EASTER SUNDAY
NEW YEAR’S DAY
Originally Marked the Beginning
of the Twelve Months—Spring
Festivals in Vogue Long
Before the Time of
Christianity.
By REV. ARTHUR HOET.
EASTER Sunday was formerly
equivalent to New Year’s day;
though not the first day of the
year it was the day on which
the opening of the year was celebrated.
Historically the Christian Easter Is
simply a continuation of the Jewish
Passover, which was celebrated on the
14th day of the first month of the Jew
ish year—that is, on the day of the
first full moon next following the day
of the equinox. It has been questioned
whether any special observance of this
• day was practiced or enjoined by the
apostles and the early Church Fa
thers yet the words of St. Paul (I Cor.
5:7-8) seem to sanction if they do not
recommend an observance of some sort
and foreshadow the thought which
came finally to underlie it: “For even
Christ our passover is sacrificed for
ns. Therefore let us keep the feast,
not with old leaven, neither with the
leaven of malice and wickedness, but
with the unleavened bread of sincer
ity and truth.” According to the Jew
ish tradition, the Passover commemo
rated the passing of the Angel of
Death over the houses of the Israelites
in Egypt, the doorposts and lintels of
which had been sprinkled with the
blood of the paschal lamb. The Chris
tians, in adopting the festival, gave it
a new significance. For them the Sav
ior became the true Paschal Lamb, and
the new festival commemorated His
resurrection on the third day following
the Crucifixion.
The proper day for celebrating East
er was one of the questions which the
Council of Nice (A. D. 825) was called
upon to decide. By the Eastern Chris
tians it was at that time celebrated on
the styne day as the Jewish Passover,
without regard to the day of the week
on which 4t might fall. Among the
Western Christians, who held that the
crucifixion occurred on a Friday and
the resurrection on a Sunday, there
had arisen a custom of celebrating
Easter on the first Sunday following
the 14th of the first month, and to this
custom was given the official sanction
of the council. Furthermore, the rule
then established for fixing upon the
proper Sunday was designed partly to
prevent the possibility of Easter ever
falling on the same day as the Pass
over, but the rule has failed on several
occasions to prevent this coincidence,
and at rare intervals the two festivals
came together.
Changes in Calendar.
The old Roman year, like the Jewish
year, began in March, when the son en
tered the constellation Arles. When the
i .calendar was reformed under Julius
Caesar, the year was made to begin on
the first day of January. After the
adoption of Christianity in Europe, the
date of the beginning of the year was
changed to March in most countries, so
that Easter became recognized as a
New Year’s day. The reform of the
calendar by Pope Gregory, in 1582,
again changed the day on which the
year began, although in England it
continued to begin on the 25th of
March until the adoption of the “new
j style” there in 1752.
Christianity found Spring festivals
! already in vogue in heathen Europe,
and to these oldtime festivals many of
| the customs and superstitious rites still
connected with Easter are clearly
traceable. The name Easter, given to
the day by the Teutonic nations—the
Roman nations have retained the old
Hebrew name, pascha, under modified
forms, as the Jour de Paques, of the
French—is derived by Bede from Eos
ter or Ostara, the name of an old
Anglo-Saxon goddess, in whose honor
a Spring festival was celebrated.
Grimm was unable to find any mention
of a deity of this name among the an
cient Germans, but from the fact that
the month of April still bears the name
ostermonat (in Old High German os
tarmanoth), he did not doubt that such
a goddess, probably “the divinity of
the radiant dawn,” had been known
among them. The old Oster festival
was clearly of a solar character, a cel
ebration in honor of the birth or the
rejuvenation of the sun of the new
year. This is made evident, aside from
the known character of similar festi
vals in other parts of the world, by
many of the observances which It be
queathed to Easter. Thus It was for
merly a custom all through the north
of Germany, on the night of Easter
Sunday or the third night followinq^n
kindle bonfires on all thaJtejg
fording a. ntM«*Hficent ,si>octa<
these fires were to be seelfherf^tind"'
there over miles of country. This cus
tom had become simply a mode of
merrymaking, but It Is held with plaus
ibility that originally the bonfire was
symbolical of the new fire that wms to
warm the earth and quicken it into re
newed life after the cold embrace of
winter.
Ancient Popular Belief.
Another indication of the ancient
solar character of this festival Is an
old popular belief, said to survive still
in Brandenburg and Saxony, that the
sun at the moment of rising on the
morning of Easter gives three joyous
leaps, that he dances with youthful
joy. This curious belief was not con
fined to Germany. In the middle dis
tricts of Ireland, according to Brand,
it was customary, after spending East
er eve in merrymaking and carous
ing—watching the pot boil, the eon
tents of which were to break the long
Lenten fust, yet must not be touched
before the crowing of the cock—for 1
the whole company of revelers to go
out just at daybreak to see the rising
sun take his three Easter leaps. Sir
Thomas Browne, writing of popular
errors, mentions thus quaintly the ex
istence of this belief In England: “We
shall not, I hope, disparage the resur
rection of our Redeemer, if we say that
I the sun doth not dance on Easter day;
and though I would willingly assent
unto any sympathetic exultation, yet 1
we cannot conceive therein more tlian
a tropical (figurative) expression." ,
Perhaps there Is no more striking Illus
tration than this of the power of an
inherited belief to live on In spite of
the testimony of all experience against ,
i It. In some places, apparently as an i
j alternative for giving up the belief !
wholly, it was held that in order to
, witness these three leaps one must
look, not at fhe sun itself, hut at die
reflection of It In a pool of clear water.
; As a last resort, to save the belief, the j
| sun might he made to dance. Brand I
could recall that when he was a boy :
he had seen “a vessel full of water set j
in the open air, in which the reflected
sun seemed to dance, from the tremu
lous motion of the water;” if the I
mountain will not come to Mahomet,
then Mahomet must go to the moun
\ tain.
Among the customs handed down
through long ages and accepted by the
Church were those of Easter eggs and
the Easter tale which the preacher told
from the pulpit. In lieu of a sermon,
connecting It with Christian reminis
cences. Later still there were In Ger
many dramatic shows, named Oster
spiele, executed by twelve performers,
one of whom, apparently, was the
leader, and represented Summer beat
ing Winter out of the land. The daECes
and sports prevalent at this season In
Germany among the youths and maid
ens appear sometimes to have been
marked with something of the loose
ness characteristic of the floral games
In Italy. *
The Easter Hare
There are ■evera! versions of the
connection of the hare with Easter,
but the hare custom Is exclusively pa
gan in origin and has nothing to do
with the Christian festival. In the East,
the hare played a part in the mythical
life and adventures of Buddha. In
fact, several hare myths come out of
India, the great reservoir of religious
symbolism.
DRDER SETTING TIME FOR HEAR.
ING PETITION AND GIVING
NOTICE
In the District Court for the Territory
of Alaska, Third Division—In the
Matter of the Alteration of the
boundaries of, tbe enbtrgement of
the corporate >in)its of and the an
nexation of new territory to the
town of Cordova, Alaska, incor
porated.
A petition having this day been pre
sented to the above entitled court for
the purpose of instituting proceedings
resuired by law for tbe annexation of
territory, therein described, to the 4r.
corporated town of Cordova, Alaska;
and it appearing to the court that said
petition is signed by enough qualified
electors of said town to constitute
more than one-fifth of the number of
votes cast at the last municipal elec
tion held in said town, and by more
than five actual residents or owners of
substantial, property interests in land
or possessory rights in land or tide land
or improvements upon land or tide
land within the limits of the territory
so proposed to be annexed and in
corporated within the limits of the cor
porate town of Cordova aforesaid,
said petition setting forth the boundar
ies of the territory so proposed to be
annexed to said town, and being veri
fied by two of the signers of said peti
tion, and having attached thereto a
plat based upon an actual survey by a
competent surveyor, setting forth the
limits and boundaries thereof by metes
and bounds, and Rtating the number of
inhabitants therein:
Now, therefore, It appearing to the
court that said petition is in the form
and substance required by law,
It is ordered and decreed that said
petition be heard and considered by
the eourt on the 15th day of April,
1918, at 10 o’clock a. m. of said day, at
the court room of this court in either
Valdez, Alaska, or said Cordova, if said
day be a day of jurisdiction in said
court, or if the same be not a day of
jurisdiction, then said hearing shall
be held on the first day of jurisdiction
thereafter. It is further ordered that
notice of such hearing be given by
posting printed or typewritten copies
of this order in three conspicuous
places within the limits of the cor
porate town of Cordova, Alaska, and
by posting such copies in three con
spicuous places within the limits of
the territory so proposed to be an
nexed to and incorporated within the
limits of said towm of Cordova, and
' shing a copy of this order for
HfWSItVe weeks tn *he Cordova
_ _ mes, a daily newspaper of gen
eral circulation published in said town
of Cordova, such publication to be
made in said newspaper once each
week until five publications have been
made.
Dated at Cordova, Alaska, this 11th
day of March, 1918.
FRED M. BROWN,
District Judge.
March 12-18-25-Apr. 1-8.
NOTICE
Notice is hereby given that a gen
eral municipal election will be held
in the town hall at Cordova, Alaska,
on Tuesday, April 2, 1918. Polls will
be open between the hours of 8 a. m.
and 8 p. m. There will be selected by
the votes of the qualified electors of
said Cordova, seven councllmen and a
clerk of the school Board, and a refer
endum will be taken on an ordinance
adopted by the town council granting
the Cordova Power Company, its suc
cessors and assigns, a franchise to
operate a steam-heating plant in said
town.
The qualifications of a voter for
councilman are as follows: He or she
shall be a citizen of the United States,
or one who has declared his or her
intention to become a citizen of the
United States, over 21 years of age,
who has resided continuously one year
next preceding the date of said elec
tion within the territory of Alaska,
ind in the town of Cordova for the
<ix months next preceding the date of
said election.
All adults, male and female, who are
citizens of the United States, or who
have declared their intention to be
come citizens of the United States,
ind who are residents of the town of
Cordova, are qualified to vote for the
clerk of the school board.
EDWARD F. MEDLEY,
Town Clerk.
nv i icc.
Jf
United States of America, Territory of
Alaska, ss. to A. F. Stowe:
You are hereby notified that we
have expended during the year 1916
three hundred dollars in labor and im
provements upon the “Big 4,” “Mof
fett” and "Crow’s Nest” lode mining
claims, known as the Big Four group,
which are contiguous and in one
group, situate on right limit of Chitti
stone river, about eight miles from the
mouth thereof, in Nizina mining dis
trict, Chitina recording precinct, Al
aska, the location certificates of which
are found of record in book 9, pages
142. 143 and 144 in the office of the
recorder of Chitina recording precinct, - >
at McCarthy, Alaska, in order to hold
said claims under the provisions of
section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of j
the United States, and the amend-!
inents thereto, approved January 22nd,
1880, concerning annual labor upon
mining claims, being the amount re- i
quired to hold said lodes for the period ]
ending on the 31st day of Dec. 1916.
And if within ninety days from the
personal service of this notice, or
within ninety days after the publica-'
tion thereof, you fail or refuse to con
tribute your proportion of such ex
penditure as a co-owner, which
amounts to seventy-five dollars, your
interest in said claims will become
the property of the subscribers, your
co-owners, who have mad6 the requir
ed expenditures, by the terms of said
section. \
J J. MILLER.
OSCAR HANSON.
First publication January 22, 1918.
Last publication April 2, 1918.
hi Cl"T 1 /*- C T/-nr rMTA n n i
In the Probate Court for the Territory
of Alaska, Third Division, Cordova
Precinct, at Cordova.
In the matter of the estate of Erma
Bell Walker, deceased. No. 118.
The undersigned Administrator of
the Estate of Erma Bell Walker, de
ceased, hereby gives notice that all
persons having claims against said
Estate are admonished and required
to present the same with the proper
vouchers to the undersigned Admin
trator of said Estate, or to the Judge
of tne above named Probate Court, at
Cordova, Alaska.
Dated at Cordova, Alaska, this 13th
day of March, 1918.
D. W. WALKER,
Administrator of the Estate of Erma
Bell Walker, Deceased.
First publication March 14, 1918.
Last publication April 1'
Dance at Eagle hall on Easter Mon
day night
——— ■ mi ii * i
The Red Dragon
CORDOVA. ALASKA
Headquarters of Cordova
Chapter American Red CrosB.
Club House founded in 1908
by Episcopal church. Open
from 1 p. m. to 10 p. m.
REV E. P. ZIEGLER
Supt.
I -THE- :
I DAILY TIMES [
Reaches Every Resident of
• Cordova and the Copper
j River Vally—A Real Live j
Wire Newspaper. ->
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I' M " tT ^Tpi ^
_ .Levy/_11 ILoiy_yf
Wanted for
Cordova
Home
Guard
| Men to be trained by
I Regular Army and
I Navy Officers
I File Applications with
IJ. S. Commissioner
Room 3 Adams Bldg.