Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-04-28

| The Origin ~ the Easter r...,-.,
1dsfors Of Kennebte Journal:
Inc article in ynur~paper of Tue.a.r No..
Easier, signed Pascha, needs passing NO.
''.e' l take it that the articles upon Faster
"."c" 'his self constituted authority under.
taxes to criticise, were not written in , nov
row sectarian sense, but dealt viii a,
,."''Ance not the shadow. The Pagan
Egyptian and Persian and Norscmap all had
eyes and intelligence to see in a.
Dndding of the Spring, pronbecv .'e
tne nnai triumph of life over death and
sihgnlarly enough they each set anar,
day in April to rejoice in that v;c,orv
IT was Ahri'nan struggling with Ormuzd !,
was the SUN destroying Darkness; it was the
sood goddess Oestre bringing life from under
.ne snow whatever shape the belief assumed
was prompted by that supreme but feeble
' ncPe IN the soul OF the heather cropping his
lie long for the truth. "When am dead !,
shall not be forever l. too. shall rise aos;, !.
Our Saxon fathers did Worship the goddess
oestre When they renowned idolatrv and
became Christians they attached to the f.a.t
OF the resurrection the name by which they
mad honored the Springtide Of nature.
NO sect has patent-rigit upon
Easter. In the last Edinl,urob and
London edition of Chambers EncvcIopadia
under the head Of Faster we find .smanv of
the popular Observances connected with
Easter are chiefly of pagan origin. The
goddess Oestre seems to have been the per
sonlhcatlon of the morning or East and also
tue opening year or Spring. The worship of
this being seems to have struck deep root in
Northern Germany, and was brought into
M 10 md hx,s l,4
policy the Church endeavored to give a
Christian significance to such of the rites
as could not be rooted out: and in this case
the conversion was particularly easy. Joy
at the rising Of the natural sun. and at the
awaklng OF nature from the death of winter.
became JOY at the rising of the sun of right
eOusness. at the resurrection of Christ from
the grave"
In the Globe Encvclopedia, recently is
sued, edited by DIR. John NJ. Ross. we find
under the head of Easter, .'But neither tracing
the festival to the resurrection of Christ nor
to the Jewish Passover is in any sense going to
the root of the matter. Easter was properly
and originally a heather festival. which
was appropriated BY the church and applied
to the resurrection. The spring equinox was
observed among the ancient nations of the
East as the beginning of the new year, and
among almost all nations as season of great
rejoicing in honor of the sun-god. and of his
return to cOthe the earth W it'll verdure and 'sfil,
mems hearts with food and gladness." He
appeared then to rise triumphant over dark
ness and death, to bring back life and light
to the world. Ii is impossible now a DAYS to
realize how close was the resemblance which
the rites adopted By the Church in honor OF
Christs resurrection bore to those prae-
ficed by the Greeks, Ph9nicians, Syrians,
Egyptians, and many other nations,
in honor of the solar deity, under the name
of Adonis. Dionysus, Thammuz, Krishna.
&c. The church continued the worship of
the Queen of Heaven. condemned by the
prophet Jeremiah (x liv. l7.) by applying it
to the Virgin Mary. under the very same IT,
tie. The rites connected with the death and
resurrection Of Adonis-in which an image
was laid out by women. with all the ceremony
and signs Of grief presented at funerals. but
the next daythe image was taken out of its
sepulchre, as it were, and their sorrow was
turned into joy-were also initiated in the
dramatic representations made bv the church
ut Easter in honor of Christ" We prefer to
follow the authorities cited, rather than
accept the opinion of Pascha.
EASTER.