The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1874-04-11
Easter Day.

1
iTaster Sunday is the festival of the
| resurrection of our Lord, or the Chris
tian passover. The English name Eas.
ter and the German name OsteTn, have
been supposed by some writer's to be
derived from the name of the feast OF
the Teutonic goddess Ostera (the god
| dess of spring., which was celebrated
| by the ancient Saxons in the spring,
and for which the early missionaries
| substituted the Christian festival. Ac-
| cording to Adelung, both the English
and German words are derived from the
old Saxon word oster, oste1, which sig
nifes rising, because nature arises anew
In the spring. According to the Mosaic
law, the passover among the Jews was
celebrated on the 18th day of the month
of Abb, afterward called Nissan, that is
within a day or <pxo after the vernal
equinox. The early Christians differed
in regard to the time of celebrating Eas-
ter. The churches in the west, taught,
as they declared, by st. Philip and st.
Parl. observed the neare.t Sunday to
the full moon OF Nissan, without taking
account of the day on which the pass
over was celebrated. The Asiatic church
es, on the other hand, IN accordance, as
they said, with the tradition derived
from st. John, fQowed the Jewish cal
endar, and adopting the 14th of Nisan
as the day of the crucifxion, celebrated
the festival of Easter on the third day
following, whatever day of the week
that might be. From this circumstance
theywere called Quartodecimans. The
dispute on this point in process of time
became serious, and neither side was
able to convince or convert the other.
Matters continued in this state until
the time of Constantine, who had the
subject brought before the Council of
Nice "a. d. $3.50. The question was then
fully discussed, and finally settled for
the whole church, by adopting the rule
which makes Easter day to be always
the first Sunday after the full moon,
sFhich happens upon or next after March
MIST, and if the full moon happen on
Sunday, Easter day is the Sunday af-
ter. BY this arrangement Easter may
come as early as March 22nd, or as late
as April 25th. This sacred festival has
been termed the queen of festivals it
has been observed from the very BEGIN
ming, and it is celebrated In every part
of the Christian world with great SOL
emnity and devotion. The primitive
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 in |
deed, and hath appeared to Simon"
The Greek church still retains this cus-
tom. In nearly all Christian coun-
tries the recurrence 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, which were often elaborately or
Colored eggs were used by |
children at Easter in a sort of game |
which consists in testing the strength |
of the egg shell, and this practice is re- |
tanned in many places in England, the |
United States and Canada. In some |
parts of Ireland the legend is current |
that the sun dances in the sky on Eas- |
ter Sunday morning, This was once a |
superstition also in England. |
The game of ball was a favorite Easter /
sport, in which municipal corporations |
formerly engaged with due parade and |
lippitY: and at Bury. st. Edmund's, |
men. In the northern counties Of Eag \
land on Easter Sunday the men parade |
the streets, and claim the privilege of |
lifting every woman three times from |
the ground, receiving in payment kiss |
or a silver sixpencce. The same was |
done by the women on the next day. |
In England it was common for the boys !
to run about the streets on Easter morn |
ing, crying
q Christ is risen. Christ is risen;
All the Jews must go to prison"
To mark their adherence of Jews
the English used also to make n point
of eating bacon on this festival, but
with it they had tansy pudding, relic
of the bitter herbs of the passover. In
other parts of England, and also in
France, different customs formerly pre-
vailed at this season.