THE EASTER FESTIVAL AND EASTER CUSTOMS:

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12240, 8 April 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE EASTER FESTIVAL AND EASTER CUSTOMS:

Easter, the anniversary of our Lord's resurrection from the. dead, is one of the three great festivals of the Christian yearthe other two being Christmas and Whitsuntide. From the earliest period of Christianity down to the present day, it has always been celebrated by believers with the greatest joy, and accounted the Queen of Festivals. In primitive times it was usual for Christians to salute each other on the morning of this day by exclaiming, " Christis risen;" to which the person saluted replied, " Christ is risen indeed," or else, "And hath appeared unto Simon ;" —a custom still retained in the Greek Church. ,The common name of this festival in the East was the Paschal Feast, because kept at the same time as the Poscha, or Jewish passover, and in some measure succeeding to it. In the sixth of the Ancyran Canon's it is called, the Great Day. Our own name Faster is derived, as some suppose, from Eostre, the name of a Saxon deity, whose feast was celebrated every year in the spring, about the same time as the Christian festival the' mime being retained when the character of the feast was changed ; or, as others suppose, from Oster, which signifies rising. the latter supposition be correct Easter is in name, as well as reality, the feast of the resurrection. • EASTER. CUSTOMS. The old Easter customs which still linger among us vary considerably in form in' different parts of the kingdom. The custom of distributing the " pace" or " pasche ege," which was once almost universal among Christians, is still observed by children, and? by the peasantry in Lancashire. Even in Scotland, where the great festivals have for centuries been suppressed, the young people still get their hard-boiled dyed eggs, which they roll about, or throw, and finally eat. In Lancashire, and in Cheshire, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire, and perhaps in other counties, the ridiculous custom of " lifting" or " heaving" is practised; Oil Easter Monday the men lift the women, and on Easter Tuesday the women lift or heave the men. The' process is performed by two lusty men or women joining their hands across each other's waists ; then, making the person to be heaved sit down, on their arms, they lift him up aloft two or three times, and often carry him several yards along a street.

EASTER SUNDAY IN ROME. At Rome, as might be expected, Easter Sunday is celebrated with elaborate ceremonials, for which preparations have bean, making all the previous week. The day is ushered in by the firing of cannon from the castle of St. Angelo, and about seven o'clock carriages with ladies and gentlemen are beginning to pour towards St. Peter's. That magnificent basilica is found to be richly decorated for the occasion, the altars are freshly ornamented, and the lights around the tomb and figure of St. Peter are now blazing after their temporary extinction. According to usage, the Pope officiates this day at mass in St. Peter's, and he does so with every imposing accessory that can be devised. . From a hall in the adjoining nalace of the Vatican, he is borne into the church, under circumstances of the utmost splendour. Seated in his Sedia Gestatoria, his vestments blaze with gold ; on his head he wears the Tiara-, a tall, round gilded, cap representing a triple crown, and which is understood to signify spiritual power, temporal power, and a union of both. Beside him are borne the flabelli, or large fans, composed of ostrich feathers, in- which are set the eyelike parts of peacocks' feathers, to signify the eyes or vigilance of the church. Over him is borne a silk canopy richly fringed After officiating at mass at the high altar, the Pope is, with the same ceremony, and to the sound of music, borne back through the crowded church, and then l ascends to the balcony over the central doorway. There, rising from his chair of state, and environed by his principal officers, he pronounces a benediction, with indulgences and absolution. This is the most imposing of all the ceremonies at Rome at this season, and the concourse of people in the area in front of St. Peter's is immense.