The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-04-14
EASTER DAY.


but there was a time when wars were
waged over the date of Easter, and men |
lived, fought and died over their belief |
The point in controversy was whether |
Easter should be regarded as the con-
tinuation of the Jewish Passover, or as
an independent Christian festival. This
is where the Eastern and Western |
church disagreed and brought about the |
great schism which resulted in the |
Greek church and the Roman Catholic |
church, instead of a united church, as
it was at the start. To go into the |
depths of their differences requires
more space that fifty years daily arti-
cles in a daily paper. Probably that
is an under estimate.
But the oddly of Easter Day this
year lies in this. Under section 3, chap
ter "a Of the laws of George II of Great
Britain and Hanover-and If any one
wants to know anything of that de-
lC ctable monarch, let him study
Thackery's -Four Georges"-it was de-
cided officially that Easter Day was
the Sunday after. Now it happens that
that happens upon or next after the 21st
day of March, and if the full moon hap
pens upon on Sunday, Easter Day is
the Sunday after, how 1t happens that
the first full moon, this year, which
happens next after the 21st day
of March, is on Sunday, viz, April
Is at IL a. M, and according to the
statute, in England, Easter Day should
not fall upon April Is, but upon Mon
day April 16.
This in times gone by, would have
brought on a comfortable set of riots,
which might have ended in a civil war.
But we know better nowadays. The
point was brought up in the British
Parliament few weeks ago. The At
torney General in reply to the question
as to whether Easter fell on the 18th
or 10th of April this year, stated that
with the statute cited there were tables
and rules annexed. According to these
the Pasechal full moon in the year 1900
fell upon April IA, and so the feast of
Easter falls upon April Is. AS the At
torney General put it, the fact was that
the moon referred to in the statute was
not the actual nor the mean full moon,
but was a fictitious and statutory full
moon, which was sometimes called the
ecclesiastical full moon. The Attorney
General stated that attention was call
ed to the same discrepancy in 1918 and
1915, and some learned papers were
written upon both occasions. AS we
have just been sufferings from learned
papers on the date of the end of the
century, on can feel for the inhabitants
of the globe in IS and AS, and can look
with pity upon the babies of today who
will have to pass through a similar or
deal in the future.
But whatever the views of Earring
sects may be, the idea of Easter as
that of Christmas, is kindly one. After
all, Easter signifies to the jewellers in
the temperate zone the actual coming
of Spring. The time when the earth
Dungeons forth with it's daintiest buds
when the sap runs up the bark of the
trees, and one can almost hear them
grow.
To us, who live in perpetual summer,
Easter does not bear that Specification
that 1t does to the jewellers in the tenn
perate zone. To them it is the annual
commencement of a new life. 1t is inn
possible not to feel that idea. People
deride the society woman who puts on
her daintiest clothes on Easter Day;
they also laugh at Bridget, who puts
an extra flower in her hat on the same
day, but the instinct is human, and be-
longs to nature. Just as the hyacinth
and snowdrop show their fiowrets in
the early spring, just as the timid and
fragrant violet raises it's head, just as
the apple, the cherry and the peach put
forth their blossoms, the fragile plant
of humanity must put forth equally
charming and dainty expressions of the
sweetness and the loveableness of hui
mainly For poorly as we may think
of humanity, judging by our own low
scale, it is good it is self -acrihcing and
at times it is grand Then it may be
honored-but misused it may be cursed.
Easter is the expression of the bud
ding year 1t is the expression of the
coming life. 1t is the period of exuber-
d ullNCs L lG C6St NlllSll ID the GillDlGlil
of Easter, is the emblem of embryonic
life. Within the egg are the possibili-
ties of life. Within the Easter season
what are the possibilities for the COM
ing christian life.
The Star wishes in this spring time
Of our perpetual summer that the pleas
ant feeling of a recreated world should
reach all its readers. We may be pes
simistic; we may be disgruntled, but if
we will only seek it we will find both
pleasure and the best of entertainment
in our lives. Let our lives run kindly.
Let us seek the best and throw away
the worst when judging our neighbors,
and we shall be infinitely happier. Man
kind is not so bad People will talk of
it's evil tendencies, but it's true tenden-
| oil Of ha n