ww ITH the possible exception of Christ mas, there is no other red letter day in our calendar which has associated with it so many different symbols as has Easter. Back of all these sym- bols, of coarse, is the one essential fact that Easter day Is the anniver. sary of the resurrection of Jesus, and the spirit of Easter Is the reassur- ance that there is life after death, that the soul of man is immortal But even though Easter is a Chris tian festival it has its parallels in paganism and the symbolism of Easter shows a curious mis ture of the Christian and the pagan. To the Christian conscious of the true meaning and religious significance of Easter, it Is a matter for regret that many persons are seemingly more familiar with the pagan symbols, which have become associated with Easter Incident. ally, than they are with the true symbols of that day. However, the association of some of these familiar Easter symbols, pagan though they may have been in origin with a Christian festival, has a certain inherent Interest. The association of the egg with Easter goes back to certain beliefs of the ancients. Fggs had been associated with the worship of Ash. toreth, of the Astarte of the Phoenicians, Isis of the Egyptians, Diana of the Greeks and Ro- mans and Eostre, whom the Teutons worshipped in the spring. Incidentally, the name Easter is said by some to be derived from the name of this Teutonic goddess, although others as sert that it was named for an old pagan spring festival in honor of the sun's new birth In the east, The Egyptians regarded the egg as an emblem of the recreation of things and of man's regen eration. Then, too, the egg with its life germ destined to produce a living creature when warmed by the mother hen Is easily associated “with the Wdea of the earth blossoming forth under the warm rays of the sun In the spring, both closely akin to the general idea of resur- rection, Since the Resurrection of Christ occurred in the spring, it 1s easy to see how the symbols of the egg and all revived life in the spring time came to be associated with this event in the history of Christianity. The egg as a symbol was taken over by the Hebrews ns an emblem of their delivery from bondage and next the early Christians took it over as thelr symbol of the Resurrection, The association of the rabbit or hare with Easter has its foundations In the ancient belief in European and Asiatic countries that the hare is the symbol for the moon. The moon is the i# a nocturnal animal. The young of the hare are born with thelr eyes open and are sald never to close them, Since the date of Easter is gov. “a the moon, It is easily seen how the » = LRAT Seng rabbit, which is the symbol for the moon, came to be an Easter symbol also, The more Intimate association of the rabbit and the egg Is probably due to a pretty little legend which comes fro.o Germany, It is as fol lows : “It was au lovely day in early springtime and Mrs. Rabbit was hurrying along the woodland path, taking some wild flowers to a sick wood. chuck friend. Suddenly she came upon a lot of loose feathers In the path. She looked about her and then discovered a nest full of eggs. “Oh, dear me," exclaimed Mrs. Bunny, ‘a fox must have stolen the mother chicken. And there are her eggs, getting chilled. I'll just sit on them to keep them warm.’ So saying, she put down her baskets and sat upon the nest. “Imagine Mrs. Rabbit's surprise, when she got up from the nest, the next morning and found that a family of chicks had hatched from the eggs. ‘Since their mother Is gone I presume I shall have to take care of the poor little things,’ sald the tenderhearted Mrs. Rabbit This she did. Ever since then the rabbit has been associated with Easter and Easter eggs.” In some parts of northern Germany the child. ten hang eggs on trees similar to Christmas trees and candy favors, gifts and all sorts of Easter novelties are placed on the tree firound which the children gather, and sing happy songs on Easter morning. Peasants in other European countries were accustomed to hang festoons of eggs over the chimney plece and to hand them down as heirlooms, for they were regarded as treasures to be kept and not as baubles to be destroyed or thrown away, In England, under the old ceclesiastical laws. rent was payable In Easter eggs: games were played with them (a fact which was probably the forerunner of Easter “egg-rollings.” such as that observed each year on the White House lawn in Washington), especially by the children in north England. Still another association of the egg with Easter 'lny In the fact that It was contrary to religious tenets to eat eggs during Lent, but when Easter marked the end of that period they were the first fleshly nourishment aft. er the fast to sanctify the body, The custom of dyeing Easter eggs goes back for many centuries, Peasants in the European countries dyed them red, as a symbol of Christ's blood, but the lords and Indies covered theirs with gold leaf. Later more elaborate decora- tions were used. Sometimes they bore cupids and love knots, flaming hearts and the signs of the zodiac, Sometimes they were halved and the shells hinged together with ribbon and Uned with gilt paper and religious pictures. Among the Venetians it was the custom to give a friend a gift egg bearing the giver's portrait, and many other variations on egg decoration were common in France, Spain and Belgium, Half a century ago Easter eggs were made of porcelain, Ivory, mother-of-pearl, bronze, sil ver, or gold In the form of little cases to hold EPORTER, CENTRE HALL, PA. — ————— tarious trinkets, Buy he modern child something useful an Easter egg whict » can first then eat The lis significance It flowers It t the long winter life dormant when favoring namental, prefers admire and has a double earliest a8 a symbol of Easter is one of the spring after bulb ypifies the rebirth of nature brown during the winter and this life begins to stir sieep, In ts ary, lies Epring comes, First it pushes out the tender green leaves, and then the buds appear, Finally the white blossom comes forth in all its glory as the blem Its other perfect em of resurrected life significance is a religious one its snow-white purity being emblematic legs life of Chr of the flaw from the day, In fact religious life whose resurrection tomb we commemorate on Easter no other flower and pare to the lily, Yet its glory Christianity, that religion may The Greeks and the Romans all flowers and in had already come to symbolize purity and virtue It was because of the place lilles had the popular that found the early paintings of the Virgin Gabriel was depicted carrying them In annuncia- tion pictures and it is because of this that the most beautiful of these flowers. Lilium dam, most used at Easter, is called the madonna lily. has a place in the literature of the Christian world to ancient though the beginnings of seem (o us prized esteem they place Christian in origin. and attrac and in fresh time was both pagan Nature bedecked herself their baptism by converts to the faith. These robes also had reference to the garb of the angels seen at Christ's tomb. During later years the custom of donning new clothes on Easter Sunday became such a fixed and universal one that nonobservance was considered not only to be a sign of eccentricity, but also a forerunner of bad luck. One does not commonly think of fire as an Easter symbol, yet fires and the burning of effigies were features of Easter celebrations in some parts of the world. Bonfires were lighted in Great Britain in the early spring to honor the sun, while in Athens Judas was burned in effigy on Easter Sunday. Such effigies also were burned elsewhere and the practice eon tinued for many years, although it is a custom that has not been followed for a long time and never was universal, The custom of sending Easter cards is one that has grown tremendously, particularly in very recent years. Cards are of every style and kind, and range from-plain, Inexpensive ones to those which represent considerable hand labor and are costly in proportion, Perhaps nothing associated with Easter le a better example of Christian adaptation of a pagan symbol than the eating of hot cross buns on the Good Friday, preceding Faster, In Egypt, where the moon goddess was be. lieved to have horns representing the crescent moon, sacred cakes were offered to her. each cake cut with horns. The Greeks adopted the Egyptian custom, and they also offered horned cikes to the moon goddess on the altar where the ox, her sacred animal, was sacrificed, In fact, the custom of eating cross-marked cakes in honor of the sun or moon god, espe cially at the time of the spring equinox, wns found by the early Christian missionaries in many parts of the world, especially Britain, Mexico and Peru. It has been suggested that the crossmark on the cakes was intended to represent the four phases of the moon, but In the Christian symbolism, this mark. of conrse, represents the cross upon which the Chris died. (® by Western Newspaper Union.) Woman Writer Claims | Because In our times so little has | been asked of the wife job, less and less has been rendered until now it | has reached such a state that if it is to be raised again *- the point where it will command respect and self-respect for the woman devoted to it, she must take a hand to her self, First, let her discard her dilettante | methods and acquire what the world | outside exacts from her farther rang. | ing sister, business-like approach to! her tasks and full assumption of la- bors enough to justify herself, i Overmeticulousness 1 would not udvocate, undermeticulousness—to wear the silver with polishing, to out oneself on white woodwork —for after all, there is much to the Job besides the chores and more to Hfe than manual toil. if a efficiently 10 get the pro toward re.estab out weur wife Nevertheless woman does ap ply herself chores done, she hans already ceeded a long Hehing band ever came home wi y For if no hus to last night's her position, unemptied ash trays and yvesterd floor and If no husband ever found a button less shirt or a suit that should have gone to the tailors (unless there was and approved cause for the negligence), it stands to reason that this disparaging talk genattered over the papers good in the home would be speedily abat- ed, Restitution may be even more cheaply won, perhaps. 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Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers