Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-04-06
THE USE OF THE EGG

may be sure shake the ashes from her
hair, lift her eyes that have been lowered
SO demurely for forty days and array her
self in bright colors such as Solomon In
all his glory dared hardly dream Of. The
avenues will be thronged with masterpieces
Of the modiste that will swish by with
merry crinkle of stifr skirts and leave an
odor of violets and lilies Of the valley in
their wake. The churches will blossom as
a garden with floral headgear and the
colors of the rainbow will take pointers
from multi-hued silk waists.
Every woman will go to church. some to
worship and some to see those who come
to worship. There'll be men at church.
too Hard hearted will he be. indeed. who
cannot experience some measure OF SYM
pathy In the feeling OF qualification over
good clothes and new effects which pos
sesses his wife and daughters and the fem-
mime world generally.
The Episcopal and Roman Catholic
churches of this city make elaborate prep
arations for the celebration Of Easter cere-
monies and other denominations In lesser
degrees of rite and ceremony acknowledge
the day and the symbol of Its observance:
Music and services OF song are principal
features in all churches. and the humblest
chapel sings its Easter hymn.
The Observance i'm Russia.
Every country has Its own peculiar Gus
toms for the celebration of Easter. In
church, the celebration is very elaborate.
Every city and village devotes itself to the
occasion. As the hours Of 10 or IL o'clock
on the Saturday evening preceding Easter
Sunday approaches the streets and thor
oughfares are crowded. The sidewalks are
30 thronged that multitudes are forced to
walk In the streets. The churches are
crowded to suffocation, from the smallest
chapels to the largest cathedrals. Most of
the people are standing there being no &C
commodations in the body of the church
edifice. Some will be there early and will
stand for hours on the cold stone floor
waiting for the hour of II to arrive, at
to begin. At the stroke of II the choir
begins q chant And the priest solemnly an
nounces that Christ Is risen. The congre-
cation replies: He is risen, indeed" Then
begins the crowding toward the affairs,
for in the larger churches a dozen priests
or more officiate at as many affairs. The
crowd Is hungry and are anxious to APP
proach the priest. that the food which they
brought may be blessed. The priest takes
O portion from each persons stock of edi-
bles. The church services are then con-
Quoted. at the conclusion of which the
The celebration of Easter does not end
with the Easter festival. however. but
often continues for week. AS a general
thing the more prominent places of bust
ness are closed for three days. and all
government employees have a holiday Many
Of the people require a week to recover
from the feasting Of the first three days.
ing and drinking. there is great increase
in sickness and in drunkenness. A great
many sudden deaths occur. caused princi-
pally by the change in diet.
For seven weeks prior to Easter the peo-
pie have denied themselves nutritious food,
and have confined themselves to fish. vege-
tables and oil. When free rein is given to
their appetite at the end Of their fast 1t
nft ton fnn mob for hcp, thoxv
die in the midst Of their festivities.
Calling is extensively practiced at Easter
time. and the callers usually drink at every
place When the caller enters the parlor
he greets the hostess with the customary
Christ is risen," and receives IN turn,
Christ is risen indeed" Then the visitor
and the hostess exchange eggs, after which
sandwiches and drinks are brought in. II
the caller does not want 20 eat. he at least
will not be rude enough to refuse to drink
Then he departs and goes through the same
form at the next house.
Acquaintance meet In the street, and
after salutipg each other they embrace and
kiss three times. denotang a greeting in the
name Of the Holy Trinity. In spite Of the
religious character Of the people, extending
through sill classes, the strict observance
OF Easter docs Tot prevent thieves from
making that day an occasion for prosecut-
Ing their calling. While the family and
servants are at church the enterprising
burglar makes his rounds and plies his
business.
OF the 10000 900 Of subjects in the Rus
sian empire. 70.OOO.0OO profess the faith
of the Greek Church. In 1862 the people
celebrated the one-thousaudth anniversary
of Russia's conversion to Christianity. the
Greek faith having been formally adopted
as the national religion in the year ST.
The Date of Easter.
The appropriate time for the celebration of
Easter has long been subject of contro-
vcrsy. AS early as the second century the
point. Many of the eastern Christians adj
vocated celebrating Easter on the 18th day
Of the first Jewish month. for they consid-
cred 1t about equivalent to the Jewish
passover. On the other hand. the western
churches celebrated Easter on the Sunday
after the 14th day, contending that it was
in commemoration of the resurrection of
Christ.
Finally in the year 325 the council of
Nice decided the matter, upholding the day
celebrated by the western church. The
other custom they branded as a heresy.
Having decided that Easter should be cele-
brated on Sunday, the question was still
open as to what Sunday in the month. 1t
transpired that in the western church "a
custom was already in vogue Of determin-
ing the day by the Metonic Cycle For a
few hundred years there was a further
dispute about the selection of the day of
the month until in 664. at the council of
Whitby, the controversy was settled By the
aOcptlOn OF the Roman usage. Inc GRECO
rian calendar was adopted in 1882, and it
was decided to continue to determine Eas-
ter by the moon.
An Imaginary Moon.
It is not the actual moon in the heavens
nor the mean moon of astronomy that de-
termines Easter, but an imaginary moon,
and, according to it's movements, 1t always
fellows the real moon sometimes by several
days. Thus 1t happens that the nth of the
calendar moon generally falls on the 18th
or 18th of the real moon, and Easter day
is always the first Sunday after the paschal
full moon; that is, the full moon which
happens upon or next after the 21st of
March. If the full moon should fall on a
Sunday. Easter would be the Sunday there
after Easter can never happen before the
22d of March, or after the 25th of April.
The early Christian Church celebrated
Easter for eight days, but as time progress
ed the celebration was reduced in length.
until In the eleventh century it continued
but two days In those days Easter was
made a season Of merriment ana feasting.
Aims were dispensed and the poor were fed
in the churches. Slaves were freed, and to