Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-14

striking contests. which begin on Easter
Sunday and continue forty days thereafter.
So general is this play in the ancient val
ley that all the markets carry heavy stocks
Of eggs stained red, in commemoration of
the shedding of Christs blood. and In the
market places the juvenile contests take
place all day long. The egg that can break
all pitted against 1t and come out without
crack wins all the other eggs. Contests
of this sort are sporadically held in some
parts OF this country, notably in several
middle western towns of small population.
The custom Of egg giving Easter orig
mated in the early day of Easter, and is
pretty generally Observed in the east, Ger
many, Switzerland, the Tyrol and Russia.
1t is growing custom in this country.
Formerly eggs formed a part of the regu-
lar Easter dues of the English rector. To
this day Venetian noblemen present eggs
bearing their portraits, curiously wrought.
to ladies. In Russia the peasants give red
eggs to one another. and the nobility carry
gilded eggs about with them.
If the young men of Coleshill, Warwick
shire, England, can catch hare and bring
it to the rector of their church before 10
O'Clock of Easter morning he is in custom
bound to give the captors hundred eggs,
among other things, for their breakfast.
Easter Egg superstitions.
In many parts of France the first food
eaten on Easter Sunday is an egg. The
Coptic Christians suspend eggs in their
churches on this day. In Spain and else
where Easter eggs are kept from year to
year in the belief that they prevent mis-
chief from entering a house. The average
Derby family is in possession of a festoon
of Easter eggs, handed down from genera
ton to generation as an heirloom. The fes-
toon may be seen about the chimney place
and is added to from year to year with
ligfous scrupulosity.
A Russian likes to have his Easter egg
bear the words "Christos voskress' CNChrist
is risen''), and whenever he presents an egg
to any one he never falls to add these
words in all reverence. The boys Of Hun
gary sprinkle the girls with rose water and
in turn are given colored eggs. A church
In London gives every member OF the con-
gregation, as 1t is leaving the church on
Easter morning, an egg. coored and bear
ing the inscription MY Redeemer."
The custom of the Easter egg itself is as
old as the conquest of heather religions by
Christianity. The egg prominent in the
spring religious observances of Asiatic and
European nations. 1t typified awakening
life But when Christianity adapted this.
as well as other heather customs, to its
own uses, the egg came to be the churchs
material symbol of the promise OF future
life.
Vogue of the Hot Cross Bun.
AS every one knows, the hot cross bun is
widely eaten in England on Good Friday,
and In some parts OF this country, espe-
cfally in the eastern cities. The vogue of
the bun sprang up In England in the days
when Catholicism was the state religion,
and was the time-honored indulgence on
Good Friday evening after the rigorous fast
days.
The belief is widespread in England, OBJ
tanning among intelligent persons, that hot
cross buns will keep fresh from Good Fri
day to Good Friday. Many persons go far
Their and assert that any sort of bread
baked on Good Friday will retain its fresh
ness indefinitely, and besides has superla-
tive medicinal properties for certain COM
plants. Many an otherwise sensible house
wife has in her larder for use as a medi-
cine, loaf of bread baked on Good Friday
and marked with a cross.
1t is not generally known that In vari-
Gus European localities Christians eat bacon
on Easter morning. In order to make It
known beyond peradventure of a doubt that
they are not Jews. In Lincolnshire, Eng
land, every good housewife serves roast
veal for the Easter Sunday dinner, and at
the same meal of the old people of Shrop-
shire eat the last of the mince pies" That
| is, they eat the last of the mince meat re-
naming over from Christmas. A sort of
| economy with a religious favor. Baked
custards is the indispensable Easter Sun
day dish in several counties of England
A quaint Easter Sunday superstition Is
| that on this day the sun, on rising, gives
| three leaps for joy. With a persistence
worthy OF a better cause the peasants of
Saxony and Brandenburg station them
| selves on the hills before dawn on Easter
morning, in the hope that they will behold
the sun in the act of leaping. In order to
have good luck follow them for the next
year. the men and boys of Essex, England
| play marbles all day long on Good Fri
day. They stop only long enough to at
| tend church service. Hence, the day is
known as marble day throughout the
county.
| The Spaniards believe that he who is
| born on Good FRIDAY has the gift of second