Evening star., 1909-04-11


in the open air exposed TO the moon
light. and epilepsy and madness. the
original idea surviving in the words
Iunacy, Iunatic and moons struck. The
idea of deities acting under the leadership
of the moon. who were believed to Gre
ate discord sickness. death and every
possible form of evil.
This notion is quite similar to the
Babylonian idea that the moon Is the in
carnation of some evil principle. Be
cause of the changes i'm the moons APP
pearance 1t was quite commonly held to
be a capr1cious deity. sometimes kindly
disposed and sometimes vindictive. Of
ferfngs were made both to avert i'll luck
and to secure the good will of this
changeable deity. Christianity. however.
seems to have incorporated only the be-
nign effects of the moon upon human
life. and the picture which John gives in
the apocalypse of the church represents it
as "a woman clothed with the sun and
the moon under her feet and upon her
head crown of twelve stars"
Fasting.
The earlier celebration of Easter was
preceded by fasting and vigi1s. which
came to an end at daybreak or COCK
Growing Cthe hour at which Christ Is
supposed to have arisen). when the long
vigils were broken by the cry, The
Hone states that in the Irish province
of Connaught it was the custom on
Good Friday for the peasants to fast
from Il o'clock on Thursday night until
the same hour Friday night. children
being refused any nOurshment what
ever during that period, and their par
ents and other adults taking only i.
small piece of bread and single drink
Of water until the hour of midnight
Good Friday. 1t was also quite com
mon sight in Ireland for women TO go
about barefooted and with disheveled
hair. and in their poorest attire, in I'M
itation of Christs passion.
In an appendix to the Northumber
land Household Book there is an ex
tract from the "Ceremonials of the
kings of England in which the Gus
tom of creeping to the cross on Good
Friday is given. According to this ex
tract, the queen usher" was to lay 4
carpet for the kings to "creepe to the
Crosse upon. The queen and her at
tendants were also to "creepe to the
Crosse. In the archives of the Society
of Antiquaries of London occurs a quo
tation from an old volume which ex-
plains this custom: "On Goode Fridaye
1t shall be declared howe creepynge TO
the Crosse signifyeth an humblynge Of
ourselfe to Christie before the Crosse.
and the kyssynge of 1t Memorie of our
Redemption made upon the Crosse. In
addition to this form of penitence there
was curious custom of "creepynge -
the Crosse with Egges and apples
ners Article" 1864. censures the Gus
tom of some to 'holde forth the Crosse
for Egges on Goode Fridaye. while
another writer (about 155O) speaks of
some who Offered unto Christie Egges
and Bacon to be in His favor till Eds
ter Day was past" showing that eggs
and bacon were common offerings on
that day. another writer stating that
the bacon was presented as q proof that
the oferer was not Jew.
Aubrey, the author of a now very
rare book on Christian and Jewish Gus
toms. states he hopes no one will con-
slider that he is disparaging the res
direction of the Redeemer If he states
his belief that the sun does not dance
on Easter day. He is very careful to
defend himself against heterodoxy, 10y
seeking to prove that pretty nearly
everything in social and religious US
age he knew anything about had, to his
mind. Christian bearing: the mince
pies represented. with their seasoning
of spices, the gifts of the three kings
who brought frankincense; eating frlt-
terS made on hot fire, roasting her
rings, and even the whipping of tops.
were reminders of Christian martyr
dOms. He would have been much near
er sober truth If he had discovered the
pagan origin of many of our Christian
customs.
Flagellation.
Beating with rods both as punishment
and as penitence. as well as to evoke
intense excitement regarded as religious
ecstacy, is a very old custom. In Chris
tian thought it is associated with the
scourging of Christ before His cruc.fxion
under the orders of Plate. and there
was. at least in some quarters, refer
To he c0xyir, nF fnh -;
stripes we are hea.ed,' though the quo
tation would seem to discount the pgac-
tice of doing penance in this form. In
Slavonia and elsewhere on Good Friday
the people take rods with them into the
church and beat each other fresh and
healthy
In Russ the peasants returning from
church on Palm Sunday beat the chill
dren who have remained at home with
palm branches. saying. Sickness to the
forest. health to the tones. Easter
Smdcks are common in Austria and
Germany, the people so, dina uredly beat
ing each other with green twigs of the
good luck. for the person SO beaten will
be free from vermin during the coming
summer and will have pains in his
back Or legs for one year! Often only
the women beat each other. but some
times the ceremony takes on a free-for-all
appearance. The Slavonic custom of the
presentation by girls and women of rcd
eggs to the men who beat them at the
Easter festivals still survives. In Ma
suren the rods or twigs thus employed
are put carefully away to be used In
driving cattle to pasture for the fire
time. Somewhat akin to this mild form
of fiagellation is the custom. till recent
years preserved in Caistor Church. where
local land tenure was maintained, of
cracking the CAD whip on Palm Sunday.
E4gies Of Judas.
Easter fires. established in honor of the
sun, form feature of Easter observance
in some parts of Great Britain. where
bonfires are quite common in early
spring. Efigies of Judas were annually
burned in Athens on Easter Sunday un
til the government prohibited IT, Wooden
figures called Judas are quite frequently
burned. however the fire itself receiving
the traitors name even after the custom
of burning the effigy has become OBJ
solete. Frazer. in The Golden Bough,
states that about hundred years ago
the custom al Althenneberg in Upper Ba-
varia. used 10 be follows: On the
collected wood which they Piled in a
corn fed. while in the middle of the
pile they set up tall wooden cross all
swathed in straw. After the evening
service they lighted their lanterns a. the
consecrated candle IN the church, and
ran with them at full speed to the pyre.
each striving to get there first. The
first to arrive set fire to the heap. No
woman or girl might come near the
bonfire. but they We're allowed to watch
1t from a distance. AS the flames rose
the men and lads rejoiced and made
merry, shouting, I'VE are burning the
Judas.
tra.{o oaIohr,tioo II tI,ic curio,,S one