Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1911-04-19
THE ORIGIN OF ETA sTER.
Not Resurrection Annivcrsary-Cru-
CifiXiOn Was in December.

Instead of wasting their efforts in
a vain endeavor to root out heather
celebrations of long standing and
great popularity, the fathers Of the
church, in their wisdom, pursued the
sagacious course Of adapting them
to Christian usage, says Golfers
Weekly. For instance, the Saturna-
lila, the Roman festal holiday, lasting
from the 10th to the 25th Of Decem-
Der, was naturally an institution
which the people were exceedingly
loath to abandon. 1t was not aban-
doned as a period Of rejoicing, but
instead OF continuing as a celebra-
ton OF almost obsolete heather rites,
1t took on new life at a time OF great
spiritual gladness for all Christians.
Among barbarian tribes some held
the same period in honor of the pass
ing Of the winter solstice.
A like course was followed with
regard to Easter. Modern criticism
has established the fact that the day
on which Christianity to-day cele-
brates the Resurrection Of Christ is
not the real anniversary.
The actual date Of the crucifxion
is claimed to have been in December.
about the time that Ia now called
Christmas. Consequently, If we were
chronologically accurate, we would
observe the anniversary Of the Res
direction on or about the 25th of De-
cember. The reason given for this Is
that the mock ceremonies In which
n Roman soldiers INDUCED when
they made sport Of the Christ we're
Altogether typical of the kind OF
pranks practiced in the Roman army
during the ~Saturnalia. Furthermore,
1T Is said that the cr%ucifxion could
not really have taken place during
the Passover because the Jews were
forbidden at that particular festival
to contaminate themselves by suffe.-
ing the proximity Of Gentiles. Mel
ther could they have entered the
presence Of PLATE at that time.
AS everybody knows, Easter now
is celebrated simultaneously with the
Jewish passover, in other words, on
the first Sunday after the full moon
following the spring equinox, which
is the 21st Of March. The rule was
laid down by the council Of Mecca in
325 A. D. Thus Easter Sunday can
not fall before the 22d Of March O
later than the 25th Of April. 1t came
to coincide with the Passover of the
Hebre ws because the earliest Chris
tians were Of Judaic origin, and con-
s~equently had been brought uD to
keep the old Jewish festival. From
the Jewish Christians the custom
spread to the Hellenists. 1t was not
until the second century A. D. that
1T became an official festival of the
church.
1t is evident that this feast was
common to nearly all races long be-
fore the Christian era, and Is agri-
colous origin Is also obvious. Long
before the advent of the new faith,
barbaric tribes celebrated at this
time Of the year the coming of
spring.
With some it took the form of
inner worship-the date in all cases
is dependent on the moon-among
the Anglo-Saxons it was the feast of
Eostre, goddess of spring, whom the
Germanic people called Ostara. Thus
1t was e%minently appropriate that the
festival OF the resurrection of the
Saviour should coincide with the cell
ebrating Of the resurrection Of the
earth's fertility. 1t was from the
Germanic races that 1t acquired It's
present joyful character, in the
East 1t was originally associated
more with the Passion than the res
direction. Its name in Lantin coun-
trios (Paques in France, Pasqua in
italy, derives from a Greek verb
meaning "to suffer-"
1t Is generally supposed that the
Passover was ordained as a Jewish