Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1892-06-04
A FAMOUS FESTIVAL.
Large Portion Of the Christian
'H'' World Are Joyou,ly celebraI'
Ing Today.

..,.n, is,l. and all rights reserved y |
lV0Wa,,o.rarr wiLusroS unnisiISh'l
rafael. .NYnlt SUNDAY" whit
.,,a. y which in the calendar OF
psman Catholic, Episcopalian anu
',,n.ran churcues Is proclaimed the
.,..,t. mos, important and most Joy
,,i,giou. festival OF the entire year,
-,,n the exception Of Christmas and
r,.ler. Throughout Great Britain
I'D the whole continent OF Europe II
4, quite as generally aud elaoorn'ely
-.,ah,ated by all classes and ranks,
On th, Highest to the lowest, MS are
,ho.e two other great festivals with
whlch Il is co.equal. In oac sense II
'..ven greater aud Its celebration even
.,o,a general than that OF Chfistmss
:, Easter, for II Ia not only Christ
mas festival hut Jewish one as WELL
an. event which II commentaries Ia
,ha Christian church having occurred
:, the Hebrew Day Of PeDloco-i.
That Christian event was the descent
AZ the Holy Ghost on the Apostles
when "thoy were all with one accord
in ene place,, after the ascension "
our bod, Oh which o,casion they re-
rived the gift OF tongues or different
languages that they might impart the
gspol to foteign nations. In our own
cauntty At the present Tins the day Ia
sen.taliy celebrate l by all our citizens
Si foreign birth, the German element
Of our population, especially, dcvotng
great attention 10 Il aud keep ng NJ a
holiday not only Whit sunday but the
following day, Whit MONDAY. In all
our EplscDpalien, Catholic ANA buth-
cram churches special services appropn'
ale 10 the occasion are hell.
Amsnv the ancIeut H. brews our
WHIT SUNDAY, which was thylr day o.
psnte,o.i, was species Of harvest
home. II was calculated from tho Aec.
ond lay OF the PaaJver, the sixteenth
General aud Joyous ~ Is the cele-
btatIol OF Whit Sunday among such
M INN nso majority Of the whole
Christian world both In our own sud
all foreign lands, II 10 almost impOssi'
Me- 10 find amy one outfide Of thu
clergy, who knows VI can tellanything
Of iIs origin, history and true slgnin.
u.nce, though u h richer Ia quaint old
FOLKLORE, peculiar custsm', sports,
tupef.iitions, legends and traiitlous
than any other day--bo II last or festi-
Yl-ln the whole twelve months.
Jewish children, young mou ami wO'
men, are much better posted on this
tublect than those Of the Christi IN
faith. They win tell you that the
Loo nN...srlhau Tint n rfnluu.
ipg be kept form the Sabbath Of the
Passover 10 the morrow after the com
Motion Of the seventh week, which
would, Of course, be the hi,leth day
after the Passover
This period included the Hebrew
grain harvest which commences with
thu frat sheath VI barley gathered ut
the Passover and ended with the max.
Ing, On the dhy.of Pom ecost, Of two
losyss Of leAvenui bread lrgm the iinost
wheat -four Of tn. new crop. Thus In
the Whit sunday Of tne Christian
Church we Zee another Instance OF tue
substitution Of Christian for Jew
ish festival NJ In the oase Of the re.
placing Of the Hebrew Passover with
the Christian Laster. Yet as 10 tho
csse with many holy days Of the
Chrlstlan Church, 1t Is generally
thought by antiquarians that our
Whit-unilde was also identified with
one Of the great summer festivals oil
the Pagans oi Western Europe.
Among the English posAntry from
the earliest Christian times down to
thu present day, the most elaborate
. folk ceremonies OF the whole year have
bean performed ON WHIT Sunday.
Aia1ng the most notable of those IN
what il called the Whitsun ale. Ale
was 40 universally drink among the
early English that by It's association
with various festivals II has added
moro than one new word 10 our
language notably "brldal,p a corrup
lion Of "bTlde-Ale,0 which was a term
applied 10 ale OF u peculiar quality AMI
strength, specially browol III honor OF
the ttide at wedding. Tue ale used
a. whitsuntide, OF the whitsun ale,
was remarkable for Its strength and
was consumed by mn sssemblsge u thc
whole parish usually held In some oarn
near the church. The ale was dis
penced 10 those pres, mt by the church
wardens, and the profits arising from
its sale were devoted to fund for the
repair OF this church. Two persons,
previously chosen, were designated n
lord and lady OF the ale, sort Of
throne was erected for them NJ one ond
Of tho tarn, aud they were attended by
their steward, sword.bearer and other
tfiicials. The persons hlling these
onicss were frequently paid SINAI
sumsfor their services, auj In the old
church wardons' accounts In the Eng
lish parish churches there irsquontly
occurred such entries as "Payde t.
her that was lady Of the ale Mt Whit
tuntide, by consent, 5s.
Hat Of all the old English sports o
WhitAuntide the greatest favorite was
the Morris dance. This Is believed I,
have been derived from Spain through
the Moore, aud Its name IL regaried ~
corruption OF the Spanish Morsco, I
Moor. Originally danced by fve per
formers, 1t at length became customary
70 have II performed either by single
Individual or Ms many rs cared to par
teiyAte In II. There was hRally grated
on to II some features OF an old Englisl
country dance performed at certain
periods In honor Of Robin Hood MI,
his outlaws, from which Circumstance
afemale participating In II wa. called
eMid Marian" after one OF Robli
Hoods swettheaits. One OF the mos
distinctive isaturss Of the Morris dane
was pair OF gnryers hung with bell
aud worn by each OF the dancers.
In 1900 William Kemp, a celebrate,
oomedan Of the reign OF Queen Elikl
beth, danced tho Morris all the wa.