Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-03-24

Sunday after" Those of the readers Of
The Star who are the possessors Of alma
| macs will find on consulting them that the
| moon fills her horns this year on March
| Il. so the Easter of 1894 comes on the Sun
day but three days after full moon. Every
| ono In Christendom knows of course. that
the festival Is the commemoration Of
] Christ's resurrection. but II Is quite pos
| sible that to the curious student into the
origin Of things is confined the knowie.s
that the mode of fixing the tinls u is
celebration was only settled after a con-
troversy that brought about q disruption
| OF Christian unity.
1t will not SAVIOR Of pedantry Cbeing but
| . brief quotation from Webster's una
bridgeD TO say that in the French paques.
the Italian pasqua and the Spanish pascua,
! all standing for Easter. unbroken line
| age is established with the Hebrew Pc
| sach or passover; while apart from this
| genealogical connection there Is the festal
| coincidence of the Jewish passover and the
| Christian Easter falling at or about the
same time: and the historical fact that
! Christ was crucifed at the feast Of the
passover. A. ID. 81. The first Christians.
| being drawn from, or intimately connected
with the Jewish Church. naturally contin-
| ued to observe the Jewish festivals, though
in a new spirit. making them commemor-
atoms of actual events. where before they
had commemorated only the type, the
shadow. the promise. In this modified per-
| petuation of the Pesach Easter was then
| called the Pascal feast.
The Fixing of Easter Day.
But although Christs death and resur-
rection were settled points. the day upon
which the events were to be observed was
| not fixed without long continued and Bit
| ter difference. The Jewish Christians Of
| course. considered that the death of Christ
| as the true Pascal Lamb should be OBJ
served according to the Mosaic dictum:
that Is. at the exact time Of the passover;
and that Easter should Immediately follow
without any regard to the day of the week.
| The Gentle Christians, on the other hand.
| knew that Christ had arisen on a Sunday
| and wanted that day kept as a resur-
| rection festival, following Friday as the
! day Of crucihxion, without any regard to
| the day of the month In its position as
| arbiter In chief. the church OF Rome set
| tied the difference and gave verdict In
favor OF the Gentle custom. this decree
| being issued about A. ID. l4I.
! But even after the settlement OF this
| question there remained the more intricate
| problem as to the particular Sunday upon
| W hich Easter should be observed, that
| question being finally disposed of more
| than $40 years after, or to be exact. in
! A. ID. $50. Easter is not fixed like Christ
| mas day, but Is what Is known as n NOV
| able feast. and moves backward or for
| ward, according as the full moon next after
! the vernal equinox falls nearer or further
| from the equinox, the exact rule for its
| location being that quoted at the beginning
of this article. In addition to the chief
| aim of securing its common observance
| by all the churches, a distinct rule to find
Easter day was very necessary, as upon
| its date depend all the movable church
| feasts and fasts throughout the year The
| nine Sundays before and the eight follow
ing after are all dependent upon 1t and
| form, as II were. a body guard to this
| queen of festivals.
| Ancient Customs.
| In the second step towards tracing the
| origin OF Easter is the curious fact that
| while, as we have seel. the Latin races
have adopted the modified Hebraic name
for the festival. our English word Easte-.
| like the Germ an Ostern. Is derived from
| the old Teutonic nythology-Eostre or
| Ostr9 having been the goddess of spring,
to whom the month of April. Eostur-
monath, was dedicated by the Anglo
| Saxons The venerable Bede, indeed, says
| that this month was the same as the Mensis
| Paschalis, when the old festival was
observed with the gladness OF new
/ solemnity."
| Easter is peculiar in that while the CEN
| trail idea of the modern celebration is the
| great event of the resurrection, 1t is sur
| rounded by what is either the growth of
| offshoot observances or the survival of
antique customs. some of them being par
| ticula-ly bizarre, and many OF them in
| applicable.
| Who can explain, for instance except on
the far-fetched ground of a faint shadow
Ing of the resurrection. the ridiculous Gus
tom which still obtains in some parts of
! England of lifting or "heaving," that is.
of lifting up from the ground everyone net
! with. The strange part of this custom is
that on Easter Monday the men lift the
| women, and on Easter Tuesday the women
lift the men. Another instance of this
amable retaliation is still found practiced
in the county of Durham England, where
| on Easter Monday. the men take off the
| women's shoes. and on the following day
the women perform that office for the men.
AS remarkable and queer custom as any
| is that which used to prevail in many
! English parishes of both the clergy and
laity playing game of ball in the church
While in many parts of Dorsetshire and
Devonshire TIE clerk of the church or
beadle, after the morning service carries
| round to the various parishioners few
white. bittersweet cakes as an Easter offer
| ing. So great was the now-forgotten virtue
of these cakes at one time supposed to be
| that in one parish of the county of Kent
| England, an endowment of unknown date
is still used for making a distribution OF
! cakes on Easter Sunday afternoon.
| Foot Ball md Easter Eggs
In the good old city of Chester, which
abounds with medieval antiquities. il is
|
up parading the streets carrying a chair
| lined with white silk and decked out with
ribbons and garlands, on which every GIRL
met with was seated. poised as high as DOS
sible in the air. and then released on pay
ment or kiss. In past years, too the
| whole city corporation used IL turn out IN
full regalia on Easter morning and play A
| game OF foot ball In Chester, also the
| game of ball in church was at one tine
strictly, religiously even. carried out. Tine
bishop and deans used to take the ball in to
the antiphone used to dance, throwing the
each other during the time Of dancing and
antiphone
The custom, however, which seems 10
orally observed Is that Of giviag and re-
among all the different Christian coInmunl-
dition of the primitive church. Y .s ex-
who seems determined to exercise his in
of the golden egg which a hen belonging to
the parents OF the Roman Emperor Alex
ander Severus Is said to have laid on the
day of his birth. The most probable cxpla
nation that one can draw out Of all the
guesswork seems to be this: Among the
pagans of the old world the egg had always
a mystic importance, on account, probably
of the latent life 1t contained. and this ira.
dition was, I surmise, embodied with Sc
many others In the new religion that the
| he nbo1 nF ri %',