The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1918-03-29
EASTER SUNDAY
new YEARS DAY
Originally Marked the Beginning
, of the Twelve NOTWITHSTANDING
Festivals in Vogue Long
Before the Time of
Christianity.
By REV. ARTHUR HOLT.

- ASTER Sunday was formerly
- equivalent to New Years day !;
though not the first day of the
year it was the day on which
the opening of the year was celebrated.
Historically the Christian Easter is
simply a continuation of the Jewish
Passover, which was celebrated on the
18th day of the first month of the Jew
ish year-that is, on the day of the
first full moon next following the day
Of the equinox. 1t has been questioned
whether any special observance of this
day was practiced or enjoined by the
apostles and the early Church Fa-
thers; yet the words of st. Paul q Cor.
5:7-S) seem to sanction If they do not
recommend an observance of some sort
and foreshadow the thought which
came finally to underlie it: ''For even
Christ our passover is sacrificed for
u.s. Therefore let us keep the feast,
not with old leaven, neither with the
leaven of malice and wickednesS, but
with the unleavened bread of SINGER
ity and truth" According to the Jew
ish tradition, the Passover cOmmemO-
rated the passing of the Angel of
Death over the houses of the Israelites
in Egypt, the doorpOsts and lintels of
which had been sprinkled with the
blood of the paschal lamb. The Chris
tians, in adopting the festival, gave it
q new significance. For them the Saw
ior became the true Paschal Lamb, and
the new festival commemorated His
resurrection on the third day following
the CrucifiXion.
The proper day for celebrating East
er was one of the questions which the
Council of Nice CA. D. $3.50 was called
upon to decide. BY the Eastern Chris
tians it was at that time celebrated on
the same day as the Jewish Passover,
without regard to the day of the week
on which it might fall. Among the
Western Christians, who held that the
crucifxiOn occurred on a Friday and
the resurrection on a Sunday, there
had arisen custom of celebrating
Easter on the first Sunday following
the 18th of the first month, and to this
custom was given the official sanction
OF the council Furthermore, the rule
then established for fixing upon the
proper Sunday was designed partly to
prevent the possibility of Easter ever
falling on the same day as the Pass
over, but the rule has failed on several
occasions to prevent this coincidence,
and at rare intervals the two festivals
came together.
Changes in Calendar.
The old Roman year, like the Jewish
year, began in March, when the sun en-
tered the constellation Aries. When the
calendar was reformed under julius
Caesar the year was made to begin on
the first day of January. After the
adoption of Christianity in Europe, the
date of the beginning of the year was
changed to March in most countries, so
that Easter became recognized as a
New Years day. The reform of the
calendar by Pope Gregory, in 1852,
again changed the day on which the
year began, although in England it
continued to begin on the 25th of
March until the adoption Of the new
style" there in 1852.
Christianity found Spring festivals
already in vogue in heathen Europe,