EASTER AND THE EASTER LILY. 



The Easter Lily is the symbol of a 

 ceremonial which is older than history. 

 It illustrates a story as old as human- 

 ity, one which tells of feasts to the Great 

 Spirit in gratitude for the return of 

 spring or for a bountiful harvest. Un- 

 like other primitive observances which 

 have become obsolete, or more recent 

 forms of thanksgiving which have no 

 relation to the past, the Easter festival 

 has been handed down through the ages, 

 replete with religious significance to al- 

 most every race of mankind. Probably 

 the earliest recorded observance of this 

 ceremonial was when the Hebrew, 

 Arabian, Phenician and Assyrian herds- 

 men offered sacrifices to the Great Spirit, 

 to ward off danger and disease. On 

 the plains of Babylon, these herders of 

 sheep and cattle became the first astron- 

 omers, being guided by the stars and 

 recording the lapse of time by the phases 

 of the moon. Thus in process of time 

 the days of the new and full moon, be- 

 came holy days to the people of the 

 Semitic race and were so observed for 

 centuries during the most flourishing pe- 

 riods of their history. 



Hence it transpired that the rnoon be- 

 came the symbol of an overruling provi- 

 dence and when the vernal equinox re- 

 turned the first of the flocks were sacri- 

 ficed to the moon god and their blood 

 sprinkled on the lintels of the sheep folds, 

 that pestilence and disease might not 

 prevail. 



The vernal equinox was thought to be 

 a season when the Great Spirit came 

 more closely to his children than at other 

 times. The sun warmed the ground, the 

 floods subsided and the earth became 

 alive with germinating seeds. In Egypt 

 at this season a huge serpent was sup- 

 posed to wander over the earth, drink- 

 ing the superfluous moisture and warm- 

 ing the ground. 



At a later period in Hebrew historv 

 the worship of the moon god was re- 

 placed bv sacrifices to Yahweh, but still 

 the firstlings of the flocks were offered 



up and their blood sprinkled on the lin- 

 tels of the door posts. At this time, 

 however, the thank offerings were for 

 deliverance from Egyptian bondage. 



Thus the ancient Hebrew Pesakh 

 passed through the Paskha of the Sep- 

 tuagint into the Latin Pascha, which 

 is still the Latin name for Easter and 

 has a variant in the English Paschal. 

 From the Semitic feast it passed under 

 Aryan influence and acquired the Aryan 

 name. 



The final passover when Christ was 

 crucified on Calvary, constituted the 

 closing Hebrew observance and inaugu- 

 rated another, still in force. When the 

 Teutonic influence began to be exerted 

 in Roman life, the observance of the fes- 

 tival became somewhat imcertain. This 

 was due to the fact that the Teutonic 

 people had no national celebration of a 

 similar nature, their periods of thanks- 

 giving being regulated by communities. 

 In turn, however, the Roman Pascha be- 

 cime permanently changed to the Teu- 

 tonic Easter, named from the festival 

 of the goddess Ostara, which combined 

 the ancient customs of invoking bless- 

 ings on fire, marriage and the fields. 



This blessing of the fire was a Vedic 

 ceremony to welcome the dawn and dis- 

 perse the night demons. It still survives 

 in the "Muckle Wheel" of Scotland, the 

 "Need Fire" of England and the "Holy 

 Saturday of Germany." Tlie relics of 

 the blessing of the marriage relation may 

 be still found in* the Silician sale of 

 girls on Easter Monday, the shoe-pulling 

 in the north of England and the Hamp- 

 shire hockings. 



The blessing of the fields was by far 

 the most ancient and the most closely 

 related to the original observance of the 

 occasion. It was, however, largely done 

 away with during the Reformation and 

 Puritan movement. In Germany, never- 

 theless, the cattle are still stroked and 

 the fields swept with lioly palms. The 

 cosmic egg of Babylon and Assyria is 

 still perpetuated in the English Easter 



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