Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-10
The Jewish Feast of the Pass
over" the Queen Of Festivals.
Controversy Between Christians of jew
ish and Gentle Descent as to
Time of Observance.
Different Customs in Different COuntries-The
sacred Festival deliberately Cele-
brated by the MoTavians.

Easter, from its earliest day, mas Deen
styled the "Queen of Festivals. - The.
primitive Christians. from tkeir close
connection with the Jewish church,
naturally continued to observe Jewish
festivals, of which the principal one was
the 'sFeast of the Passover, - which
celebrated the passing over of the houses
of the children Of Israel IL Egypt by the
destroying angel when be smOte the
Egyptians Easter is the perpetuatiOn
OF the Jewish feast of the Passover,
which, ennobled by the thought of
Christ, the true Paschal Sacrifcial Lamb
the first fruits from the dead-became
the Christian Easter. Even at the pres
ent day Easter is known TO the French as
Paques, to the Italians as Pasqua and to
the Spanish as Pascua, all of which are
derived from the Latin Pascha and the
Greek Parxa, which are Chaldee or Ar
mamaen forms of the Hebrew word
Pesach, signifyinG the passover.
For many years long and bitter con-
troversy ragged between Christians Of
Jewish and Gentle descent as to the
time az which Easter should be observed.
Lent should terminate at the same time
rs the Paschal Feast of the Jews, to
10 which it was analogous, on the four
teenth day of the moon, and that Easter
should immedis tely follow, without re-
gard to the day of the week. Gentle
Christians, on the contrary, maintained
that the first day of the week should be
observed as that of our Lord s resurrec-
ton and the preceding Friday should be
kept as the day of his crucifxion, with
ont regard to the day of the month. By
reason Of their observance OF the four
teenth day Of the moon the former class
were derIsively styled Quartodeeimani,
or fourteen day men, by the latter, who
also stigmatized them as heretics.
These differences were gradually har-
monized by the church at Rome, but
even at the Council of NIcaea, A. D. 1926,
the Syrians and Aatiochenes still de-
clEred themselves in favor of the Jewish
usage. It was partly to settle this con-
tToveTsY that the Emperor Constantine
bad called the council, and its members
finally agreed ''that Easter shall here
after be kept on one and the same day
throughout the world, and none shall
hereafter follow the blindness of the
Jews Thus the Quartodecimani, or
fuorteen day usage, was done away with
hut, though Easter was now universally
Kept on a Sunday, no cycle by which the
date of the festival was to be caIcu-
lated had been agreed upon, and hence
there
WERE WIDE DISCREPANCIES
between the times at which Easter was
celebrated in various place. The church
at Rome established the rule that Easter
should be the first Sunday after the four
teenth day Of the calendar moon, which
happens on or next after March q.
4 cannon of the Fourth Council Of
Orleans, A. D. $40, ordained that Easter
should be kept at the same time by all
according to that rule which was finally
established IN England by Archbishop
Theodore in A. D. 669. More than nine
hundred years later another discrepancy
in the Observance of Easter arose be-
tween the Roman and English churches,
through the refusal of the latter, IN 1882,
20 adopt the Gregorian calendar, but
this difference was reconciled in 1852
when the New StyIe'' was adopted
throughout the United Kingdom. The
churches of Russia and Greece, however,
orally, still observed the old calendar,
so that their Easter occurs sometimes be-
fore and sometimes after that of the
Western church, though very rarely
as in 1865, il fell on the same day. The
old Roman rule for calculating Easter
continues to be observed throughout the
Christian world, by whom our Lord S
resurrection is universally celebrated on
the first Sunday after the fourteenth lay
of the calendar moon, which happens on
or after the March p, the vernal equi-
mex. thus allowing it TO occur as early
as March % or as late as April %.
The name Of Easter, like those of the
days OF the week, Is survival of the old |
TeutOnic mythology. To the Germans it |
was known as OsteTn, and TO the Anglo
SaXons as EastTe or Eostre, o name de- |
rived from Eostre or Ostsra, the Anglo |
Saxon goddess of spring, TO whom the !
fourth month, answering TO our April, |
thence called Eostur Monach, was dedi- |
Gated. The name of this goddess comes !
from the Saxon Oster, TO rise.
Easter customs, sports and super |
stitions afford wide field OF interest. |
While many of them have existed al |
most from the first celebration of this |
festival, and are found among Christians |
OF all nationalities, there are. others |
when are peculiar 10 peoples and |
places.
The Oldest, most familiar and most |
universal of all Easter customs are those |
associated with eggs. Hundreds of years |
before Christ eggs held an important place |
in the theology and philosophy of the /
Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks and /
Romans. among all OF whom an egg was !
the symbol of the universe and the art |
OF coloring it was profoundly studied. |
The sight of street boys striking their |
rival eggs together to see which is the /
strongest and can win the other was as /
common in the streets of Rome and /
Athens two thousand years ago, IL we are /
to believe antiquarians, as it is in any of /
our American cities ct the present day.
These eggs, now called Easter eggs. were (
originally known as Pasche eggs, cor
dupted 10 Paste eggs, because connected
W tn the Paschsl or Passover feast. One
reason for associatiug an egg with the /
day on which our Savior arose from the /
read may be that the little chick,
ENToMBED, so TO SPEAK,
in the egg, aud rising from it into life,
p as regarded as typical OF ascension from I