Gilpin observer., 1917-04-05

on the sunday DefOre EASIER, "hiSh
day, therefore, has been called Pain
II NM Sunday"
OTN AS this is the beginning of Holy
~ week, it is a happy nterlude be-
IN tween the devotional rigors of the
former part of Lent and the last
SIX days. In which all religious exercises and per-
sonal sacrifices are redoubled until the coming in
OF the great feast of Easter.
Palm Sunday seems also to foreshadow the COM
Ing of the spring, at least from merely mundane
point of view, because of the great throngs of
worshipers who pour into the streets from Ro-
man Catholic and Protestant Episcopal churches,
wearing carrying the bits of palm, green
branches willow slips which have been dis
tributed by the priests.
In this country palm is almost always used
for this purpose, but in some countries where
this leaf is not available Its place taken by bits
of native green. Box and yew also have been
used from time to time symbol Of Palm SUM-
day. Generally the greater part of the palm is
distributed in the form of little crosses this be-
ing so especially in the case of the men worship
ers. The receive crosses or large or
small branches, according to the fashion of differ
ent parishes
Rome In Holy Week.
In the years before the war the Holy week
services at Rome drew thousands of persons from
all parts of the world to that city. These cere-
monies begin with the beautiful Palm Sunday
procession at ST. Peters In all Roman Catholic
churches everywhere the Palm Sunday procession,
in which palms carried in imitation of the
first Palm Sunday procession, is a stately and pic
turesque spectacle. In the churches under the
Of the religious orders, such as the Society of
Jesus the services of Holy week, including those
of Palm Sunday, usually very beautiful and
elaborate. "N1aundy Thursday" the good old Eng
lish name for Holy Thursday, was so called from
the French "mande," from the Latin "mandatum"
in allus,on to Christs words spoken at the Last
Supper, "A commandment l give unto you,
that We love one another" In commemoration of
Christ's act of humanity in washing the feet of
his disciples on the occasion Of the Last Supper
| one of the most important ceremonies of the day,
since the early middle ages, has been the washing
of the feet of u more poor persons by some
one of higher worldly standing than themselves
In the very early church this ceremony Is not
known to have existed, but from the fourth CEN
fury 1t became yearly more popular Finally the
rite to be performed by the pope all Catholic
soveroigns, preates priests and mobiles. At Dur
ham cathedral until the sixteenth century every
charity boy had monk to wash his feet. When
Queen Elizabeth was thirty nine years old she per-
formed this ceremony for 30 poor and women
at her palace of Greenwich, it being then the
tom for the sovereign to wash the feet of ms many
persons she years old.
Emperor and Begear.
On this occasion. history recites the feet of the
honored beggars were first washed by the yeoman .
of the laundry Afterward the subalmoner washed
them and then the queen herself. kneelIng, after
washing each foot. made the sign of the cross
upon 1t and kissed 1t.
In Continental countries this practice is still
kept up. The late emperor of Austria never failed
to carry out the rite
The devotees of the Greek church also this
ceremony ut Moscow, Petrograd and Constanti-
nople.
The day of the Passion, Good Friday in Eng
lish, supposedly from Goods Friday" is the most
solemn day of the year in the church. From the
beginning to the end of the three hours service
which commemorates Chrsts agony upon the
cross there is no lifting of the deep gloom char
acteristic of the OCCASION Affairs and celebrants
are draped In black in the Roman Catholic
churches. In the Lutheran churches also the altar
and pulpit are draped in black. The three hours
| service is used In the Episcopal church, and in
this church. in the Roman Catholic, the history
of the Passion according to ST. John is part of the
| Good Friday ritual.
This Is followed In the Roman Catholic church
by the alteration of the cross, an ancient
mony, and the mass of the presanctiHed so called
| because the elements have been consecrated the
day before. In the Greek church also the Good
| Friday fast In extremely strict and the very
| long.
Churches Filled to Limit.
More persons flock to the churches Good Fri
| day than any other day of the year except
Easter In some of the churches in New York 1t
Is necessary to issue cards for the services on
both these days. there Is other way of
controlling the great number of worshipers who
seek admission. Despite the length and solemnty
Of the Good Friday service the desire to attend
Is so great that 1t is no uncommon thing to see
| devout men and women standing In long lines In
front Of the Offices where the cards distributed.
fearful that they may then be too late to gain
| admission.
| The most popular of the secular customs con-
nected with this day is the serving of hot cross
buns. The genuine hot cross bun is rather small
one, spicier than ordinary buns and has u brown.
sugary surface marked with cross. It is said
mt fba hot rrncc httn Ia Of puuu oriU
| be traced back to an ancient custom Of Worship
Ing the Queen Of Heaven by the eating Of sacred
cakes. But the buns that existed previous to the
| Christian ern not in reality those Of today.
because thev bore NO Cross. In vev early times