The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1912-12-06
LENT HERE EARLY
IN YEAR OF 1918
Easter Sunday on March %, Lent
Opening February 12-Affects
Business Houses.
Charleston Evening Post.

The Inauguration yesterday with
the first Sunday of Advent time OF
special prayer and penitential works,
suggests the fact that the season OF
Lent. to which that of Advent bears
similarity in respect Of its observance,
will come early next year, about as
early as the season can be entred upon,
with Easter Sunday falling On March
% For only the fourth time since
1888, 125 years ago, Lent will begin
this wear as early as February II. In
all the periods Of the 40 days OF last
ing and prayer by the church, Easter
Sunday has never come earlier, eX-
.,ept in 1918, when it was celebrated
on March p.
Consequently the moon is being Sc
verely criticized by various business
neople-by caterers, who furnish ice
cream. cake, tea, punch and other ac-
cessories of social functions, by furm-
ture houses that rent out chairs for
balls and dances, by stationers VINO
engrave invitations, by florists VINO
rent potted palms and sell cut flowers
by professional bandsmen and others
who furnish music, by livery stable
keepers and automobile men who nlre
ont carriages and machines, by depart
ment and novelty stores who sell ia
vors,'' by employment agencies VINO
s.send in extra cooks, footmen, walt
ers and maids, and by many others
who are yielded a profit On the various
happenings of what is called the so
.cial season"
Owing the the early arrival of Lent,
the season will be one of the short
est on record.
Charleston being very much OF a
church-going city, Lent is generally
observed here. Easter frequently has
fallen in the past as late as April 10
or April Z, and probably will hit IN
around some of these dates between
1914 and 2013 In the latter year, ac-
cording to the church almanac, the
date again will be March %. So those
who suffer by a falling off of business
this winter in consequence Of the
early date need not look for a repetl-
.tion Of the situation during their life
time, for it will not happen again for
an even 100 years. In the past, Easter
has come as early as March % IN
1888, 1S45 and 1856.
The moon IS responsible, and, ac-
cording to officials at the Federal nau-
tical almanac Office at Washington
this responsibility for such changes
in dates is not borne by Luna, but
by another moon, called by thees Off
cials 1.-The ideal moon" and "the &C.
clestiastical moon"
Easter" one OF these officials salo,
<eand with it, of course, the beginning
of Lent, is a movable feast, and is fix
ed by the ideal moon adopted by the
churches hundreds of years ago, when
they were attempting to settle upon
a fixed date for Easter. There is very
little difference between the true moon
and the ideal moon in their phases.
Sometimes the ideal moon,' or 'ecclesi-
astical moon may just miss the true
moon. 1t is a complicated astronoml-
cal subject, but it is safe to say that
Easter comes 'on the first Sunday after
the first full moon after March 2l. ="
In the early church, Easter was lden-
tical in date with the Passover, as, IN
fact, the two festivals are Identical IN
their root. After the Nicaean council
of A. D. 325, Christians adopted the
Jewish method Of reckoning time by
lunations, which are the movements OF
the moon. These lunations do not tally
with the facts of astronomy. The re-
suit is that Easter calculations are so
extraordinarily difficult as to lead to
occasional mistakes, such as that OF
1918, when Easter was observed on the
wrong day.