The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1916-04-21
Easter Observance

The observance of Easter Sunday
dates back to the founding of the
early Christian church, in comment
grafton of the resurrection of Jesus.
1t is generally believed by all Christ
ians that Jesus was crucified on Friday
and buried. The following Sunday
certain women of Judea went to the
tomb early in the morning to anoint
the body.
Saturday was the Sabbath day of
the Jews. That accounts for the de-
layed visit to the tomb. Jesus was
buried so late Friday the women did
| not have time to anoint his body. AS
soon as day dawned that Sunday
morning the women went to the tomb,
and, according to sacred accounts,
found Christ had gone.
The stone which sealed the mouth Of
the tomb was rolled away. At first
they were filled with grief, believing
his body was stolen. Then they re-
membered the words of their Master,
that he would rise from the tomb the
third day. His appearance and as
surance that all could conquer the
grave was the cause of great rejoic-
ing.
From the time of the flight of the
children of Israel from Egypt the
Jews had observed the Passover, to
commemorate the night when the an
gel of death passed over the houses
of the Hebrews and slew the first
born in the houses of the Egyptians
The feast of the Passover was being
observed by the citizens of Jerusalem
at the time of the crucifxion. The
followers of Christ continued to OBJ.
serve the feast of the Passover, but
the observance took on new mean
ing.
The exact time of the feast was moi
settled until the Council of Nice, call.
ed by Emperor Constantine of Rome
in the year 1876. 1t was then decided
that the feast should be observed the
first Sunday after the first full moor
after the spring equinox. The only
world at that time was at Alexandria
i. Egypt. 1t was left to the astrono
mers there to determine when Easter
should come.
The early Christians did not know
the feast by the name of Easter. Thu
name is of Saxon origin and camt
from the feast of the paschal laml
of the early Christian church with thu
feast of the coming of spring of tn,
Saxons.
Ostara, the goddess of spring o
the Saxons, was worshiped in Eng
land and Germany before the frs
missionaries to the north of Europ
brought the story of Christ. The Sax
ons in accepting Christianity, contin
ued to observe their old feasts jus
as the Jewish Christian continued t.
observe the feast of the Passover. TIL
missionaries persuaded the Saxon
to accept the feast of the pascha
( lamb and simply change the name t.
i that of the feast of Ostara, which lat
er was anglicized to Easter.
The Easter-egg also had it's origi
> among non Christians. The people o
!, northern Europe hunted eggs in tn
! springtime, believing that it was goo
. luck to find them and eat them. o
: course wild birds laid eggs only i
the spring of the year. The Christ
! ian missionaries to. our ancestors say
i an opportunity to win men to a be
:, lief in Christianity by adopting tn
I egg-hunting day and combining
! with Easter. The egg was shown t
typify life. AS the chick lies i'm
prisoned in the egg only to burs
: forth, so will our bodies lie in tn
! tomb only to be resurrected at tn
y call of God
: The hunting and eating of eggs
y observed today in Persia and othe
Il Asiatic lands where there is n
: Christianity, showing that the custol
+ does not come with Christianity.
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