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garlands, and the young people dance round it. Mr. Maurice 
adds that it is a " Phallic festival, to celebrate the generative 
powers of nature," and in this is an evidence of its real, 
origin and connection with the pillar stones. A remark of 
Mr. Maurice is well worth noticing in these days, when the 
origin and unity of the human race are called in question- 
" I could not avoid considering the circumstance as a strong 
additional proof, that mankind originally descended from 
one family, and proceeded to the several regions in which 
they finally settled, from one common and central spot. 
That the Apis, or sacred bull of Egypt, was only the symbol 
of the sun, in the vigour of vernal youth ; and that the bull 
of Japan, breaking with his horn the mundane egg, was 
evidently connected with the same bovine species of super- 
stition, founded on the mixture of astronomy and mytho- 
logy," vol. vi., p. 93. In India, April 1st is observed as a 
grand festival, in addition to the amusement of "April fools." 
It is called the Huli Festival, and celebrated on the day 
when the Persian year began — when the sun entered the 
sign Aries. The festival is celebrated in Persia with similar 
ceremonies. On the first day of the year (April 1st), the 
moment the astrologer announced the sun's reaching the 
equator, the new year is celebrated by the firing of guns, 
and the sound of all kinds of instruments. As our year 
begins in January, instead of in spring, the festivities of 
April are transferred to New Year's day. It is needless to 
say how general is the festivity, so much so as almost to 
have superseded the Christian festival of the circumcision. 
But not many years ago, mumming, and other rejoicings 
akin to April fooling, were not uncommon. 
Surely it is not by chance that these coincidences occur. 
That the bull and ram and horns have been used as emblems 
of power, royalty, and divine extraction, is in itself a proof 
that in the minds of men of old time, "horns" had a far 
