The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1880-03-12
re so blended that it battles our further re.

are so blended that it battles our further re.
search
! In Spanish towns vehicles of any descrip-
ton are not allowed to be driven through
the streets on Good Friday
| EASTER.
The three great festivals of the Christian
Church are Christmas Day. Easter Sunday
and Whitsuntidc. The first is fixed as to
time, December 25th being always celebrated.
The two latter are movable feasts Easter
Sunday is the first Sunday after the full moon
Of March.
Easter Sunday, March 2Sth this year, COM
memorates the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and from the very dawn of Church
history has been regarded as the Queen of
| Christian festivals 1t has been called the
Paschal Feast, being observed about the time
of the Jewish Passover Feast. 1t was like
wise known as the Great Day. The word
Easter is supposed by some to be derived from
| the Saxon word Eost'e, the name of Saxon
God, whose festival was also celebrated about
the Easter time Others claim its derivation
from Oster, another Saxon word, meaning
Rising, which is the more appropriate
In the infant days of the Church it was the
| custom for Christians TO salute each other on
Easter Sunday with, Christ is risenr The
response being, Christ is risen indeed !" or
And hath appeared unto Simon" This
Easter salutation is still the custom of the
Greek Church.
Much diversity of opinion existed in the
earlier days of the Church as to the proper
time for the celebration of the Lords resur-
recton from the dead Through the efforts
of the Emperor Constantine the council of
Nice, A. d. 1926, settled the question by the
adoption of the following rules for the gov
eminent of the Church.
l. THAT the 2lst day of March shall be
accounted the Vernal equinox.
.. "That the full moon happening upon
or next after the twenty first of March, shall
he taken for the full moon of Nisan
B THAT the Lords day next following
that full moon he Easter day.
4. But if the full moon happens upon a
Sunday, Easter Sunday shall he the Sunday
after"
The object OF these particular rules was to
| fix day for universal celebration by the
Church and to.prevent Easter from falling
| on the same day as the festival of the Jewish
Passover. In the latter the rules have failed,
| for they occurred together on the 14th of
April, 1905, and again on April 3d. 1925 and
will again occur ON the same days in 1909,
| 1923 1927 and 1881. The Jewish festival
| usually occurs in Holy Week, never before
tiit -Vtii vi 4ftUi'u WI tlC SDtH Vi april.
| Easter Sunday cannot occur before the 22d of
March or later than the 25th of April In
1861 and 1918 the full moon occurred on Sat
urday, March 2lst; Sunday, March 22d, being
Easter Sunday. There will not be similar
| occurrence before the Goth century, In 1915
and 1916 Easter Sunday occurred on the 23d
| of March, and will do so again in 1913. In
1886 and 1913 Easter Sunday will occur on
April 25th, the only times during the present
and next century.
Easter governs all the other movable
feasts of the Christian Church. Formerly
the Easter services were continued for eight
days; in the 18th century they were reduced
to three days but now to two days, Sunday
and Monday. The baptismal rite was usually
performed during the Easter season slaves
were freed, and it was specially devoted to
almsgiving
Easter Sunday is celebrated with cxtraor-
binary pomp and splendor at Rome, the GER
emonies being witnessed by thousands. The
Pope otficiates at the celebration of mass in
ST. Peters, and is accompanied and sur
| rounded by unusual pomp and CEREMONY
His Holiness, seated in his chair of state, is
borne into the Cathedral upon mems should
ers. His robes glittering with gold are of
unusual splendor and magniicence A gid
ed cap, representing in its form the spiritual
and temporal powers and their union, is
worn upon his head. The .tlaJeli, large os-
trich feather fans, the eye-like parts seeming
almost to have the power of vision, and sig
nifying the vigilance of the church, are car
ried beside him n canopy of the richest silk
and fringe is held over him, and with this
pomp and ceremony he is carried to the high
altar. After mass he is again lifted upon the
shoulders of men in his chair of state, with
the same grandeur and ceremony borne
through the crowded church to the balcony
over the central doorway, where standing,
and surrounded by all the high church digni-
| taries, he pronOunces the benediction with
absoution and indulgences The Easter day
services are decidedly the most imposing of
| the season.