The patriot. (Glenmora, La.) 1918-1955, 1919-04-11

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year for the reason that it commentaries the re"
direction of Jesus. IN the words of Paul, III
Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain anu
Your faith is also vain But he says, now Is
Christ risen from the dead and D2cOme 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 not nOmnally Christians. They DO
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 care into the
world the Christian church adopted and m"dified
such of these pagan rites of celebration as II ccuid
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
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 piece of clothing would
bring bad luck during the year.. The use of the
egg as symbol of life is far older than Chris
tianity. The Easter rabbit is survival of an old
old superstition. The use Of flowers express
sion of rejoicing is probably almost as old as man
himself. The paschal candles are in another
form the bonfires lighted by remote ancestors
to celebrate the arrival Of spring.
Just how the rabbits managed to get into the
Easter celebration nobody seems to he 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, bur
where they got the idea is what none OF the anu
guarians have been able to learn to their satls1'@-
ton. As far they have gone they inquire thls
way: The relation between the moon ana 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 anc the egg.
Easter without eggs-fresh Lid. dyed ard sugar
would be like Christmas without Santa Claus,
the stocking and the tree. And the assoclarr'h OF
the egg with Easter is easily explained. Mary OF
the old peoples of earth have used the egg rom
time immemoria the symbol of the gerl'' OF
life The wise men of old taught that the world
wos batched from an egg. All over the pagan
world it sgnified fertility and potential life. THE
Mace of the egg was therefore firmly fixed in the
snrine celebrations that long antedated Christ end
the Christian Easter. The Christian church founsi
the egg so firmly established as an Easter symbol
that it could not be dslodged. Therefore the
boI of the resurrection. In the transition of Easter
from q heather to q Christian festival the trad
tion of the egg stands unbroken. When the coll
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.
It 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 we're taken
rs 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 gded
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 ], eggs were in great de-
mand on Easter MORN In the tower is an old
royal roll with an account of entry, "1Sd for 400
eggs 10 be used for ornamental purposes for
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 at
Easter of picking" eggs that American boys do.
In England in many places the boys and girls
"rolls their colored eggs, just as the Washington
children do ON the White House grounds. This
White House eggroing, by the way, is quite n
celebration and curious spectacle is worth
seeing
There are many curious customs that obtain al
Easter thar have nothing to do with the day