The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1903-04-17
PEOPLE End THINGS.
Easter.


If everybody would be honest this day.
there would possibly be few people
who could tell very much about the
great religious holiday and festival
which all the world celebrated
Sunday. 1t Is to a heather source
that we are indebted for the name of
the festival commemorative the resur-
rectlon of Christ. Among the ancient
Teutons, the goddess Ostara or Eastra,
the personificat1on OF morning and
spring, was worshipped with many
Joyous rites at that season when
nature arises anew. The first chris
tan missionaries to these people,
wisely retained many of these cere-
emonies so that their converts should
have no temptation TO return TO pagan
practice. The transition from Joy at
the awakening of nature from the
death of winter to joy at the resulrec-
ton of the Saviour from the grave was
very easy, and twas natural that the
deeply rooted name of this feast should
not be discarded. In the early church
Easter was a period of enjoyment.
As the ceremonies began to die out,
the peoples piety began to transform
itself into amusement and popular
sports Of nearly al kinds then known
were INDUCED in. Farcical exhibitions
was one of the favorite pastlmes. In
these the clergy took part reciting to
the people, who would gather in large
bodies humorous speeches and relat-
ing funny stories which would tend to
move the people to laughter. As the
centuries rolled by, however this
undi gniied custom was bitterly assailed
by the early reformers, and finally III
the sixteenth century it was absn-
doned The original Easter was also
favorite time for performing the
rite of baptism. The people would
gather in certain localities in great
throngs and hundreds of them would
be baptised at time. The celebration
originally lasted several days, finally
diminishing until 1t was only two days.
With the induction of the celebration
a general holiday began. The courts of
Justice were closed and the rulers, high
dignataries and the wealthy classes
made the occasion one of much
charity giving. They would make up
large Gums of money and buy provisions
ana dispense aims from public places,
often the churches being used as great
public feeding places. To these the
poor would flock by the thousands to
be fed. Slaves were freed ana pre-
scented with clothes and money with
which to begin life as freemer. A
custom then prevalent, which would
not be in favor today If practiced pro-
miscously, was that of saluting people
with kiss and the exclamation "He
is risenl" Long before the introduc-
90 oh, <r rsor rCa
as symbollcal of the identification of
nature by the Perslans, who presented
them, beautifully colored, to one
another on the new year which fell In
March. The christians ADOPTED them
as emblems OF the resurrection. and
dyed them red in alluslOn to the blood
of their redemption. One OF the many
supersti tons rife about Easter de-
clared that it was on that day the
sun danced. This is referred to by Sir
John Guckling in his celebrated Bal
Upon Wedding Easter was for
mally instituted as one OF the christian
festivals in 6S A. D., but the date of
it's celebration was a cause of confusion
for centuries. The Eastern church
SAID it should fall at the conclusion OF
the Jewish Passover, while the Western
church was equally hrm In advocating
that the first day OF the week should be
identified with the resurrection irres-
pective of the day of the month. This
dissension furnished unbelievers much
amusement, for while some christians
were mourning over Christ's passion,
others were rejoicing over his resurrec-
ton. Finally, at the Council OF
Nice held in 1926 it was decided that
tn first Sunday after the full moon
following the vernai equinox should be
regarded as Easter. Since that time
this method of naming the date for the
beginning Of Easter has been uuiver-
sally. accepted.
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