The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1914-04-09
CASTERS ORIGIN
And SIGNIFICANCE
Missionaries Trans
formed Saxon Pagan Feast
Into a New Meaning.
Margaret Sangster, 10 the Kansas City
lHta'7 gHmn4 EIEW Tlmaa 1rHHsael. #

Times.
With the return OF spring blossoms
and birds a general feeling of glad
ness prevails the world over. However
we may have enjoyed winter. we bid II
goodbye without regret, and go merrily
onward to meet the spring. In u
thoughts OF winter n In the pictures
which the painters a. Of that sea-
son he figures, as an old man. stern
and severe, with a snowy beard. and
icicles clinging to his robes. while his
pretty successor is always q maiden,
dancing N singing, or scattering
flowers from full baskets.
When the old paganism Of the ancient
OF Him whom the people OF Britain mi
those days called tine White Christ, the
missionaries found established a festi-
val to the goddess OF spring, whose
name was Ostera, g word signifying
| to arise" and symbolizing the awaken
ing Of nature after her wintry sleep.
This, in turn, pointed to the old Greek
myth OF Persephone, called Proserpine
by the Romans. The story, familiar to,
youthful students as one OF the dam
ancient mythology, was that while
Persephone was gathering narcissus IN
a field near Aetna, In Sicily, the god
OF h underworld suddenly emerged
from a dark hole in the ground, with q
chariot and four coal black horses, and
NaOFFA ap1AAg NbS ~ = -.
gin, carried her off to be queen OF his
gloomy domain.
Demeter, the mother OF ~Persephone.
wild with grief. ran up n down i'm
ploring everybody she met to tell her
what had become OF her daughter:
Finally the all-seeing and ~all-hearing
god OF the sur, from whom nothing
that happened could ever be kept
secret, too pity or the distressed god
dess and told her of the fate that had
L AAEaIlAn hAAALlY1 aCha 90 O0tHrcn falt
more distressed h before, and
begged Zeus and the other deities to-
interfere n restore the lost one, but
they declared themselves unable to DO
this unless P~ersephone had eaten moth
ing in her new bod The discovery
that she had tasted q pomegranata
made her return to earth for a whole
year impossible, but she was allowed
to come back to her mother, Demeteri
or Ceres, to the fields n the light
for half OF each tweiyemonth, durins
which the flowers bloomed and thf
fruits grew ripe, the corn and the
wheat flourished, and the land was
glad with harvest Joy. A legend similar
to this is found in nearly all the
mythologies of the world.
have dwelt on this story and re-
ferred to the Saxon goddess ostera,
| who was Persephone's mythical rela5
tive, in order to show that lin the old
pagan religions there was q hint OF
that victory OF life over death which
is one of the grandest articles Of the
| Christian creed. Persephone's six
months in the regions of darkness werd
/ emblematic of death: winter, with Its
silence and chill and cessation or ac1
tivity, being a sign Of that dreaded
state. Her return to earth was q
poetical way Of saying that the torpoi
of death had been broken, and that
spring had given life n bloom to the
world once more.
I am coming step by step to the
higher meaning which our Easter has
for all who believe in the Lords resur-
rection. In winter. you know. there Is
no real death; 1t is only apparent; for
even when at rest, nature Is busy, and
under the SHOWS the wheat keeps on
growing to make the e years bread
while the sap Is stirring in the heart OF
the trees. although they are bare and
leafless. The early missionaries. wish
ing great happiness to the people whom
they taught to low and serve the White
Christ. in contrast with the dark and
cruel gods, to whom they had hitherto
given reverence, desired them to OBJ
serve the feast Of the resurrection. 1t
always anne round in the spring. and
It's name. Easter, was like that of the
old goddess. rechristened and made
beautiful and fragrant. In keeping the
Easter festival. again. the Christians
simply endowed with a new and more
lovely life the venerable feast of the
Passover. which the Jews had observed
from the date of the Exodus.
Easter is full of brightness n JOY
not only because Of the lower meaning
given 1t by nature, the vanishing OF the
winter death and the kindling of the
sprtngtime life. blu on account of that
event, far greater m most mysteriouS
and sacred, the rising OF u Lord from
the three days bondage in the tomb.
Why does Easter not always occur
on the same date, as Christmas does? is
h question asked by some little people
who have heard their elders remark
ing that there will be plenty of flowers
to dress the churches this year, Easter,
coming so late. There was originally
h good deal Of trouble In deciding on
What day to observe the Easter festi-
val, some pleading in favor Of one, and
Bome of another day. and 1t was finally
decided. by a great church council at
Nice, A. D., 1926, that Easter should al,
ways be the first Sunday after the full
moon, which happens upon or next aft
er March 81, and II this full moon hap
pens to be a Sunday, then Easter Is the
Following Sunday. It is thus. you see,
Via We call a movable feast.
In reality every Lords day. which
was the name given by early Chris
tians to Sunday, is a feast of the resur-'
fection, an anniversary on which we
may devoutly say: II believe in the
life everlasting"
The most beautiful Easter way
that I know about is that which sends
flowers to the sick and sorrowful on
the morning of Easter Sunday.