New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-04-17
OLD EASTER DAYS.
HOW THEY WERE HONORED AND ENJO1ED
SOMETHING ABOUT EGGS AND OTHER ACCOM-


Of all the many festivals which brighten the Chrsn'
| calendar Christmas and Easter are uniVers'''
counted the most important and assuredly te o'.
ioyous The place OF absolute pre- emlnence i'uS'' -
course be given to Christmas, yet on one u.
! Easier is likely 70 be the more gladly grce'eu' III ~
il marks the end Of the season OF penltehcc anu '"
Tho time IS altogether so significant and so many anu
such carried customs and beliefs have come 10 hiarh
It's recurrence that anything like complete ACCOUNT VI
tho would be impossibe within the limits OF one NEWS
paper article and It will perhaps be more Satisfactory
IN consider only two three in an easy hoDuN man
ner than TO try to find out and expose all Vi '.o' "
view By the latter course this column wOu'o peooihe
mere catalogue. ., 1900
Easter enjoys distinction among the days OF the year
by the uncertainty OF It's time Of recurrence ana uie
t,ouble that ITS determination has caused some
other DAYS are likewise movable. but the most oi them
depend on Easter, and when that is deterhcu inc cs'
are easy To one who has never made speclai s'uuS
OF the subject the fixing of Easter Is extremely
| pnzzlnG Tie rules are given at large IN several
valuable which may be consulted on the SUBJECT
ut by far the easiest and most certain way 10 aScer
taIn when Easter will fall Is TO look In the almanac.
A problem simpler to pursue, II less exact IN It's
results f. that OF the origin and meaning OF the name
| and OF the day. The name Is gthcrals "sor'pou ~
| Eostrc the AngoSaxton Goddess Of aplhe' supposed
10 be the same AStartc. whose festival occurred at
about this time II is attributed TO the VOID o'ter
meaning rising" roth theories ore no doubt correct
Thu, there K something about the word which means
rising is cea- from the word east for the place
where the -un rises and the word yeast, the III
gre.l,ent which makes bread to rise. bu there was
doubtless some thought Of rising alo In relation 10
the GODDESS and her festival. Nearly all these Oh
olSeryances had their origin In recognition OF the forces
and changes OF nature and 1t wa' at th's Tune tnat
the NE and promise the year from the entomo
ment OF the winter Christianity appropriately tunci
IL to Il festival Of the resurrection OF the Christ.
4 good derl Of argument has been expended on the
ouc.on a, 10 whether the sun dances at It's rising on
| Easter morning The belief that II ola was ones
firmly established and 1t still holds Ito ground TO some
oxtcut IN Ireland IL used 10 be the custom for people
IN get ND on Easter morning and 20 out into tie hed5
I'm large parties O this phenomenon ana "l'ic''o'
| that II really occurred wcTc ~ no means "aluls
| W Hone in The Every Day Book goes mo "'c
subject fully and seriously. lie nys that nobody can
hear 70 look straight at tic without any obS'urins
| medium and that If one tries to do 20 the sun WI"
ol,yoys seem TO move little on Easter or any otn'r
day. lie als refors to the habit OF lo"hhe ior 'V
rejection Of the in some spring or p"'', "'''c wv
| motion Of the water would give The hmsc ''c "PP'
nnce Of dancing sir Thomas Brown Is uouo.'u
about This rs alout 30 many Of Oh" popular bche's
Of m. day and his rcfutntlon Of II IS 80 ingenious "
| Nautical even for him. that H. Is worth quoting
We shall not. hope. dispaasc ihe Ic,i'rscu,u ~
our Ecdccmcr II We say Ia 'un l,m mI, osseni
| F,.tcr Day knd though We would "iInhEN "'s.'
| uDt, any ,ympathccal cNuatOn, YET o"u.p. 49,
ceiye therein any more than trlpic"i -, Tn,.
| Wb.ti,.r ouy such motion there we're III uiit unt
trcn christ oro.r scripture hath not revealed which
hath been puuctual In Other records 'ohoer.S ~ Tho
,vrnces. and the ArcOpa e. that wa. AnaI''l ~ Wy
lin took M notice Of ri,. md II meiapho1cu
expression, 80 far We may b" Uoa ~ Hny ,h1t
ony that on danced. but TWO arose tnat ia, IL.
Nm nppearod NJ III, nativity and darkness ~ ls
death night at hh fGr GvS1 a hy fni Oh
cny that The hr tc TIM 1 the aarK n se' a S
the cart there VA, light bcheH,h II HUI "''O
| hat hell was dark II lie were In H.
one ~ the most ancient and to this dny most con
slant and conspicuous associations ~ Faster Is 'la'
| OF egg The association h"gnn 80 long ago 'h'V "o
o,v can have any notion 81 when 1t was. aud II seems
| a. c,oee now ns ever. Pace pasch eggs ana
mat, egg. have been common designations. ana tHTc
have been numerous other pcllnSS. but they all mean
pa.clal eggs ard the word has reference TO inc fas
| oyer To day the couicconers window OF New YORK
ore full u eggs Of all sizes made OF eVery,mhs ua,
egg. can l.. made Of and dled with everything uli'
| cgrs nerd ha filed with Tile use OF eggs NJ .'o
Faster festival was old before II was adopted W 'o
Christian Church and Is traced % TIE Egyptians r'r
| SLAMS (,nul, Greeks aud Romans IL j. cohIeo'"leH
cha, the ec. +, regarded type OF rc>urrecuoh De
| c,use though apparently inanmate. IL contains tho
germ aud the promise ~ life, when wen prVs'"'S
| brak forth A., o,s
.rhcuce il may readily be conceived. grew the Gus
,nn OF mailing dus and exchanges OF eggs on f"''o'
puv ns well ~ ~ making them part OF the Suo>'"
| ,.I ,,.,ug appropriate To the time. The old Gus
| ms. Df "a
TN. c-,, were dyed md decorated ns fancy might sus
! -,, ,ud the means at hand make possible. The com
mo, way was IA boil them with some dyc' d"oh''onS
| Icing mndc I'm some cases with taHlW' "m'n """'i
not be- affected by the dy" and could then De- ""S"ou
- leaving the she'll under 1t clean. Such eggs were
Given 10 the children and exchanged among th' olcF
| ,eoplc and there game played with 'he'h oS
| r,in ,,,, ,o,cu,.r Two were struck hard
enough to break Of them and the bro"eh one '"'l
became the property Of the owner OF that wil'h IT,
manned unlroAen. This one would then BE- ohalichg"u'
and ,, the game would so on, aud when an c-e WIS
broken was not only captured Itself by the on" WIN
| the ,,u.Acr she'll but all that II had previously won
were injured with H. The games and customs Of Easter
cc,s prolaby do not perhaps never did nontiSh III
greater luAurlancc than IN Washington nj the present
fine Easter Monday, not Faster sunday Is the Gay
| for them, however
cake, f certain sorts used also to be common Easter
ns and wcc sometimes given to the poor NJ church
r,, Instance of mi, WA, at lddenden In the County
- Kent where ccltalu lands known ~ the bread ana
| che.so lands had been left by two women Ia the
rniI,h the rents to be- devoted 10 providhs "oo 'c'
for poor people attending the service on Easter sui
d,y and 30 loavcs each weighing tire" ani haH
| p,uuc, and accompanied by pound and hai OF
Glucose. 10 such IL belonged 10 the parish The cakes
were STAMPED with the Images oil TWO WOMEN S''Iu'"b
together aud story grew that these were the donors
Of the land who were twins and we're joined together
at their birth and remained I'LL they were nearly
! thirty years ola, Wncn thcN ul'u' nv ',' va,
cerlincd to be, however tat nobody h,SM anS 1"S
| ulynu the gvcrs ana that the women represented @"
the cakes ,Cad for two wd vs., such rs were sdppo9'n
| ID hc benefited by the gilt.
Playing AZ bail Wa, sport long hfli Sacryu, 10
| Easter MondaJ and u used ~ be grlFcV PiclNcn
or AZ least witnessed even by the may or9 ana cOppI
| alton, OF towns, notably OF Chester and OF NcNci,t'-
| on Tyne There Is legend that once the daughter
| nf thc mayor o. Chester aud OTHER NoanS women
we're PLAYING ball by Themselves on Easter Monday
and tina, lover came ana Stole lri whlIc cr mn'r
co.. Intending 10 the game outside the clty. The
layer comc bv What was called the Pepper cate anl
| hat the,
| b. closed forever. r, Al,
md nr,n,, not altogether extinct, OF hcaVtnS
| ar iuurH Thi, was pIactiscd On Easter Monday
hv he men who would hcnvc" the women, the process
hcIug IA seat woman the crossed hands OF the men
| and mn her high oil the ground three times. ON