The Charles Mix new era. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1???-1911, 1910-03-25

" religious NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
W. back to very early times
500 In primitive days. = spring
festival was associated with
various special nature deities. but
principally through the Jewish feast
a the Passover. This. In the
early traditions Of the wandering
Bedouin Semites. was . sheepshear.
ing festival. OF which the principal
feature was the sacriticiai offering Of
the paschal lamb to Yahwe In the
month OF Nisan. In the spring. which
marked the beginning Of the oriental
summer. In the agricultural stage OF
Semitic evolution II underwent CORE
spending changes. and u~nieavened
~nread-the frst bread made Of the
early harvest grain which begins to
ripen about the month OF April In
Palestine and other Semitic lands-
was added. These primitive agrtcul.
tural Festivities were eventually COM
bined with the beginning Of the Jew
ism national life that followed upon
the exodus OF the ~israeIites from
Egypt.
Similar spring festivals. associated
with special gods and goddesses and
involving the sacrifice Of lambs. sheep
or cattle. were held among other Sc
mites and even in Cyprus, b such
sacrifices. about April 2. were held
sacred to Astarte. Certain ceremo
nies were observed In honor Of the
renewal OF natures fertility 1t this
time; the bonds Of kinship were
drawn closer by the meal which
formed . part Of the festivities. and
WAS accompanied with joyous song
and other Manifestations Of N exu-
berant nature-worship.
After the beginning OF our era the
churches OF Asia Minor. among whose
members was a great number OF Jud-
aizing Christians. kept their paschAl
festival on the same day a. that OF
the Jewish Psssover-that II on the
l4th OF Nissan. The churches Of the
west. however, remembering that
Christ arose from the dead on . Sun.
day, kept their anniversary on the
Sunday after the l4th Of Nissan. This
went on quietly for q time. Then con-
troversies arose about A. d. 1853, and
continued OH and on with consider
able acrimony during several centu-
ries. ~
Constantine ri the Oecumenical
council Of Nice "A. d. 325p had II de-
creed that the day should be cele-
brated-not "a the day Of the Jewish
P~assover-but on the Sunday follow
ing. At the same time the bishop OF
Alexandria was appointed to give no
tice OF the proper day to the pope and
other ~patriarchs because Of the Egyp-
tians' prominence AZ astronomers
This, however, did not permanently
settle the question. or to be more &C
curate. other disputes arose on the
subject In the course Of time.
However this may be. Easter be-
came n Of the three great Christian
festivals-the other two being Christ
mas and Whitsuntide. From the early
days OF Christianity Easter has been
accounted. II anything. the greatest OF
the three. On Easter morning the
early Christians greeted one another
reverently with the words: Christ
10 risen," TO which the man addressed
gravely replied: Christ is risen IN
deed" or hath appeared unto Simon
This quaint custom has been pre-
served In the Greek church. In the
east the old name was retained and
the festival OF the resurrection wal
known as the F'aschal Feast" In
the sixth Of the Ancyran canons. how
ever. II " called the Great Day
AS for the etymology OF the English
Easter. Il In sought In Eostre-ths
name II a Saxon nature deity. whose
feast was celebrated In the sprint
with bonfires and rejoicing. As ever,
one knows. Easter In 4 movable feast
changing according to the full moor
that after the vernal equinox, o
March 81. II the full moon chancei
to come on q Sunday. Easter il helt
on the following Sunday One oh
tect In arranging the calendar moor
with regard to Easter was that thu
latter might lever fall on the sam
day az the Jewish Passover. The,
fall together, however, In 1905. OF
April IA: in 1925. on April 3. and II
1903, on April IL.
In certain localities special cakel
were baked and distributed at thu
time. This custom prevailed not oni.
in antiquity but survived down to mod
ern t~imes-notably In England. Th'
Passover bread also belongs to THU
series OF survivals. At Chester. Eng
tand. the day wal marked with
great football game. Other game,
were also played. and ever womel
played team games. Everywhere l
was a festival OF Joy. In the cas-
It Is known a. the Bright Day.
Dances and sarcical exhibitions were
held and even the clergy in the pulpit
told funny stories, stirring their hear
ers to laughter trisus 'paschalis)