St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1885-10-10
FEASTS AND FASTS.

Tho Unaccountable Scarcity of Feast Day,
In the United States Compared With tn,
| Days of Rejoicing Observed by Other Ma
tions.
There is an inherent love of festival.
and feasts in human nature, a desire t.
express JOY. and that not in solitude, bu,
surrounded by sympathetic friends; q
desire to experience pleasure. and tc
experience it unselfishly, shared by
everyone within reach; desire, posi-.
bly. to make ourselves one in our ioy
with all the surrounding human race.
1t IS certain, at any rate, that public
festivals do that work for the time be-
ing; for as long ago as the period of the
celebration of the Greek games, VIII oh
really had their origin far back in myth
zeal times. the Olympic games kept alive
. common interest between all the
Greek States, and had much to do with
the existence and preservation of ma
tlonal feeling, while so important were
they deemed in this regard that the year
OF their revival, some eight hundred
years before our era, was used as a
chronological period from which to
date.
The Romans had fixed. movable and
occasional feasts; the Egyptians made
them of such moment that it is recorded
of one that nearly three-quarters of a
million of men and women were present;
while the East Ind ans still make Their
festivals quite beyond the usual range
OF our imaginations with numbers and
with Tia
mense variety of feasts. all of a sacred
nature. among them beng the Sabbath,
the Passover, the Pentecost. the Feast
OF Trumpets-marking day on which
every ones doom for eternity was sup
posed to be set down. although with
mitigating possibilities. in the case of
disastrous doom, should repentance
take place before death-the Feast of
TabernacleS. the Purim and the Detlica.
ton; while the Christian Church has,
with Others, its Advent, Christmas.
Epiphany, Easter and Whitsuntide, all
Joyous spiritual feasts.
But Just as strong a tendency will
humanity as that to festivals is that to
fasts. Indeed. with many. there may
be preference as to the latter, owing
to feeling that after duly keeping fast
one can enjoy more freely the ro,ous
living of feasts. The Jews had at first
but one fast. that of the Atonement,
which they kept with great severity.
although later the Phar.sees were wont
to fast every Monday and Thursday.
The Egyptians, Ph9nicians and Assy-
rians all kept their fasts and the Mo-
keep the whole of the
ninth month, Ramadan, most strictly,
neither eating nor drinking. however
great their suffering. from sunrise till
starshine. The Skyline books ordered
. fast to be kept every fifth year in
honor OF Ceres. And with the Holy
Church of the East, the Fast
OF the Mother of God begins the 1st OF
August and lasts fourteen DAYS, that
Church in especial keeping two hum
dred and siXty-six days of the year as
days of fast. Every one. meanwhile, is
familiar with the customs of the re-
ligious sects about us. and with our own
national feaSts and fasts.
1t is certainly astonishing how very
lew national feasts we have. on the
Nhole-the more astonishing that in
our great pleasure of business. and
rapid deed and thought. we need rest
md relaxation more than most. Christ
mas is not universally kept among us.
1or is New Years; we make nothing of
he Sth of January or of the 22d of Feb.
'uary, little bell-ringing or a few guns
comprising the most of our observance
If those days; we forget the April day
If the battle of Lexington till after it |
las passed; and we content ourselves
With sorry and solemn parade that
IAN not be called feast. if it can not /
DC called a fast, on Decoration Day.
he anniversary of the battle of Bunker |
I'LL has sometimes a good send. off in
New England and sometimes not !,
seldom anywhere else; and in truth we
lie back and reserve all our strength |
or the Fourth of July, and now we eel |
,brate that and now we don't. And |
when we do celebrate, we have not
much idea of doing so other than with |
lannon's and with flags, firc-crackers
md torpedoes, by day, and the blue
ights and their kind by night-music,
lowers, and the gentlcr arts seeming to
IS of insufficient import to turn to ex-
criOr use.
1t is rather pity that we rest SO con-
as n people, with so few OPP
'ortunities of general merry making
nd acGuaintanceship 1t would not be
miss. at all events. if in the sweet
pring and early summer season VIC
made the most of the chance that comes
0 us in pleasant weather and turned it
0 account in general social ways. II
he 18th of April, that initial day of our
of Kings and Crowns. can
ot be made of much practical outdoor
sc on account of the inclemency of that
art of the year, yet the 18th of June,
Then we first discovered that farmers
nth their rusty weapons could hold the
rained regulars of the King in check.
an not claim any such immunity, for
Tinds are soft and skies are blue and
oses are in blossom then, and all things
lvite to JOY and its express on. Yet
Owever it be with those DAYS. the heart
nat does not beat more quickly on the
ourth of July, and does not wish to
CELEBRATE it even when it is impossible
, do so, if by no more than doing rev.
renee to the flag, ought to beat in some
lore ignoble bosom than an Amer.
an s.-Harper's BaEar.
Presence Of Mind.