The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-27
EASTER IN MOSCOW
STRANGE CONTRASTS In Crowns
WHO MAKE UP QUAINT GEL
EBRATION IN RUSSIA
LONG FAST BEFORE FEAST
Pretty Superstition of Asiatic Con-
tingent and Rough Types of
MOujik Class MingIe To-
gether in Worship.
Special to The Globe.


MOSCOW. March 29-After existing for
seven long, weeks on bitter salads and
mushroom broth the Russian penitent
welcomes Easter with an enthusiasm that
is no. feigneu.
Not only has the deprivation of the
long fast extended to the stomach,
even to the extent Of excluding all sugar.
but even the most simple amusements
have been tabooed, for with all his drunk
enness, his superstitions and his absolute
brutlshness in some Things your Russian
is ever intensely religious
So after what we Of the Occident can
Lent has passed the reaction to welcome
Easter tide is like the transformation
scene in the pantomime from sadness and
want to joy and plenty
Right up to Easter eve the penitence
and prayer have lasted but soon the half
starved people commence to show signs
OF making-up for lost time.
-~ooths containing every Imaginable ar
ticle for Easter spring I'D as if bv magic
along the broad, spacious thoroughfares.
Inc Dazaars are all open and ablaze with
light.
1here is more business transacted in a
Few hours than has been done for an en-
tlre WEEP Everyone is buying and buy
ing In large quantities. Those who are
TOO poor to purchase will not go without
The purse strings of the rich are let loose
at this season and one learns how really
generous the rich Russian can be to his
poorer neighbor
Every household must have two things
whatever else it may lack One is the
Easter pig, the other is the Easter tree
an institution similar to that of our own
Christmas, small fur sapling decorated
with paper angels, fruits, artificial flow
ers and birds, sweets and TOYS.
But with all this plenty around +ho
fast must not be broken until Easter
morning, so when all the preparations are
made the tired and hungry fasters retire
to bed, while the bells ring cheerily from
the mosques under the light of the Easter
moon.
Many there are, however, who do not
go to bed at all on Easter eve There
are the young and strong or the excep-
tlonally devout, who attend the midnight
mass in the cathedral which lasts until
o'clock Easter morning
AS the breakfast is to be a sumptuous
one many spend the balance of the night
in preparing it. The meal consists of
roast sucking pig, veal, ham, lamb. cur
died cream and red eggs, fancy bread.
salt, cucumbers, cabbage, dried her
ring, sturgeon, turbot sterlet, all kinds
OF groceries, sweetmeats and fruits The
table is left spread for several DAYS so
its bounty
To make the dwelling fit for the cele
pratlon OF Easter, it has been carefully
cleaned throughout, and everyone has
new clothes on, even if they be cheap
ing.
OF course, eggs are presented by ev-
erybody to everybody else They are of
al kinds, according to the means of the
glYer. Some are of sugar or chocolate,
others of silver or gold gilt with pretty
articles of jewelry inside them; or al
monds, raisins or CONNECTIONS; or fine
crystal eggs, containing creams, jellies.
pastries, fruits and game.
Flowers, except of the artificial kind
are very scarce and meagre unless Eas-
ter happens to come late; then there is
an attempt to make as large a floral dis
play as possible
The Easter breakfast is prelude to
three or four days undiluted enjoyment
or more properly speaking ejoicing, fer
there is an undercurrent of religious senti-
ment running all through the celebration
or the Easter festival here.
MOSCOW is the hating place between
the East and the West, the spot where
the streams OF the two civilizations final
~ meet and mtngle. Here you find the
ultra refined Russian, who has been nur-
tured in the exotic civilization of Paris,
Glowing his Asiattc compatriot from the
SteppeS whose life is summed up in two
wordS-fanaticiSm and embruted selfish
ness.
But it Is Easter in Moscow-a time when
one forgetS differences of cradle and
hearth-when the horrors of the long win
ter are being shaken off like funeral cere-
ments and the glad sparkle of the spring
sun tells of fragrance and comfort in
stead of the bowling storm and frozen
silence of the boundless steppes.
In Difference to the feast the business
of the town is entirely suspended for
three days at least and Moscow takes on
as much of a Partisan air as her uncouth
style and Oriental somnolence Will al
low.
There is visiting, feasting and music
everywhere in the air. Somewhere in
the city there is big fair being held for
one sees individuals laden down with
purchases-rugs from Bokhara or silks
from Samarcand-joint results of the
caravan and the new Trans-Caspian rail
way
All. but the town Is merry and the So
Der Russian for the nonce very talka-
ulating his brain and lifting him out Of
his everyday servility and common
placeneSS.
The streets are mass Of noise, confu-
sion, color and unique contrast.
Yonder comes a crowd evidently fresh
ly arrived from one of the Turkestan
province. To denominate them as Rus
sian Is farcicaL
About their girths and loins are gaudy
colored saslles. They are clad in Orient
al robes, caps and long gowns Their
long boards almost sweep the ground.
They are full of sentiment and quaint
superstition. They are praying amid their
rejoicings-and in the market place.
where the crowd is densest-but that is
Asiatic form. 1t is well that they pray
so frequently, for these Russians from
Khokan or Siberia believe that the pun
ishment for their sins falls upon those
whom they love the dearest.
What splendid spur to devotion! Con-