The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-09-05
FEASTS AND FASTS,

in the United States Compared with til |
Days of Rejoicing Observed by Other Ma |
tions.
There is an inherent love of festival
| and feasts in human nature, a desire tt |
express joy, and that not in solitude bu
surrounded by sympathetic friends; Il
desire to experience pleasure, and til
| experience it unselishly, shared b,
| everyone within reach; desire, posi-
| bly,, to make ourselves one in our 10,
with all the surrounding human race
It's 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 cl
really had their origin far back in myth
ical times. the Olympic games kept alivl
common interest between all the
| Greek States, and had much to do witt
the existence and preservation of ma
/ tlonal feeling, while so important were
they deemed in this regard that the yea
! OF their revival, some eight hundree
| years before our era, was used as
chronological period from which tt
/ 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
| million of men and women were present
while the East Indians still make theil
! festivals quite beyond the usual range
| of our imaginationS with numbers ane
with treasure. The Jews had an i'm.
mense variety of feasts, all of a sacred
nature, among them being the Sabbath.
| the Passover, the PeRtecost, the Feasl
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 dcath-the Feast OF
| Tabernacles, the Purim and the Dedica.
ton; while the Christian Church has,
with others, its Advent, Christmas,
Epiphany, Easter and Whitsuntde. all
| joyous spiritual feasts.
! But Just As strong a tendency with
humanity as that to fest walls is that tc
fasts. Indeed. with many, there may
! be preference as to the latter. OWNS
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 Phar sees were wont
! to fast every Monday and Thursday.
The Egyptians, PhUnicians and Assn.
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 SibylSHe books ordered
a fast to be kept every fifth year in
! honor Of Ceres. And with the Holy
Orthodox Church of the East, the Fas'
of the Mother of God begins the 1st o.
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 the re
| lgiOus sects about us. and with our own
national feASts and fastS.
| 1t is certainly astonishing how vcrv
few national feasts we have. on the
whole-the more astonishing that in
our 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 9Th OF January or OF the 22d Of Feb
ruary, little bell-r0ging or few guns
| composing the most of our observance
of those days; we forget the April day
OF the battle of Lexington till after il
has passed; and we content ourselves
! with sorry and solemn parade that
can not be called feast, if it can not
be called a fast, on Decoration Day.
The anniversary of the battle of Bunker
Hill has sometimes good send of in
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
citrate 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 torpedoes, by day, and the blue
lights and their kind by night-music,
flowers. and the gentler arts seeming to
us of insufficient import to turn to ex-
terror use.
1t is rather pity that we rest so con-
tentediy, as a people, with so few OPP
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 it
to account in general social ways II
the 18th of April, that initial day of our
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, for
winds are soft and skies are blue and
roses are in blossom then, and all things
invite 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 to
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 ignoble bosom than an Amer
lean s.-Harper'S Bazar.
Presence of Aind.