Show A T N A RIT V e 7 0 0 k r J 4 A br ELMO s COTT WATSON BIS bearon year on april 17 the whole christian world e will be celebrating easter sunday as the ibe festival of the resurrection of jesus christ because easter mews means so many different things to many different people it la in worth for us to take stock of 0 ajr ir inow knowledge ledge of the history 0 o oft ii this hla annual festival and after do inga thit that va 0 may y perhaps edve a clearer idea of what it mean kovs nearly everybody knows that the I 1 date of easter varies from year to year thit that WU unlike christmas it does not DOt come on one certain day of the in one certain mouth month that un like thanksgiving day it does doea not come on a certain certa luday day of the week eek in i a cirtain certain mouth month and that it may come on a certain day sunday lu in either of bf two months that la Is to say easter easte te sunday may fall fail either in march or april apall but they do nut not know perhaps that it cannot come earlier than march 22 nor later than april 25 bior nor the reasons to arrive at those reasons it Is necessary to go back into ancient history the festival now known as easter waw was celebrated by ancient curall ai as the Pass passover for fo many centuries aurles be fore foie tho thi birth of jesus christ L it was based upon the events which took place when the Ile hebrews brews were saved from the destruction which wai was visited upon the egyptians w given in exodus 1227 the first christians christiana being in the m main jews continued for I 1 a tons long time i to observe fhe As passover OB as well as aa other 0 ancient ceremonies but gradually these early follo followers erx ot of the cross began to substitute the christ for the paschal lamb ot of israel la in the passover Pasa over cere ceremonies moiles u eventually there ib ere arose algae a difference of df opinion between the christians christia of f hebrew descent und those ot of gentile d descent ascent as alo the time wheW when these 1 ceremonies should be celebrated 4 those of hebrew descent declared that the ibe day of el the death of jesus should be the diler date of the 0 ending ding of the pose liall fasts fast which in hebrew rites always was on the fourteenth day of the moon in the ov evening ening therefore the easter festival which followed might fall OU on any day of the week those of gentile descent hawe however ver wanted the day of the week eek sunday to be the ar first st day of the resurrection festival al thus the friday preceding eding would be observed as ad the date of the crucifixion without paying any attention to the day of the month th the fast fait continuing until mid night laight of 69 saturday 1 the dilip dispute U to ever tile this point was complicated by the irregularities of ahe he time of tot moon in relation to th the e year the afie hebrew sacred year jat at the instant of tho the vernal ernal T equinox but this time is subject to light changes due to the astronomical fic tact t of perturbations it long of the he motion of all liddles bodies in the solar system the hebrews based their years on lunar changes whereas wi we now determine P the exact length of ofa A coif year by the sun anil and stara which Is iacre more accurate lt it Is notably thit that th the 0 ancient hebrews always had trouble with their chronology 4 s I 1 because they based the afi beata e ding 0 t eacho cabb 1 month anth on the first bight of the new moon i 4 the 4 waa principally due to the fact that the moon earth th in 27 days 7 h bours our ab and ila 11 seconds and the eaith aroland i dige th e sun in seconda hii thi oie ai the ancion moon i rooker to abil edwi one ful moon almea are also out ol 01 harmony ath thi the e capri spring eq equinox ill nl an and d Y 4 this fact caused trouble in determining time in ancient times the result of all these theme complications was that by applying the jewish rules to lo easter the dates of the and the resurrection two days which yens vero supposed tobe filed aged for all time varied ried constantly 1 for jears years the difficulty between the of Jewish descent and those of gentile descent continued not being able to decide the recur r renco rence of easter the council of the early Chi christian lattan cli church finally appealed to the astronomers astron astronomers in alexandria egypt for alil aid however these scientists were not of much assistance for they had no bo luvar lunar tables such as an we now have computed b bj y master mathematicians they attempted attempt ill to make rules mies buethe but the variations of the full fall moon in 14 reference to the year would nit dot cause East anster sito to fall on an sunday any moril more than any other bother day y all wanted it to ta come come on oil sunday so each nation celebrated to sult suit ifield so that tt coma on that day thus 1 la A D the bauls celebrated easter on march 21 IA italy it fell on april 18 and fa ai egypt on april 25 eventually the selection of a certain sunday was definitely fixed during the sixth century A D it was designated as the sunday between the fifteenth sud any twenty first ant days of 0 the moon in the first ant month of the jewish jewl at lunar years it was waa directed that tho computation be made according to the tables of victorious of acque taine introduced la in A D because of the fact that britain had ceased to be a of the roman empire the sixth century decree did oot not affect the british church at first and it continued to calculate easter on a basis previously approved pt at rome home the matter was waa finally disposed of at a synod held at whitby in yorkshire in wa A D otte after r which tho the clergy of the british isles conformed to io the general practice of the western church accordingly easter to Is now observed by both the catholic and add abot P rot eastant bitant churches on the first sunday lifter after the full moon or fourteenth day of tho aho moon on or next after march 21 21 SO bo it cannot be earlier than march 22 nor later than april 25 thus it Is possible for the astronomers and mathematicians to tell in id advance in what dates date easter will come jach each year and they th Y are now noir ka known to tor i more then than a century in hi advance this of course ma may r be changed especially pec ally tilly it if the proposed no new calendar which Is to contain 13 months is put uj into ant erect affect universally salli in I 1 that case aae baiter sunday banda y will be a fixed dati date just as a variable ab I 1 a daiil date so 0 o it has a variable va rious personal persona to the child who cannot grasp its religious significance it means a day whose symbols are rabbits little chickens and easter eggs to the children of washington D a 0 it means especially the day when they roll easter eggs agga on the lawn of tho the white house louse while the president of the united states and the first lady of the land look on and enjoy the night eight of a childs happiness happi nem to call rolans fo it at means the remarkable sull also easter service near los angeles the tame fame of which has become world 1 wide far to as some of these meanings may appear to be from the real significance of easter itself they are in reality not so a 0 far easter day Is in Re resurrection surreL day the climax of the springtime urge when ell all nature awakes from sleep throws thrown or off the deathlike death like chill of winter and begins to live anew the the simplest simp leit ana monteas mont lly ily understood symbol of potential ufa afe within its shell Is in concealed the germ can be d inton life so bo it becomes whet a can ma be bore re carded as an the primary symbol of the easter season when that germ Is into life and develops to a certain point the baby chick emerges and life real life begins so bo these fluffy little balls of down beloved of all the children are also symbols of easter with all nature be decking herself annew in anew raiment why should not mankind also celebrate the surge of renewed life with new apparel T 80 86 the easter list hat and the frock in which milady appears at church chuich on easter morning la is not mere human buman vanity she puts them on because she gustl she ha the call of spring the message giLge that all life Is 13 renewed and she attires herself lier self t tto be in keeping with the season easter eastek has a deep religious significance in its celebration of the triumph of light over ov er darkness of love over hate of right over wrong of the true over the false of all that Is good 0 over VM all that isban Is bad of 1 all these as exem the lite life and death lind and resurrection ur of jesus christ lut it if has a deeper significance in that it exem fies a fundamental truth of human existence man finds lite life good he lonea tor for everlasting life ile be longs for or some joule assurance that he will bava ha va it anade and tide spirit of easter gives him that assurance that though be belles elles he bhagi live again so 90 easter la 19 a symbol vf dt that assurance christ died but lived again man may die but so BO barely aurli a as he be gas baa faith he be too tog shall live win again bo cecan lut lift up his at al lelugas of joy and 4 hope iud aud victory cad christ a f Is risen I 1 christ la larise risen nl I 1 M blath thi gravel |