Palisadian., 1923-03-30
Easter Splendid
Festival in the
Early Centuries

Easter Sunday! What picture the
words suggest A beautiful, sunny
day, church-going and the display OF
the new spring suit on the boulevard
In the afternoon. A day much like any
other Sunday, for in these prosaic
times Easter is not the brilliant, joyous
festival it once was.
Suppose we were to turn back the
pages Of history to the Middle ages.
What festival Easter was in those
days! The old pagan Anglo-Saxon
festival of Easter was not merely re-
membrance and It's strange mummery
not forgotten. Everything was light
hearted and colortul and vibrant. Even
those who had to wear the long faces
during the rest Of the year forgot their
seriousness to play and dance and per-
form strange tricks upon one another
in the streets.
The priests, along with the laymen,
imbibed the spirit Of Easter and
laughed and played with the care-free
spirit of schoolboys. Instead of preach
ing serious sermons or exhorting the
people to consider the wickedness Of
their ways, they told humorous stories
Spirit of Christ from ascending out Of
hell into Heaven. Their stories were
very droll and made the people laugh
exceedingly. Imagine minister these
days getting up before his congregation
and telling funny stories Easter morn
ing
The people were very happy and
greeted one another cheerfully upon
the streets. Christ Is risen,' they
would say. YEA, Christ is truly risen,"
would come the answer. Then the
mummery and the leaping and caper-
ing and trick playing upon the streets |
The modern French festival of the
Lenten season, with it's joyous abandon,
more accurately resembles the Easter
festivals of the Middle ages.
Tho Pascal Candle.
The great sight of the day was the
Pascal candle burned in the principal
church or cathedral in the city. How
the people rushed and thronged
through the streets to see it Often
times the candles were huge affairs,
rising as high as 75 feet in the air and
weighing as much as 75 pounds. What
was left of the candle at Whtsunday
was made into candles for the poor.
The interiors of the churches were
truly marvellous. Thousands of candles
burned in every niche, flooding the
place with marvellous brilliance. Daz-
zling colo were everywhere. "Christ
Is risen. Let us be joyous" was the
thought that was In the minds of every
one. Then, after the impressive chant
ing Of the Easter hymns, would come
the giving of the Easter kiss Even the
beggar and the outcast was not for
gotten in this.
Easter at the beginning was a pagan
celebration for the coming of spring.
When the Christians came they took
over most Of the old observances
changing the significance to correspond
with the new religion. SO the old Pas.
chal lamb Of the Hebrews became the
lamb of Christ. The casting of an
effigy of winter into fire that repre-
sented spring was changed into SYM
bolism of Judas and the fires of hell.
The lighting of the Easter fires on
the sacred mountains was said to cor
respond to the pillar Of fire that led the
Hebrews out of the wilderness into the
Promised Land.
Played Ball In Streets.
Many of the customs or observ-
ances, one time, had had religious
meaning, but by the Middle ages this
symbolism had been partly forgotten