with Anicetus on this subject. Forty years
later, Victor, bishop Of Rome, was appealed
20, and was very ~pereDPtory in requiring
the Asiatic bishops to conform to the rule
OF the western church. This they refused
to do, and Polycrates Of Ephesus, in behalf
Of his brother bishops, sent Victor word
that they had resolved to maintain the Gus
tom which they had received from their
fathers. Victor then went so far as to break
of communication with the eastern church
ss, for which he was rebuked by St. Ireneus
Of Lyons. After this the contending par
ties agreed to maintain their respective Gus
toms and practices on this subject, with
out censuring one another. Saving oc-
casional disputes, matters continued
in this state until the time Of Con-
s~tantine, who had the subject brought be-
fore the council Of Nice "a. D. $3.50 The
question was fully discussed, and finally
settled for the whole church by adopting
the rule which makes yesterday to be al
ways the first Sunday after the full moon
which happens upon or next sfter March
q; and if the full moon happen 0 N a
Sunday, yesterday is the Sunday after.
By this arrangement, Easter may come as
early as March p, or as late as April 2j.
This sacred festival has been termed the
queen Of festivals; it has been observed
from the very beginning, and it is celebrated
in every part Of the Christian world with
great solemnity and devotion. The primi-
tive Christians very early on the morning
Of Easter saluted each other with the words,
"Christ is risen," to which the response
was made, "Christ is risen indeed, and
hath appeared to Simon" The Greek
church still retains this custom. In
nearly all Christian countries the recur-
renee of Easter has been celebrated
with various ceremonies, popular sports,
and superstitions. Among the best
known is the English custom of
making presents of colored eggs, called
pasche or paste eggs, which were often
deliberately o~rnamented, aad in a royal roll
Of the time of Edward l., preserved in the
tower, appears an entry Of lSd for 400 eggs
to be used for this purpose. Colored eggs
we're used by children at Easter in a sort of
which consists in testing the strength
of the egg-shells, and this practice is re-
tanned in many places in England and the
United States. In some parts of Ireland
the legend is current that the sun dances
in the sky on Easter Sunday morning. This
was once a prevailing superstition in Eng
land also, which Sir Thomas Browne, the
Of ENQUIRY into Vulgar Errors"
thought il not superiuous to declare un-
founded. The game of ball was a favorite
Easter sport, in which municipal corpora
tons formerly engaged with due parade and
dignity; and at Bury St. Edmund's within
a few years the game was kept up with
great spirit by IL old women. In the
Northern counties of England on Easter
Sunday the men parade the streets and
claim the privilege of lifting every woman
three times from the ground, receiving IN
a kiss or a silver sixpence. The
same Is done by the women to the men on
the next day. In a part of 0xfordshire, af
ter evening service on Easter Sunday, men
and women used, as late as 1922, TO throw
great quantities Of spples into the church
ward. and those who had been married du-
ring the year threw three times as many as
rest after which all went 10 the minis
ter's house aud feasted on bread, cheese,
and ale. A less innocent custom once pre-
vailed in France of stoning Jews at this
season and Dulaure in his "History of
Paris tells us that Almeric, v~iscount de
R~ochechounrd, having visited Toulouse at
Easter, the chapter of st. Etienne appoint.
ed his chaplain Hughes 10 beat a Jew IN his
honor, an office which was performed so
zealously that the victim expired on the
spot. In England it was common for the
boys TO run about the streets on Easter
morning crying:
Christ /, risen, Christ is risen,
All the Jews must 20 TO PRISON.
To mark their abhorence Of Jews, the Eng
lish used also to make a point of eating ba-
con on this festival, but with it they hEd
tnnsy pudding, n relic of the bitter herbsof
the passover.
ALARM OF FIRE A false alarm Of tre oc-
Iu ,,o-,f,v ahn,t half mast |