The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1919-04-12

year for the reason that it ommemOrates the res
direction Of Jesus. In the words of Paul, IF
Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and
your faith is also vain" But" he says, now is
Christ risen from the dead and become the first
fruits of them that sleep" Which is to say that
the Christian religion stands on the resurrection of
Jesus.
Pagan Rites Survive.
But the Easter season is observed by millions
who are not even nominally Christians. They do
not celebrate the resurrection Of Christ, but rather
the end Of winter, the approach of spring, the be-
ginning of life in nature after the long sleep Of
winter, Celebrations of this kind antedate re-
corded history. When Christianity came into the
world the Christian church adopted and modified
such of these pagan rites of celebration as it could
not abolish. This accounts for the many queer
rites of the Christian observance of Easter in
various parts of the world. They are pagan rites
that had their origin in the remotest past, and
have been modified by time and custom and a
changed meaning.
Thus the parade of fashion to Easter morning
church services in the large American cities had
its origin ages ago in the superstition that failure
to wear at least one new piece Of clothing would
bring bad luck during the year. The use of the
egg as a symbol of new life Is far older than Chris
uAllE Liz lubbll AZ Il SuA ANd " al pli'
old superstition. The use of flowers as an express
sion Of rejoicing is probably almost as old as man
himself. The pasChal candles are in another
form the bonfres lighted by our remote ancestors
to celebrate the arrival of spring.
Just how the rabbits managed to get into the
Easter celebration nobody seems to be able to
find out with any certainty, Anyway, they are
not properly rabbits they are hares. Undoubtedly
the association of the hare with Easter and its
eggs was introduced here by the Germans, but
where they got the idea is what none of the anti
quarians have been able to learn to their ~satisfac.
ton. AS far as they have gone they figure this
way: The relation between the moon and the
hare is fairly close. The relation of the moon to
Easter is very close. Gradually in ancient times
the hare seems to have become associated with
Easter and with Easter eggs.
Easter ana the Egg.
Easter without ~eggs-fresb laid. dyed and sugar
would be like Christmas without Santa Claus,
the stocking and the tree. And the association of
the egg with Easter is easily explained. Many of
the old peoples of earth have used the egg from
time immemorial as the symbol Of the germ of
life, The wise men Of old taught that the world
was Matched from an egg. All over the pagan
world it signifed fertility and potential life. The
place of the egg was therefore firmly fixed in the
spring celebrations that long antedated Christ and
the Christian Easter. The Christian church found
the egg so firmly established as an Easter symbol
that it could not be dislodged. Therefore the
church adopted the egg and adopted ii as a sym
bol of the resurrection. In the transition of Easter
from a heather to a Christian festival the tradi-
ton Of the egg stands unbroken. When the col
oring Of eggs began, to the Christian the white
stood for the immaculate conception; the red for
the blood of the redemption, and the yellow for
the dawn of the resurrection morn.
1t is natural that many queer relics Of ancient
egg customs should have survived, while many
have died on the way. For instance, the rulers of
earth no longer indulge in Easter eggs wholesale.
After the Easter celebration found its way into
France every hen roost in the country was
searched for the largest eggs, which were taken
as a tribute to the king. And after the Easter
high mass in the chapel of the Louvre there were
brought into the royal cabinet pyramids of gilded
eggs decked with verdure. The chaplain, after
blessing them, distributed them among the persons
of the court in the presence Of his most Christian
majesty.
In the time of henry l, eggs were in great de
mand on Easter morn. In the tower is an Ole
royal roll with an account of entry, "lSd for 4N
eggs to be used for ornamental purposes fol-
Easter"
That the whole world associates the egg with
Easter is shown by the fact that the Christian
children in Mesopotamia play the same game al
Easter of picking eggs that American boys do
In England in many places the boys and girls
roll" their colored eggs, just as the Washington
children do on the White House grounds. This
White House egg-rolling, by the way, is quite 6
celebration and as a curious spectacle is worth
seeing.
There are many curious customs that obtain a
Easter that have nothing to do with the day