The Portland daily press., 1884-04-12
ave nothing in common with The murderers

day, To the early church, Sunday was the
memorial day of the resurrection. 1t was not
customary in the early church to kneel on Sum-
day, and throughout the Middle Age Sunday
was secular and spiritual holiday. The
abuses of Sunday led TO marked reaction in
England, especially among the Puritans; but
gradually all England has adopted Sunday
celebration which reminds the French or
italian Catholic of the Jewish Sabbath.
Es ster has always been celebrated as the prin-
cipal Sunday of the year. and for natural
reasons the festivities used to eliminate in
Rome. In early times it was customary for
the Pope to begin the celebration Of Easter by
prayer in the basilica of st. Lawrence. From
there he rode on horseback and in a solemn
procession to Santa Maria Msggiore, On the
second day, the Pope oficiated in St. Peters,
on the third in st. Paul's
During the twelfth century the Pope went
to eat the Easter lamb with eleven clerics 10
the Basilica M. Leoniana, the Pope handing
piece OF meat to the officiating priest with
the words. "That thou doest, do quickly"
This custom has been dropped, and in recent
| years the Papal celebration of Easter has been
confined to st. Peters During the Middle
| Age 1t was customary to extinguish the lights
in the churches, and to relight the Easter taper
| from fresh light obtained in front of the
| church. This was called the light of the risen
Christ, and is mentioned by Bede as a custom
found in England. The custom has occasiened
| the following:
On Easter eve the fire all is quenched in every
And FRESH agane from out the flint is fetched with
solemn grace;
The priest doth halow this against great dangers
many one.
A brande whereof doth every man with greedie
mind take home,
That. when the fearful storm appeares or tenn
pests black arrive,
| By lighting this he safe may be from stroke of
hurtful SKIES
| Against the Easter taper in the cathedrals
| there used to rest a tablet on which we're in
scribed the indction, the dominica letter, the
epact, the golden number, and other marks
now found in the church slmanacs. During
| the seventh century Easter was celebrated for
four days; the council OF Constance, in 1884,
limited the festivities to three days, and as
| many days are still observed to some extent in
England, France and Germany But the
| gorgeous celebration of the Roman Easter is
| declining.
| The Greek church has retained some GUS
toms, which the Roman church has dropped
The Russian greeting on Easter morning is
"Christ Is risen;' the answer is ''He is risen
indeed" and kiss. The Greeks in Constan-
tinople make Easter their principal holiday,
and on some of the Greek islands it is GUS
tomary to carry Silenus or some other divin-
| ity in public procession. In Peru the Lord
| OF the Earthquakes" receives special homage
| on Easter Day. Popular Easter festivities
| are still common in France and England. The
Londoners keep Greenwich fair, and in Ger
| many the season of ball playing begins at that
| time. The Paschal tapers have disappeared
In the Protestant countries, and the Catholic
| countries have abandoned the medieval abuse
of telling merry Easter fables in the pulpit.
| These stories were usually taken from the
| New Testament Apocrypha, and received
additions such as suited the taste of the times
| One story was to the effect that two devils
| decided to prevent Christ's descent into he'll,
| and used their long noses to bolt the door,
| But Christ touched the door with His cross,
when the gate few open, and two devils lost
| their long noses The monks intended in that
way to produce the risas pdschalis, OF Pascha
| laughter.
The Easter eggs or pask eggs are common in
England, throughout the Catholic and Greek
| churches, and even in the Orient. The origin
of the custom is probably Oriental, for to this
| day the people of Persia consider the egg as
symbol of the resurrection. The custom of
| presenting Easter eggs to friends and even
strangers, is most commoni in Russia. In Ger
many there is a custom of hiding these eggs
for the benefit of children, and of associating
the yellow Easter eggs with hares, rabbits or
squirrels. 1t is likely that the lamb is not much
associated with Caster, because the Germans
entertain q strong prejudice against the Jews
| The hares may have been substituted on ac-
( count OF their timidity or color. In Osterode,
| at the foot of the Harz mountains, it is Gus
tomary to kill a hare on Easter day, and to
keep up some other customs which illustrate
the close connection between the name Of the
town and the great spring festival In Paris, on
| on the other hand, the Easter eggs are largely
artificial, and in many cases quite costly.
The gentler taste of England and America
confines Easter presents TO pretty cards, which
are circulated by the hundred thousand. The
connection between these cards and the pain
ted eggs is readily traced. Thus our pretty
Easter cards may have been suggested by the
Easter eggs, and these were first employed in
the Orient. Possibly, the beginning of spring
was celebrated by the giving away of painted
eggs before the Christian era.
Many Raster customs of which mere relics
are found in Europe, are probably due to the
fact that during the larger part of the Christ
ian era the secular year began about Easter.
May-day was treated as the beginning of sum-
mer,b but the ideas of the resurrection of spring
or So miner, and of new secular year were
often Joined. Maying and Easter thus became
| rivals; but the latter proved to be the victor.
The popular customs of May-day and Easter
| still have something in common lat least in the
north of EDglsnd, to which Francis Bennock
| alludes in the following stanzas:
From edges of the dusky shade
That canopes the restless town,
Came frooping many youth and maid,
With fash ng face and tresses brown.
High hopes have they. their hearts to please,
They seek the wildwood's haunted dell;
They laughing come, by twos and threes,
But chiefly twos, mark them WE'LL
So trinity drest, so blithe and gay,
With them it seems tits always May,
They steep their kerchiefs in the dew;
| Then follow wonjrous wringpgs out;
AS winged seeds we're blown, they knew
What aggard lovers were about.
Some pluck the glowing leaves to learn
| II love declared be love sincere;
Or in red ragged streaks discern
! Love lost, and virtues burning tear
y. love is earnest though in play,
When comes the loveinciiing May.
With hawthorn blooms and specKled shells,
Chaplets are twined for blushng brows;
While gypsies work their magic spells,
And lovers pledge their deathless VOWS,
Then round and round with many bound
They tread the mystic fairy ring
The silent woods have voices found,
And ecboing chorus while they sing.
with shout and song and dance and play
We welcome In the peerless May
The shells here referred to are the egg shells
OF Easter. and prove certain connection be-
tween that day and the first of May. In a SIM
liar way the dew gathered in the north of
England on the morning of May.dav ia iden-