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Show y ASTER the most beautiful frr """l anc poetic of all modern WiPr religious observances goes gV6 back to very early times. Jl$sis& 1 primitive days a spring festival was associated with various special nature deities, but It passed into the Christian ritual principally through the Jewish feast of the Passover. This, in the early traditions of the wandering Bedouin Semites, was a shecp-shear-Ing festival, of which the principal feature was the sacrificial offering of the paschal lamb to Yahwe in the month of Nisan, in the spring, "which marked the beginning of the oriental summer. In the agricultural stage of Semitic evolution it underwent corresponding corre-sponding changes, and unleavened bread the first bread made of the early harvest grain which begins to ripen about the month of April in Palestine and other Semitic lands-was lands-was added. These primitive agricultural agricul-tural festivities were eventually combined com-bined with the beginning of the Jew ish national life that followed upon the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Similar spring festivals, associated with special gods and goddesses and Involving the sacrifice of lambs, sheep or cattle, were held among other Semites Se-mites and even in Cyprus, where such sacrifices, about April 2. were held sacred to Astarte. Certain ceremonies ceremo-nies were observed in honor of the renewal of nature's fertility at this time; the bonds of kinship were drawn clqser by the meal which formed a part of the festivities, and was accompanied with joyous songs and other manifestations of an exuberant exu-berant nature-worship. After the beginning of our era the churches of Asia Minor, among whose members was a great number of Jud-aizlng Jud-aizlng Christians, kept their paschal festival on the same day as that of the Jewish Passover that is on the 14th of Nisan. The churches of the west, however, remembering that Christ arose from the dead on a Sunday, Sun-day, kept their anniversary on the Sunday after the 14th of Nisan. This went on quietly for a time. Then controversies con-troversies arose about A. D. 15S, and continued off and on with considerable consider-able acrimony during several centuries. centu-ries. Constantine at the Oecumenical council of Nice (A. D. 325) had it decreed de-creed that the day should be celebrated cele-brated not on the day of the Jewish Passover but on the Sunday following. follow-ing. At the same time the bishop of Alexandria was appointed to give notice no-tice of the proper day to the pope and other patriarchs "because of the Egyptians' Egyp-tians' pre-eminence as astronomers. This, however, did not permanently settle the question, or to be more accurate, ac-curate, other disputes arose on the subject In the course of time. However this may be, Easter became be-came one of the three great Christian festivals the other two being Christmas Christ-mas and Whitsuntide. From the early days of Christianity Easter has been accounted, if anything, the greatest of the three. On Easter morning the early Christians greeted one another reverently with the words: "Christ Is risen," to which the man addressed gravely replied: "Christ is risen Indeed," In-deed," or "hath appeared unto Simon." This quaint custom has been preserved pre-served in the Greek church. In the east the old name was retained and the festival of the resurrection was known as "the Paschal Feast." In the sixth of the Ancyran canons, however, how-ever, It is called "the Great Day." As for the etymology of. the English Easter, It is sought in Eostre the name of a Saxon nature deity, whose feast was celebrated in the spring with bonfires and rejoicing. As every one knows, Easter is a movable feast, changing according to the full moon that comes after the vernal equinox, or March 21. If the full moon chances to come on a Sunday, Easter is held on the -following Sunday. One ob ject in arranging the calendar mooD with regard to Easter was that th latter might never fall on the same day as the Jewish Passover. They Tall together, however, in 1805, on April 14; In 1825, on April C, and in 1903, on April 12. In certain localities special cakes were baked and distributed " at this time. This custom prevailed not only in antiquity but survived down to modern mod-ern times notably in England. The Passover bread also belongs to this sertes of survivals. At Chester, England, Eng-land, the day was marked with a great football game. Other games were also played, and even women played team gamer. Everywhere It was a festival of joy. ' In the east It is known as "the Bright Day." Dances and farcical exhibitions were held and even the clergy in the pulpit told funny stories, stirring their hearers hear-ers to laughter (risus paschalls). This was put a btop to by the reformers reform-ers of the sixteenth century. Do not be chary of accepting gift lest thereby you encourage others to be miserly. |