The San Francisco call., 1906-04-15
THE FESTIVAL
OF EASTER.
Br Il. j. B. JENNER.

- AsTER is festival of the church
r. held in commemoration Of the resur-
IL rection of Jesus Christ from the
dead-an event which Christians consider
as the crowning point of their religion
the very keystone of the arch of Chris
tianity.
The exact day on which Jnis most mar
vslous event happened Is utterly un-
known; no contemporaneous secular MS
torian ever having recorded any such an
occurrence. The Gospel accounts, now
ever. would lead us to infer tnar II nap
nened during a certain Feast OF tho
passover which was held at une
somewhere near the vernal equinox OF
the beginning OF spring IL Is muen u %
reeretted that the fathers Of the primitive
church. instead of quibbling about calen-
dars and dates, had not definlteiy nxeo
rnon the sunday after the first fun moon
after March 2l-the day of the vernai
eouinox-as the proper day; by SO ooins'
In all probability, they would nave Oeen
as nearly right as 1T is possible 10 get
in the absence of a positive date BESIDES
Faster would then have been a fixed IN
stead of a movable feast as it Is at pres
ant. and many other ecclesiastical fasts
ana fsasts which are entirely dependent
ON Easter for their proper dates would
also have a permanent place on the CAL
endar: whereas, by the intricate methods
now in use for ascertaining what they
are nIeased to call the correct date,
Easter Sunday may fall on any day from
March % to April 25. an apparent ao-
surditv on the face of it, To my mind
~ a.
man contemporary historian should have
even limited at such a most marvellous
occurrence is almost If not quite as MI
racuIous as the re- erection ITSELF
But Easter has also a secular sig
nificance: and from very remote PERIOD
has always been a season OF great res-
tivity, altogether irrespective OF ITS con-
nection with Christianity. The word IT
self is derived from Eastre. another name
for Astarte. the goddess OF reproduction
whose worship was worldwide; and I'M
der a variety of names, altarS were raised
and temples were erected to her Special
festivities were annually held in her
honor at the vernal equinox in recogni-
ton of the suns return to warm the
earth. and awaken 1t from the death
like sleep of winter. In some places these
festivities were held in conjunction with
those held in honor Of Baal, the sun god;
Astarte representing the reproductive ele-
rnent and Baa1 the generative power.
These festivities were always attended
with the most exuberant expressions OF
joyfulness; and while they lasted all the
people gave themselves up entirely to HI
Iarfty and jollity, and pleasures of every
kind. The fathers of the early church
were not slow to observe these things;
indeed. they made it an undertaking rule
to give a Christian significance to all
important heather festivities and espe-
cially to such as were held in the highest
esteem by the people. In the present in
stance their task was a comparatively
easy one Both festivals being held at
about the same time. much effort on their
part was not needed to convince the peo-
pie that the benefits to be derived from
the worship of the Sun of Righteous
ness far exceeded those which were
merely the effects of the natural sun:
especially as the latter was created by
the former. 1t was by Just such means
as these that many converts were made
in the early stages of the Christian
church; and it is very notable fact that
most of the church festivals derive their
origin from heather prototypes.