APPROACH OF EASTER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21462, 8 April 1933, Page 12

APPROACH OF EASTER

CHRISTIAN FESTIVAL Passion week, the name given to the fifth week in Lent, immediately preceding Easter, will commence to-mor-row with Palm Sunday. The Easter season to which this week leads, commemorating tho death and rising again of Christ, is the most sacred and. widely celebrated of all the festivals in the Christian calendar. Severnl historic streams of influence converge at this point. Tho name Easter is derived from Eostro or Ostara, tho Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom special worship was given at this season of tho return of lifo to tho earth. About the same time also comes the Jewish festival of the Passover, observed for thousands of years to bring to remembrance the deliverance of that nation from the bondage of Egypt. In the Greek and Roman Cathoiic and English Churches very many observances and ceremonies have gathered about this sacred season as aids to faith and devotion; and of recent years there has been a distinct tendency among the free Protestant Churches to give more attention to tho outward observance of Easter.

Apart from its religions significance in New Zealand Easter is chiefly thought of as tho last holiday before the warm weather ends, and the work of tho winter is entered upon. The weather is usually favourable for the many outdoor holidays and sporting fixtures of every kind that are planned.