Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1907-03-30
READY FOR THE FESTIVAL
Shop Windows Indicate the
Preparedness,
EASTER CUSTOMS OBSERVED
Various Curious Things That are
Done in All Parts Of the
Universe

For Gays the SDOp WlDuo"s nave
spoken eloquently though mutely OF
the advent of the great spring festival
which in some form or other the class
es and masses of the people are OBJ
serving. Easter lilies and tulips, VIC
lets and hyacinths all have spoken or
the birth of new year, of the spring
ing forth OF buds and blossoms, OF the
thrilling of bird songs, of the breaking
Of ice-bound waters, Of the passing
of winter, and of the return of the
sun, bringing with 1t seed time, and
the birth Of new hopes and desires,
symbolized in the celebration OF Eas.
ter
And everywhere the egg. symbolic
of the universe and of life. of the
springing forth from the germ OF new
forces and powers, has been in eyi.
dence.
The Egyptians, the Jews, the Per-
SLAMS and Hindus, the Syrians, the
Burmese, the Chinese, the Australians,
the Hawaiians-all have connected the
egg with the creation or renewal of
life &c. a., kAA. .EtEa~-
The fire worshippers of Persia, wor-
shipping Zoroaster as prophet, be-
t;o,-o1 ~ a Frcf oraat cuirit from
whom came two brothers, Ormuzd ana
Ahriman. Ahriman, showing jealousy
Of his brother, Ormuzd, was condemn
ed to darkness for thousands of years.
Angered, he longed for revenge, and
when Ormuzd made an egg contain
ing good genii Ahriman made another
full of evil spirits. and broke the two
together, so that from the beginning
good and evil were mixed In mem
DRY of his legend of creation, the
Persians at the festival OF the solar
new year, held in March, exchanged
colored eggs as gifts.
The Chinese have a sorry that the
first man, Poo Koo Wong, came from
an egg and that having been born he
used the upper part of the shell to
make the heavens, while the lower
part became the earth.
The Burmese tell that the first man
and woman, their Adam and Eve
were Matched from a single egg.
The Syrians say that their gods
from who they were descended were
Matched from eggs.
The Australians believe the earth
was darkened space until one of their
race threw up an egg. which exploded
and became the sun.
Hawaii, the islanders declare, was a
great egg which some mammoth bird
drol PEA as ii passed over the seas.
The Fbyptars regarded the egg as
a sacred emblem of the renovation OF
mankind after the flood and the Jews
used it as type c: lhc;r departure
from the land of the Egyptians, and
with the Paschal lamb it was a part
of the Passover feast
The early Christians were, of
course, Jewish, and when they began
to observe Easter as a Christian feast
gave to the egg as a part of the cero-
mouial of the season new signif1-
canoe, that of the resurrection from
the dead Eggs were forbidden during
Lent, and so naturally accumulated,
as the lens did not stop laying. Eat
ing them on Easter day signified that
fasting time was o>2r and feasting
begun, so they were connected with
joy just as were the bells which hush
ed during the period preceding Easter
day, broke into joyous pealing at IT.,
dawn
The name OF Easter in the romance
languages-paques in French, pasqua
in Italian, and pascua in Spanish
comes through the Latau pascha, from
the Chaldean form OF the Hebrew
name for the Passover festival Hence
the eggs are pace, pashe paschal, on
basque eggs. as well as Easter eggs,
When the early Christian began to
observe Easter as Christian festival
a controversy as TO The time of its
observance, known as the Pasehal
controversy, and extending from the
second to the fourth centuries, arose.
The Easter churches kept it at the
same time as the Jewish Passover,
the 14th day OF the Jewish lunar
month of Nissan, which most often
corresponds to our month of April.
though sometimes synchronous with
March The Western churches thought
that it would be identified with Sun
day, and observed it on the Sunday
following the 14th day Of Nissan. At
the beginning OF the fourth century,
the Emperor Constantine succeeded in
| having a canon OaSSpd INV the ecumen-