20 EASTER. 
EASTER. 
SgmiSIDE from their use as food eggs are 
connected with one of the great fes- 
tivals of the Christian church. 
From the earliest ages, all nations 
have celebrated the awakening of nature at the 
vernal equinox, and the day we know as Easter 
may be considered a combination of these fes- 
tivities with the Jewish Passover, but given a 
new significance by the risen Christ. 
The early church was divided on the question 
of the proper time for the observance of the 
resurrection, and the matter was not decided 
until A. D, 325 at the Nicene Council. The 
settlement of the controversy was one of the 
questions which led Constantine to call the 
counsil: “That everywhere the great feast of 
Easter should be observed upon one and the 
same day, and that not the day, of the Jewish 
Passover, but as had been generally observed, 
upon the Sunday afterward.” 
