The Coconino sun., 1922-04-14
EASTER

is the oldest of all the festivals in the Christian calendar. It even entedates the observance of Christmas; for while Easter has been observed from the very foundation of Christianity over 1900 years ago, it was not until the 4th century of the modern era that the natal day of Jesus of Nag areth began to be celebrated. Like Christmas, Easter has assumed uni versatility of observance which is tribute to the instinctive religious be- liefs of large part of the worlds people; and the two together may reasonably be classed as the ranking festivals of the year.
 Probably one of the most interest ing facts in connection with Easter, which, to those of Christian belief, marks the Resurrection of the Saw four, is that its origin dates back to the old Jewish Feast of the Passover.
 "The first Christians being derived from or intimately connected with the Jewish Church." says Church his torian, naturally continued to observe the Jewish festival, though in new SDlTlI, dS dtiNC ol SfShSo VT which those had been shadows. The Passover, ennobled by the thought of Christ as the true Pascal Lamb, the first fruits of the dead, continued to be celebrated and became the Chris tian Easter"
 But while Easter is a continuation in Christian form of the Jewish Pass over, early differences arose as to the precise day on which the Easter Festival should be observed. In the Jewish faith the Passover occurs on a fixed day of the month; whereas the Christian believers from the ear Hest days assigned the Easter festi- val to fixed day of the week, namely Sunday, that being the first day of the week, and the day, according to the Scriptures, upon which Christ rose from the dead.
 The difference due largely to as- tronomical problems of confusing character, continued until the year 325 A. D., when, at the Council of Nicea, it was decreed that everywhere in Christendom Easter should be cele- brated on the same day. It was not, however, until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1582 that this decree secured general acceptance; and even to this day in the churches of Russia and Greece, as well as in some of the Oriental churches, where the Gregorian or modern calendar has not been accepted, Easter falls some times before and sometimes after the date on which the festival is cele- brated in western churches.
 As Easter Sunday thus became 8 fixed festival in the Christian calen- dar, likewise, throughout Christendom, with exceptions noted, it is decreed that Good Friday, commemorative of the Crucifixion, shall be observed on the Friday immediately preceding the Festival of Easter.
 Increasing importance has been at tached by Christian communities in later years to Long or Good or Great or Gods Friday. It is probably, as the day on which Christ offered up his life for the redemption of the world, the most sacred and solemn of the Christian year. In the churches on that day the altars are stripped of all decorations; except the Cross, which is yelled in black; the hangings are all black and the day is given over to prayer and meditation. The note of sacredness and solemnity has found it's way even into secular affairs, many of the states of the union hav- ing made it legal holiday. The custom of celebrating the day is in- volved in obscurity; though from the earliest times, every Friday among the Christians has been observed as Fast Day, as every Sunday has been a Feast Day, and the connection be- tween the one as marking the day of the Cruciixion and the other as mark ing the day of the Resurrection is easily traced.
 Christmas again comes into juxta- position with Easter inasmuch as the two signalize the great outstanding facts in the Christian faith the Birth and the Resurrection. The in innate connection between Easter, the day of the Resurrection, and awak- ening to life of the earth after the passage of winter, gives the festival a significance out of which has grown the diverse forms of the day which carry it beyond the initial re- ligious meaning, but without detract- ing from it. According to the Ven erable Bede, who lived in the eighth century, the day takes it's name from Eostre. a Teutonic goddess of the ris-