EASTER TIME IN JERUSALEM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 25, 21 June 1900, Page 10

EASTER TIME IN JERUSALEM.

Mr. Charles Svendsen, writing in the Catholic World, gives the following description of Easter time in Jerusalem :—: — Holy Saturday v w>B,. .quje r t in Jerusalem, Little groups of pilgrims could be s^eji im^vlag My'erfently 6sajm^^lbity to Gethsemani. They gave alms to the poor lepers who we're tunning their diseased bodies on the highway and calling for 'Bakhshish, ya khowaja, bakhshieh ! ' The pilgrims stopped at all the holy spots en route. Egyptian Copts, who presented a most refined appearance in their plain black robes and white_and hiaok tnrban9 + ..sdtiLlhirir wives' half veiled;; SB-vreH-ss -a congregation of Armenians; headed by their priests, lingered in the grottoes and the church over the tomb of the Holy Virgin. And at the Church of the Holy Sepulohre §, itoja^puonf^efcox ,oJ£ jjtorima wintering and leaving. I The Baßter ; |natket ,irai»:^||«§"<)jft aft the corner of the street lpadinjg past the Tunisti&barra«XaHuA t» road which leads west from' the .faff* gate. TMre ia always hustle and bustle here but to.<|ay it^eemed to have j|.j|>ecia|jßign<floartce. Peasants from nearby Am Karftn, Bethlehem, Siloe; afe3 Bethphage brought over their products and sat carelessly on the street corners in picturesque attitudes. They had no stands, but sat cross-legged on the ground and spread the onions, olivesj garlio, eggs, «to., in saoks and baskets before them, indifferently awaiting buyers. Sheplfciftß iff^their quaint coats of hair from Bet Sahur, the village of the flock's, where the first Gloria was eung, pushed before them a few fat, bleating lambs, to be sold and slaughtered before sundown. Bedouins stood about leisurely in groups smoking cigarettes, and were talking and laughing. Luxuries are sold extensively on this day, such as sweet cakes, pies, baked apples, and soft and exceedingly rioh candies, which are served with coffee and rum by the gentle Christian women to those who visit them in their houses on the days that follow. Every one seemed to be glad. The scene had a festive air, and we enjoyed lounging about and noting the varied piotures until night set in. That night (Holy Saturday night), from a high position in the centre of the city, I gazed upon Jerusalem. Above" was the dark, perfect heaven from which myriads of stars were twinkling, below lay the wreck ef earthly splendor. As I «wo,ke on Ifestofe Sunday morning the gray dawn was heralded by J <B*e exultant ringiag of bells. I occupied the same position on the terraoe as on the night before. But it was not the light of a common day that often I saw grow elsewh«r« ; it was % spiritual, tender light which arose in the far eastern heaven behind the majestio lines of Mount Olivet that morning. The city was not unadorned and strange as in the night ; but a cream light was streaming downwards, first touching the golden cross on the dome of the Holy Sepulchre, and then chasing the purple-gray shadows out of the surrounding valleys. The white olouds, which were moving around the rising sun, the rays of which now bathed Jerusalem in brightness, seemed like a company of seraphs who heard the glad sounds proclaiming in the present world that ' He is risen,' joyously took up the same theme for their happy song in the world beyond in vast aooord. The pilgrims who thronged Jerusalem that morning had the peace of faith written upon their countenances ; their souls absorbed a new significance of the first infinite Easter. As for us, we saw Jerusalem first at the snnaet hoar ; we now were willing to leave it, after having seen with our own eyes the birth of a happy morning in the Christian year, in the same Jerusalem where the Light arose centuries ago. . ,