Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1910-03-24

sermon, please do not
show your ignorance BY
accusing her OF vanity. She, no
doubt. has delved deep in old-time
lore and puts full faith in the ancient
belief that one must wear some ar
ucle Of dress for the first time on
Easter Sunday 20 insure good fortune
in love affairs through the year
Also. young women with Easter hats
have been known to weep because Of
rain on Easter Sunday. However,
the cause OF this phenomenon has alb
solutely nothing TO do with the effect
OF rain upon ribbons and feathers
These maidens believe. no doubt. with
the good folk OF Sussex that the
crops are sure 10 fail IL Il rains on
Easter Sunday. for rain on that day
portends rain for every day in the
following year.
So you see there are good and sun
cient reasons for the annual fuss and
trouble over the Easter hat As an
outward and visible symbol Of the In
ner toyousness t. is almost as Chris
tanity- or course the connection be
tween inner ioyousness and a mon
strosity that looks like an old wooden
ehopptng bowl sprouting forth a
small truck garden may not be ap-
parent to all We must leave that
point TO the owners OF the hats who.
Prof Nunsterherg tells US. are not SO
intellectual as men but are more
subtle in reasoning powers. Il is TO
be hoped that the professor knows
what this means.
After the Easter bonnet. the most
widely known Easter symbol ia the
colored egg The presence OF the
egg in our Easter celebration has been
accounted for in a variety OF ways.
With its wonderful dormant germ Of
life IL is a truly marvellous thing. It
Is found in every oriental cosmogony
and il is not at all surprising that the
early Christians adopted it as a sa-
cred symbol. for il Is a perfect and
apt emblem OF the resurrection. At
first the eggs were colored only red
in aIlusiou to the blood Of the redemp-
/ ton.
This custom OF coloring eggs Is
/ older than Christianity. for IL ia
known to have been common among
all ancient people The Parsees dis
tributed red eggs a: their spring fes-
tival. and among the Egyptians. Per
slams and Gauls the egg was the en-
blem OF universal life. We find an
Aryan myth which typifes the spring
season BY an egg painted red or gold
The Persians. even to the present
day. on a certain festival in March,
/ present one another with eolOred
/ eggs. in memory OF the two brothers
who in ancient times broke together
two eggs. one containing good and the
other evil spirits. thus mixing the
good and evil IN the world.
The Romans had a spring festival
during which they ran races on egg
shaped tracks ana received eggs az
I prizes These games were in honor
OF Castor and PoIlux. the twin sons of
Jupiter and Leda. who came forth
from an egg deposited by Leda while
in the guise Of a snov-whfte swan.
Castor and Pollux had so distinguished
themselves with Jason in search Of
the golden fleece and in the CaIydou-
Ian hunt that they were made the
deities OF boxing. wrestling and all
equestrian sports One Of these twins.
Castor. was a mortal and was killed
In combat with the sons Of Asphareus
Potlux. who was immortal, implored
/ Jupiter to allow him TO die also that
ne might not be parted from his broth
er Instead. Jupiter permitted Castor
70 return TO earth on condition that
Poilux would spend half his life in
nades- When Jupiter saw that the
affection of Pollux for his brother did
not hesitate at this condition he trans
lated them both to the skies where
tney form a bright constellation. The
position Of this constellation. which
Is known as the Gemini, determined
the date Of the Roman egg festival
While some think that we NAV have
derived our Easter egg custom from
either Persia or Rome, others incline
10 the belief that II comes to Us from
The Jews. who in turn derived IL from
the Egyptians Eggs were held nv
he ancient Egyptians as an emblem
u the renovation Of the world after