The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-03-26
DATE OF EASTER
IS FIXED BY
Manner, Though Unchanged
For Centuries, Very Little
Known.
IT CAUSED DISsETIONS
In Churches in Some Cases
Adoption of Pagan observ-
ance of Festival.
IT CAUSED D1ssET1oNs

That last Sunday was Palm Sunday
does not make next Sunday Caster,
but because Easter falls on next Sun
day. last Sunday was Palm Sunday.
Easter is the central festival of the
Christian church and other days OF
special observance take their date
from the date of Easter.
Despite that fact that Easter has
been calculated in the same way since
the time William the Conqueror sailed
for England and for some time prev
iously, people every year are confused
that the festival does not fall on the
same date. Easter is church day.
and while the name and the origin of
the first observance probably are pag-
an, it was the church which fixed the
season at which the resurrection of
Christ should be observed.
The date of Easter is the Sunday
after the fourteenth day of the calen-
dar moon after the twenty-first of
March, This calendar moon" is not
the moon of the heavens, nor the mean
moon of the astronomers, but an mag
inery satellite manufactured for &C.
clesiastical purposes. This church
moon is so contrived as to follow the
real new moon by two or three days.
The effect of this is that 1.-The four
teenth day of the calendar moon
which had from the time of Moses
been considered full moon for eccles-
iastical purposes-falls generally on
the fifteenth or sixteenth of the real
moon and thus after the real full
moon, which is generally on the four
teenth or fifteenth day."
Simple Aule Holds Well.
For all practical purposes, however,
the old phrase, first Sunday of March"
is sufficient. Only twice in the last
century, in 1878 and in 1915, did the
simpler rule fail to work. According
to the calendars, the full moon this
month begins operations on March 80,
and the Sunday after is March 81,
which therefore is Easter.
The settlement of the date of Easter
was in the early church one of the
most serious causes of dissension.
There is no trace of the celebration of
Easter as a Christian festival in the
New Testament nor in the writings of
the apostolic fathers. The early
Christian mind was held rather by the
events themselves than any observ-
ance of them. Authorities seem to
agree that the introduction of Easter
was to perpetuate an old custom which
the church found it could not uproot
It took the custom as it took others,
gave it a new significance and incor-
porated it as an integral part of it's
worship.
The word Easter Is of Anglo-Saxon
origin, coming from the Teutonic,
"Eoster," from the name of pagan
goodness, "Eoster." This Anglo-Saxon
divinity was the goddess of spring to
whom the fourth month was devoted.
This goddess seemed to be the per-
sonification of the morning or east,
and also of the opening year or spring.
The conversion of this festival to
the Christian resurrection was par
itcularly easy. Joy at the rising Of
tho natural sun and at the awakening
of nature from the dead of winter be-
came Joy at the rising of the Sun of
Righteousness.
Cause Of Dissensi0n.
The name by which Easter is known
among Romance peoples is derived
from the Hebrew Passover festival.
meaning "he passed over" In the
second century dispute arose among
the churches as to the proper time for
the celebration of Easter. The great
mass of Eastern Christians celebrated
Easter On the fourteenth day Of the
first Jewish month, or moon, consid-
ering it to be equivalent to the Jewish
Passover. The western churches cele-
brated 1t on the Sunday after the four
tenth day, holding that it was in
commemoration of the resurrection of
Jesus. The council of Nice in 1926 de-
cided in favor of the western usage,
but this only settled the point that
Easter was to be held on certain
day of the week. The day Of the month
was left to the astronomers at Alex
andria to fix.
1t was some centuries before even
partial uniformity in the holding of
Easter was obtained. No provision
had been made for the cycle by which
the time was to be calculated. The
British church had adopted the rule of
the Roman church in 669, but not until
1852 did they adopt the new style"
calendar, putting all discrepancies at
an end. The Grecian and Russian
churches still hold their Easter some
times before and sometimes after our
observance.