The Winslow mail., 1922-04-14
EASTER

lit is interesting to note that East
er is the oldest of all the festivals
in the Christian calendar. 1t even
ante-dates the observance of Christ
mas; for while Easter has. been oh
served from the very foundation of
Christianity over eighteen hundred
years ago, it was not until the
Fourth century of the modern era
that the natal day of Jesus of Naza-
reth began to be celebrated. Like
Christmas, Easter has assumed a
universally of observance which is
tribute to the instructive religious
beliefs of large portion of the
worlds people; and the two togeth-
er may reasonably he classed as the
ranking festivals of the year.
Probably one of the most inter-
esting facts in connection with
Easter, which, to those of Christian
belief, marka the Resurrection of
the Savior, is that its origin dates
back to the old Jewish Feast of the
Passover.
The first Christians being deriv-
ed from or intimately Connected with
the Jewish Church, says a church
historian, naturally continued to
observe the Jewish festival, though
in d new spirit, as commemorative
of events of which those had been
shadows. The Passover, ennobled
by the thought of Christ as the true
PaSchal Lamb, the first fruits from
the dead. continued to be celebrated
and became the Christian Easter.
Il. IN
in Christian form of the Jewish
Passover, 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 earliest days assigned the
Easter festival to a fixed day of the
week, namely, Sunday, that being
the first day of the week, and the
day, according to Scripture, upon
which Christ rose from the dead.
These differences, due largely to
astronomical problems of confus-
ing character, cola,inued until the
year 325 when, at the Council of
Nicea, it was decreed that every
be celebrated on the same day. 1t
was not, however, until the adoption
Of the Gregorian calendar in 1882
that this decree secured general ac-
ceptance; 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 ac-
cepted, Easter falls sometimes be-
fore and sometimes after the date
on which the festival is celebrated
by the western churches.
As Easter Sunday thus became a
fixed festival III the Christian cal
2ndar so, likewise, throughout
Christendom, with the exceptions
noted, it is decrecd that Good Fri
day, commemorative of the day of
the Crucifixion, shall be observed on
1.-The Friday Immediately preceding
the festival of Easter Increasing
Importance has been attached by
Christian communities in later years
to Long or Good or Great or Gods
Friday. 1t is probably as the day
on which Christ offered up his life
the most sacred and solemn of the
Christian year. In the churches on
that day the affairs are stripped of
all decorationb; except the Cross,
which is yelled in black: the hang
ings are all black and the day is
given over to PRAYER and meditation.
The note of sacredness and solemn
ity has found it's way into secular
affairs, many of the States of the
Union made it legal holiday. The
custom of celebrating the day is
involved in obscurity; though from
the earliest times, every Friday
among Christians has been Feast
Day. and the connection between
the one marking the day of the
Crucifxion 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 out
standing facts in the Christian faith
the Birth and the Resurrection.
The intimate connection between
Easter. the day of Resurrection, and
the awakening to life of the earth
after the passage of winter, gives
the festival significance out of
which has grown the diverse forms
of observance of the day which car
ry it beyond it's initial religious
meaning, but without detracting
from it. According to the Venerable
Bede, the day takes it's name from
Eostre, a Tuetonic goddess of the
rising lights of Day and Spring.