The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-09-03
fEASTS AND FASTS.

fEASTS AND fASTS.
The Unaccountable Scarcity of Feas. Days
IN the United States Compared With the
Days of Rejoicing Observed by Other Ma
tiOns.
There is an inherent love of festivals
aud feastS in human nature, desire to
express JOY, and that not in solitude. but
surrounded by sympathetic friends; a
desire to experience pleasure. and to
experience it unselfishly, shared by
everyone within reach; a desire. posi-
bly,, to make ourselves one in our Joy
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 tho period of the
celebration of the Greek games, which
really had Their origin far back in myth
ical times, the Olympic games kept alive
a common interest between all the
Greek States, and had much to do with
the existence and preservation of a ma
tional 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
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 treasure. The Jews had an i'm
menSe variety of feastS, all of 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 Dedica-
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 witE
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 riotous
living of feasts. The Jews had at first
but one fast, that of the Atonement,
which they kept with great severity.
although later the Pharisees were wont
to fast every Monday and Thursday.
The Egyptians. PhrnicianS and Assy-
rians all kept their fasts and the Mo
hammedans keep the whole of the
ninth month, Ramadan. most strictly,
neither eating nor drinking, however
great their suffering. from sunrise till
starshine The Sibyllne books ordered
fast to be kept every fifth year IN
honor of Ceres. And with the Holy
Orthodox 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 hun
dred and SiXty-siX days of the year a
days of fast. Every one. meanwhile, is
familiar with the customs of lhe re-
ligiouS SectS about us. and with our own
national feaStS and fastS.
1t is certainly astonishing how very
few national feasts we have, on the
whOle-the more astonishing that in
or great pleasure of business, and
rapid deed and thought, we need rest
and relaxation more than most. Christ
mas is not universally kept among us,
nor is New Years; we make nothing of
the Sth of January or of the 22d of FEB
ruary, a little bell-ringing or few guns
comprising the most of our observance
i nf thnsn ArNri a.
of the battle of Lexington till after it
has passed; and we content ourselves
with a sorry and solemn parade that
can not be called feast, if it can not
be called fast, on Decoration Day.
/ The anniversary of tho battle of Bunker
Hell has sometimes Q. good send of III
New England and sometimes not
seldom anywhere else; and in truth we
lie back and reserve all our strength
for the Fourth of July. and now we eel
ebrate that and now we don't. And
when we do celebrate. we have not
much idea Of doing so other than with
cannons and with flags, fire-crackers
and torpcdOeS, by day, and the blue
lights and their kind by night-musc,
flowers. and the gentler arts seeming tc
lis of insufficient import to turn to eX-
terror use.
1t is rather pity that We rest so con
tentedly, as people, with so few op-
portunities of general merry making
and acquaintanceShip 1t would not be
amiss, at all events. if in the sweet
spring and early summer season we
| made the most of the chance that comes
to us in pleasant weather and turned il
to account in general social ways. II
the 10Th of April. that initial day of oul
independence Of Kings and Crowns. can
not be made of much practical outdoor
use on account of the inclemency of that
part of the year, yet the 18th of June,
when we first discovered that farmers
with their rusty weapons could hold the
trained regulars of the King in check.
can not claim any such immunity, foI
winds are soft and skies are blue and
roses are in blossom then, and all things
fnvite to joy and its expression. YET
however it be with those days. the heart
that does not beat more quickly on the
Fourth of July. and does not wish tc
! celebrate it even when it is impossible
TO do so, if by no more than doing rev.
erence to the flag, ought to beat in some
more ipnOble bosom than an Amer.