Connecticut western news., 1922-04-13
Easter Here
 and Abroad
! |
na'lBg'as M1A1!

Daybreak, Bethlehem. Not in Ju-; ] dea but in Pennsylvania. Church and cemetery outside thronged with peo- 1 pie, many of them there since the night | before, all of them watching, waiting, for the sudden glad burst of music l from the marching choristers who will come to herald in the sunrise an- nouncing that Christ is Risenl' i For two days these Moravians have kept celebration. On Friday at 10 80 1 they gathered for the beginning of services which progressed in dramatic intensity through the events of Black Friday, till at o'clock, the hour of the crucifxion, they knelt to the toll ing bell and the dirge-ltke chant, | Christ is Dead" Later at vespers the Vigil of the Paschal Lamb was ob- served, and the Saturday services were eliminated by 8 Love Feast dur ing which buns and coffee were served | by black-robed priests and the night watch began, the end of which was to usher in the glad tidings which they now acclaim, Christ is Risen"
 Universal Celebration. ..
 At the same hour, in every. civilized Country In the world, some version of the great religious drama of the ages is being enacted with solemn music, lighted candles, the odor of lilies and prayer. That Is why 1t is almost shock at first to realize that the East CT celebration did not originate with the crucifixion of Christ, but antedates his birth by many centuries. Its origin Is lost in the dim, distance of remote antiquity and it's name even Is that of Eastre, Ostare, the Anglo-Saxon god dess of Spring to whom the fourth month was dedicated and called East ger month" According to Canon Ve- nable of the Church of England. the keeping of Easter was made church custom only after popular usage had sanctioned and dignifed it. The commemoration of the passion of Christ was later identified with 1t. as was the Jewish Feast of the Passover. The Persians at the same season oo- serve their Renewal of the Year" when the "Sun of Justice. the Savior of the World oyer Death is resurrect- ed" It was also the first month of the year with the Druids, and the worldwide custom of Easter fires dates back to the primitive worship of the seasons, as does much of the worldwide watching for the Easter Sunrise, when the golden orb leaps three times In joy" as even the canny e Scots wheaIwatch It's reflection in basin of water, will aver that 1t does. Easter Sunday in Russia.
 But the universal significance of the vicarious sacrifices and the emerging through a season of abnegation, into new being, deepens rather than takes from the religious holiday, which is never so Sdevoutly kept as in Russia. Along deserted thoroughfares of little villages, or shoulder to shoulder with the throngs surging through city streets, in somber darkness go old and young, high and low at midnight on Easter. ''Yea, Christ is rfsen," their challenge comes ringing back through empty space or ripping in hundred echoes from the thick-packed masses of devotees. On Good Friday they have all followed the black coffin through the streets to the mournful music of the military bands and her aided by crepe-draped crucifix. Now they press on, enter the church which Is dark as the outside-darker. They kneel, huddle together, they wait Presently down the center aisle a lighted lantern borne aloft on a pole comes, followed by the crucifx and white clad priests, peerfng right and left through the darkness. They are the Procession of Searchers for the Body" They reach the altar; they, too. kneel. They wait.
 "Then comes the sound of shuffling feet nearer and nearer" an eye wit ness described 1t. Suddenly the doors are pounded from without rap Idly and incessantly-a profane sound that start1es the stiffness into awaken ing life. The kneeling figures at the altar listen, rise and hurry down the aisle. The doors are flung open and a long procession enters, each bearing a lighted candle-followed by the choir chanting the glad news From the tapers as the priests pass, people near est in the heaving crowd light their candles. Flame Is passed up and |, down from hand to hand. A trail of fire flowers springs forth from the dusk as though by magic until the gloom lightens to a rosy glow, the glow to a sudden blaze of brilliance that gleams on the jewel ,burdened ikons-on a sea 1 of faces"
 Bells Ring in Easter.
 In Moscow the bells of the Kremlin