The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-04-11
DAY OF RESURRECTION.
THE Easter Festival and Its OBJ
Esy.4- servance
celebration of tho Feast In Russla, Where
st Is the Great National Religious FEES
tivai = The bay in the United
states-Blossoms md Music.
copyright. 1903, ENTHUSIASTICALLY & johnson
SSaaitafs.a

The Queen of the Festivals, Easter.
comes when all the world is gay. Its
Joyful, religious significance is accom-
panied withthc fresh beauty ot spring,
after natufss long repose i'll the grave
of winter. Throuhout the union it is
celebrated with appropriate sacred
music, and the churches are fragrant
with flowers. Denominations the most
removed from ritualistic observance
recognize lis sweet return, while to
Catholics and Episcopaiiuns it is the
time when all the faithful are expected
TO take their communion. In every
country of Europe, excepting Moham-
nedan Turkey, tic feast of the resur-
rection is a season of special religious
rejoicing, most welcome to those who
have imposed upon themselves the rig
ors of Lent, and who honor the return
of Easter with the downing of brightly
cheerful apparel.
: Of course, the ladies make the best
use of this seasonablc custom. than
which nothing could be more appropri-
ate. They blossom with the spring.
and nothing more pleasing is to be seen
An this worlling-day world than the
pretty girls in their new bonnets and
spring dresses on 4 sunny Easter Sun
day. New York people regard with
special pride the procession on Fifth
avenue in the afternoon of that day,
where the graces of the fascinating
American girl are seen to excellent adj
vantage, as, radiant as the morn, ami
mated and sweetly fluent she makes
proud the heart of her escort. who in
his subordinate way, manfests a
proper regard for the season and the
occasion.
Attired in style which does honor to
his tailor and wearing the modest dec
Grafton of spring blossom. he is digni
fed by the appreciation of his privilege
TO be the escort Of lovely Easter girl
An important anniversary in many
ands, Easter is the great national re-
ligious festival of Russia. In compare
son to it, all others occupy altogether
secondary positions. Not only the Rus
sian at home, but the exile in foreign
lands, thrills responsive at the name
OF Easter rs at that of no other feast on
the calendar, for with him it awallens
all the sympathies andctender recollcc-
tiOnS that we associate with Christmas.
1t is the great time of holiday of home
gathering, Of gifts, of good will towards
all men. Ii is also the welcome sequel
to the longest and most vigorous fast
observed in any Countrywide Russian
Lent. Seven week of penitcntial vigil
are endured before the dawn of Easter
Day brings a much needed relaxation
and relief. During the first four weeks
no animal food is partakcn Of and the
thing is carried 50 far by some people as
10 prevent them from using sugar, be-
cause that commodity is supposed to be
clarified by bulloclls' blood.
The one thing that stands by the Rus
sian in the midst of his Lenten tribula-
tions is the abundant supply of fish.
Few places in the world approach Rus
STA in this regard, and from personal
experience l can certify to the fact that
the bounty of Providence is duly APP
preciatcd. 1t is only fai@ to state, how
ever, that the ordeal of Lent, in its full
est acceptation, is only undergone by
the masses. 1t is the common people
who persevere to the end. The higher
classes content themselves with keep
ing the first and the last weeks of Lent
only.
have already said that the celcbra-
ton of Easter is the great festival of
Russia; it is also the principal event of
the year in the Eastern Church. There
is no mi-carcme in Russian Lent, but
our Palm Sunday, which the Russians
call Willow Day, affords mild substi-
tute.
In order to observe to the best advan-
tage the strillingly picturesque features
OF this feast there is no better place for
the stranger to visit than the time hon
orcd capital where all the Tsars have
been prOyOp1--bisfOrir Mnccou-
On Willow Day Eve it is well worth
while to visit the Krasnoi as the great
Red Square in front of the church of
Saint Basil by the Krcmlin is called
and see the intcrmina bic rows Of booths,
three deep, ranged along under the
Kremlin wall, and filled with every inn
aginable kind of toy and sweetmeat
dear to the children of the people
Quaint dolls, angels, cakes made with
poppy seed, Enthusiastically decorated
Easter eggs, and above all, sacred
branches of the cmblematic willow are
on sale and are selling rapidly every
where and TO everyone. The way is
thronged with peasants and bourgeois,
passing and repassing in an endless liv-
ing strcam.i in and out, forward and back
ward, among the gayly dcclled booths,
ever seeking and finding some new OBJ
ject to interest them and attract them.
Watching these proletarial pleasure
seekers and enjoying themselves in an
equal degree according TO their own
fashion, the arstocratic occupants of
handsome carriages form a long process
sion of their own. These people have
come out to look on and see for them