The herald., 1896-04-22

Spring reneWS OLD mOtner edrtn.
Angry storms are overpast.
Sunbeams fill the air with mirth;
Pregnant, ripening into birth.
All the world reposes.
Our delightful month so gay.
Not by birth, but by degree.
Took the first place, poets say,
Since the whole years cycle, he,
Youngest loveliest, leads with glee,
And the cycle closes.
'SuoS sluSpnlS 1eAeeIpsIy-
Punish not thyself with pleasure: glut
not thy sense with palative delights. nor
revenge the contempt of temperance by
the penalty of safety. Were there an age
Of delight, or any pleasure durable. who
would not honor Voluptia? but the race of
delight is short, and pleasures of one age
are not pleasures of another. and their
lives fall short Of our own."-Sir T..
Browne.
All hail to the carnival! To the time
of fun and frivolity, of innocent mirth
and merriment. All hail to the pros
porous reign Of her majesty, La Reina
de la Fiesta, who by peaceful revolution
has been enthroned, and the civic au-
thorities forced to abdicate and retire
into temporary exile.
Amid the acclaim Of the assembled
multitude her majesty has assumed the
duties ana royal privileges of her ex-
alteu office. and has established her
court in the palace Of freedom.
Ere old Sol has by two hours passed
his zenith today the revels will COM
mence. and, by open proclamation.
every loyal subject of her majesty is
summoned to pay homage to the festive
spirit Of the time, under pain and pen
atty of being punished for lese majestic.
While the city fathers made graceful
abdication last night and paid their de-
voirs at the foot of the throne Of Youth
and Beauty. making surrender Of the
massive keys Of the city in token Of the
loving fidelity Of every heart within the
realm, there were, probably, very few
present at the august ceremonies that
realized that the spirit Of 5oyousness
manifested was merely an echo that has
reverberated back and forth through
the long and dreary centuries from the
dark and misty past.
The Fiesta! The very etymology OF
the word feast or festival Is obscure,
and while some contend that 1t is from
the Latin festum, from the same root
az fast" others as emphatically de-
clare II Is from the Greek word hestia.
hearth. In either case a feast or fes-
tival has ever been a day or days set
apart more particularly for religious OBJ
seryance. Whether casual or periodic.
with a ritual grave or gay, carnal as the
orgies of Baal and Astarte or spiritual
as the worship Of the Puritans. 1t was a
festival or holy day" inasmuch as 1t
"a nrofessedly linked to and held in the
name Of religion.
Where no religion Is there can be no
feasts, and without civilization any at
tempt at festival keeping Is necessarily
Atful and comparatively futile. Festi-
walls developed as religion developed
and gradually assumed distinctive
character. The religiosity of the saw
age is shown in reverence for the
dead. many cases the ceremon.
ial observed is extremely mea-
ger and simple. but 1t ever tends to be-
come more elaborate, and, above all,
Il calls for repetition and that at regu-
lar intervals. Whenever this last de-
mand has made itself felt a calendar be-
gins to take shape. The simplest CAL
endar Is obviously the lunar. The hymns
Of the Rig-Veda indicate worship
of natures powers, connected with re-
currence with the seasons; the worship
Of the Phoenicians was solar and the
principal feasts took place in the spring
and autumn: the characteristic celebra-
tions of the Egyptians We're those which
took place at the disappearance of Osiris
in October at the search for his remains,
and their discovery about the winter
solstice, and at the date of his sup
posed entrance into the moon at the be-
ginning Of spring. The Phrygian festi-
walls were also arranged on the theory
that the deity was asleep during the
winter and awakened in the spring, and
the seasonal character Of the Teutonic
Ostern, the Celtic Beltein and the Scan
dinavian Yui is obvious.
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