FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS. 



175 



They were in the form of a dialogue between two 

 persons, who satirize and ridicule each other's fail- 

 ings and vices; also a sort of dramatic poem, per- 

 haps extemporaneous. The young Romans sang 

 them particularly at the harvest festivals, accom- 

 panying them with mimic motions. The emperor 

 Augustus prohibited them, as tending to corrupt the 

 public morals. 



FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS. It is a deep- 

 seated propensity of human nature to observe, with 

 festive solemnities, the periodical return of certain 

 times, suspending the ordinary business of life, on 

 certain days, for the purpose of cherishing, without 

 interruption, the recollection of some important 

 event, and assimilating the external circumstances 

 of men with their internal feelings. The solemniza- 

 tion of festivals is an evidence ot the nobler nature 

 of man. Animals, guided only by instinct, pursue 

 an unvaried course from day to day, while man intro- 

 duces variety into his life, by exalting some days 

 above their fellows. Hence we find him observing 

 festivals peculiar to families, to places, to nations, 

 and to religions. It is a mistaken view of human 

 welfare, both in a political and a religious view, to 

 treat particular seasons of rejoicing and festivity as 

 useless and sinful, rather than as of an elevating 

 tendency. Their accordance with the wants of man's 

 nature is evident from the fact, that we cannot do 

 everything at all times, and are therefore obliged to 

 assign different portions of our time to different em- 

 ployments. We cannot give ourselves up every 

 moment to the recollection of the freedom of our 

 country, to rejoicing on account of the birth of 

 Christ, to thankfulness to God for his creating and 

 preserving care, &c. It is expedient, then, to set 

 apart certain days, in which we may live exclusively 

 for each of these subjects of contemplation ; and on 

 such occasions the object which we commemorate 

 acquires an additional degree of inter? st from our 

 witnessing the participation of multitudes in the fes- 

 tival. We ought not, however, of course, to confine 

 such contemplations to an appointed day, but should 

 merely devote ourselves more especially to them at 

 that time. The majority of Protestants have, in this 

 respect, fallen into an extreme, while endeavouring 

 to avoid the numerous festivals of the Romish 

 church. In England, almost all the ecclesiastical 

 festivals have either been abolished or are little 

 regarded. In Germany, several are solemnized with 

 very general interest. On the festivals of the ancient 

 Christians, see Augusti's Denkwurdigkeiten aus der 

 alien Christlichen Archaologie, fyc. (Memorable Parti- 

 culars of Ancient Christian Archaeology, &c., Leipsic, 

 18171820, 3vols.), and Zyliegan's work, entitled 

 Die Altern und Neuern Feste alter Christlichen Con- 

 fessionen (the Ancient and Modern Festivals of all 

 Religious Confessions, Dantzic, 1825). 



Festivals, or Feasts, Christian. All religions have 

 festivals designed to cherish and renew a religious 

 life. There is, indeed, no religion which has pre- 

 served a perfect independence. The existing older 

 religions involuntarily influence it, whether appropri- 

 ated to its service or opposed to it. As the traces 

 of the religion of India in Judaism are undeniable, 

 so also the latter had much influence on Christianity, 

 which was in turn influenced by Paganism, inasmuch 

 as, in its opposition to that system, it sought to offer 

 the Gentiles a more than equivalent compensation for 

 the pleasures which that had afforded them. If we 

 apply these remarks to the subject of festivals, we 

 shall no longer be surprised to find the counterparts 

 of so many of those belonging to Christianity in 

 foreign religions. 



The first festival observed by Christians was that 

 of the resurrection of our Lord (Easter), which cor- 



responded to the Passover of the Jews. The day of 

 the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Whitsunday) took 

 the place of the Jewish Pentecost. Sunday became 

 a weekly holiday in memory of the resurrection, and 

 at the same time a substitute for the Sabbath of the 

 Jews. The divisions of the festivals into classes are 

 very various : they are weekly (as Sunday) and 

 yearly ; ordinary, or extraordinary ; moveable and 

 immoveable ; great and high (e. g., Easter, Whit- 

 sunday, Christmas) ; middle and low ; entire and 

 half; old and new ; general and particular. The 

 ordinary moveable festivals are, e. g., Easter, Whit- 

 suiulay, &c. ; immoveable, Christmas, Michaelmas, 

 Twelfth-day (or Epiphany), Candlemas, St John's- 

 day, Lady-day, &c. Extraordinary festivals, or holi- 

 days, are such as are appointed for special occasions. 

 In the first centuries, the number of ecclesiastical 

 festivals was very small, which may be easily ac- 

 counted for by the adverse circumstances with which 

 Christianity had to struggle at its commencement. 

 In the most ancient times, we find, besides Sunday, 

 only Good Friday, Easter, Whitsunday, and some not 

 very precisely fixed commemorative festivals of cer- 

 tain martyrs, introduced among Christians as holy 

 times. To these Christmas has been added, since 

 the fourth century. But although it is impossible 

 not to recognise in these festivals a Jewish, and, in 

 part, also, a pagan origin, it was, nevertheless, sub- 

 sequently ordained by special ecclesiastical regula- 

 tions, that they should not be celebrated in common 

 with Jews, heathens, or heretics. The fundamental 

 idea and design of these holy times and festivals was 

 to keep alive the recollection of the principal bles- 

 sings of Christianity, and of the Saviour ; to excite 

 thankfulness for the divine superintendence ; and to 

 encourage the practice of Christian virtues. It was 

 customary to endeavour to prepare, by fasts, for the 

 proper observance of these festivals, the latter being 

 considered as days of rejoicing, in which the Chris- 

 tian, distracted by no profane business, should occupy 

 himself solely with joyful contemplation and exercise 

 in holy works. To prevent these festivals of rejoic- 

 ing from degenerating, and to preserve the distinc- 

 tion between them and the heathen customs, the 

 Christian church, from the tune when it began to 

 sway the state, implored the exercise of the civil 

 power for the preservation of the purity of the holi- 

 days and customs, and for the prohibition of all pub- 

 lic amusements by which the sanctity of divine wor- 

 ship might be impaired. In this manner, the Chris- 

 tian festivals united the serious and moral character 

 of the Jewish with a certain freedom and cheerful- 

 ness, which they acquired from the system of pagan- 

 ism. Although the holidays were feries, that is, 

 days on which all public and direct labour, as well 

 as all amusements inimical to devotion, were to be 

 intermitted, yet all of what are termed works of ne- 

 cessity, or charity, were not only allowed, but enjoin- 

 ed. On the other hand, a participation in divine 

 worship was made the especial duty of every Chris- 

 tian ; and not only the places appropriated to reli- 

 gious services, but also the private dwellings of 

 Christians, were decorated more than ordinarily, and 

 Christians themselves were admonished to appear in 

 a neat and cheerful dress. They abstained from 

 fasting, and joined in the love-feasts, or Agapce (q. v.); 

 and, when these were disused, it was made the duty 

 of the rich to feed the poor, or, at least, relieve them 

 with their alms. The festivals distinguish the year 

 into three great divisions. The first period, or divi- 

 sion, in the calendar of the church, is the season of 

 Christmas, or the time devoted to celebrating the in- 

 carnation, birth, and ministry of the Saviour. This 

 holy season begins with the first Sunday in Advent 

 (see Advent), and lasts till the feast of Epiphany, (q.v.) 



