Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-20

law which stated that all the movable feasts
of the Christian calendar should depend upon
Easter Sunday.
RUT the word Easter itself is not Of Christian
~ origin The original meaning of the word
is often disputed. Historians have claimed that
it is derived from the name of the ancient god
dess, OStara-or EoStre-who personif1ed the
Spring, the east the morning and all things
new Ostara's month called Eostur- monath
and it corresponded to our April There are
other writers who say Eostur- monath was
named for the old heather feast of Eostur-or
Easter which was called because the Spring
sun rose in the east. Still others claim that
Easter is derived from the ancient word Oster,
which signifies rising.
Winter was a frightful ordeal to the ancients.
They had never dreamed of such comforts as
steam heated houses and canned food. Is It
any wonder that they celebrated the warm
Spring and new food with unrestrained joy?
When the first Christian missionaries went 70
England to introduce Christianity the pagan
celebration of the EoStur festival reigned SUI
preme. The missionaries soon found that the
festival was deeply rooted in the lives of the
unbelievers The Christians tried to abolish
this heather custom, but they could not SO
they welded its spirit of joy and thankfulness
onto the Christian calendar and give 1t the
deep significance of the resurrection of Christ
This not hard to do; the resurrection of
episode of the risen Christ to make it perfect
The French Italian and Spanish words for
Easter are derived from the Hebrew name OF
the Passover, which is peSach. This feast
among the Jews, commentaries the act of the
angel of destruction who smote the Egyptians
but passed over the houses that were sprinkled
with the blood of the pascal lamb" The early
Christians saw an allegorical resemblance to
the Jewish Passover in the resurrection Of
Christ in that the lamb of God was actually
sacrificed to save the people.
The paganS celebrated the Spring about the
first day of May and many of our present
Easter customs are easily traced to this fes-
tival. The Oestra celebration consisted of riot
games, sports. dancing and farcical enter
tainmentS It was the custom to dress in new
clothes and garlands Of flowers. So we find
that new Easter clothes and Easter parades
have pagan origin and were practiced long
before Christianity. The early Christians were.
in fact, doleful class of people. The pagans
furnished the elements of hilarity to such
Christian festivals as Easter and Christmas
Easter fires" have their origin in paganisn.
It was an ancient custom to build great fires
on the mountain tops to celebrate the triumph
of Spring over Winter. The flame had to be
kindled from new fire created by friction.
Often a figure representing Winter was hurled
into the bonfires The Christians tried to stop
this heather custom also, but could not, so
they gave the new flame struck from flint a
Christian significance. It now stands for the
temperance of the Light of the World out
of the tomb of stone. One of the most sig
nificant spectacles in the pageantry OF the
Easter celebration at Rome is the spectacular
lighting of st. Peters, called the silver and
the gold illumination"
The Sun Festival, which Is still practiced by
almost all the heather countries in the world,
is a relic of prehistoric days, when the planets
were worshiped. The deep-rooted beliefs OF
the sun worshipers are probably responsible
for the ancient superstition that the sun
danced and spun around like cart wheel