Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-03-29
EASTER IS OLDEST
CHRISTIAN FESTIVAL;
GENERALLY OBSERVED

Easter, commemorating to the
Christian believer the resurrection
of the Savior of mankind; and, to
the secular mind. the formal open.
ing of the springtime season; but OBJ
served as a festival~of joy and feast
ing by both, is the oldest of all the
festivals in the Christian calendar.
1t is the day which marked the be-
ginning Of the preaching OF the
Gospel of Christ. Easter even ante
dates Christmas as a fixed event;
for, while the day of the resurrec-
ton has been observed from the
foundation of the Christian religion,
it was not until four centuries later
that the natal day of Jesus of Naz.
areth began to be celebrated.
Not less a fixed event than Easter
is Good Friday, commemorative of
the, day of the crucifxion and OBJ.
served on the Friday Immediately
preceding the Easter festival. In.
creaSing Importance has been at.
tached by Christian communities in
later years to Long, or Good or Gods
Friday, as it is variously known. 1t
is probably, as the day on which
Christ offered up his life for the re.
demption Of the world, the most
sacred and solemn of the Christian
year. In most of the churches on
that day the affairs are stripped of
all decorations, the cross is draped
in black and the hangings are of a
similar sombre hue, and the day is
given over largely by the devout to
prayer and meditation. This note of
sacredness and solemnity is reflect
ed even in the affairs of the secular
world, many of the states of the
union in Difference to it's deeply re-
ligious significance, having made it
a legal holiday. The custom o. cele-
brating the day is involved IN obscur-
ity, except for the fact that it is
the day on which Christ was nail.
ed to the cross on the Hill of Col.
gotha; but from the earliest times,
every Friday among Christians has
been regarded as fast day, as every
Sunday has been feast day, and
the connection between the one as
marking the day of the crucifixion
and the other as marking the day Of
the resurrection is easily traced.
one OF the most interesting facts
in connection with Easter, is that
its origin dates back to the old Jew
ish Feast of the Passover. Accord.
ing to a church historian: 1.-THE
first Christians being derived from
or intimately connected with the
Jewish chuch, naturally continued
to observe the Jewish festivals,
though in new spirit, as commemo-
rative of events Of which those had
been shadows. The Passover, en-
nobled by the thought of Christ as
the true Pascal Lamb, continued to
be celebrated, and became the Chris
tan Easter"
Early differences arose as to the
precise day on which the Easter
festival should be observed. In the
Jewish calender the Passover &C.
ours on a fixed day of the month,
while the Christians, from the, earli-
est days, assigned the Easter fes-
tival TO a fixed day OF the week,
namely, Sunday, that being the
first day of the week AMI the day,
according to Scripture, upon which
Christ arose from the dead. AS
tronCinical problems of q confusing
character were largely responsible
for these differences, which contin-
ued until the 325 A. D., when the
Council of Nicea decreed that every
where in Christendom Easter should
be celebrated on the same day. But
it was not until the adoption of the
Gregorian calendar in 1882 that this
decree secured anything like gen
eral acceptance; and even to this
day in the churches of Greece and
Russia as well as in some of the
Oriental congregations where the
modern calendar has not been &C
cepted, Easter falls sometimes be-
fore and sometimes after the date
on which the festival is celebrated
by the western churches.
According to barry, one OF the
historians Of the Book of Common
Prayer, the name Easter is derived
by Bede from Eastre, a Saxon god
dess in whose honor the great spring
festival was celebrated. Its old
name was Pascha" says Barry
both in the east and west; and end
less titles of honor and reverence
were heaped upon it,