EASTER

easter, the annual festival observed throughout christendom in commemoration of the resurrection of jesus christ. the name easter (ger. _ostern_), like the names of the days of the week, is a survival from the old teutonic mythology. according to bede (_de temp. rat._ c. xv.) it is derived from _eostre_, or _ostara_, the anglo-saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month answering to our april, and called _eostur-monath_, was dedicated. this month, bede says, was the same as the _mensis paschalis_, "when the old festival was observed with the gladness of a new solemnity." the name of the festival in other languages (as fr. _paques_; ital. _pasqua_; span. _pascua_; dan. _paaske_; dutch _paasch_; welsh _pasg_) is derived from the lat. _pascha_ and the gr. [greek: pascha]. these in turn come from the chaldee or aramaean form [hebrew: pascha] _pascha'_, of the hebrew name of the passover festival [hebrew: pesach] _pesach_, from [hebrew: pasach] "he passed over," in memory of the great deliverance, when the destroying angel "passed over the houses, of the children of israel in egypt when he smote the egyptians" (exod. xii. 27). an erroneous derivation of the word _pascha_ from the greek [greek: paschein], "to suffer," thus connected with the sufferings or passion of the lord, is given by some of the fathers of the church, as irenaeus, tertullian and others, who were ignorant of hebrew. st augustine (_in joann. tract._ 55) notices this false etymology, shows how similarity of sound had led to it, and gives the correct derivation. there is no indication of the observance of the easter festival in the new testament, or in the writings of the apostolic fathers. the sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first christians. "the whole of time is a festival unto christians because of the excellency of the good things which have been given" is the comment of st chrysostom on 1 cor. v. 7, which has been erroneously supposed to refer to an apostolic observance of easter. the ecclesiastical historian socrates (_hist. eccl._ v. 22) states, with perfect truth, that neither the lord nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. he says: "the apostles had no thought of appointing festival days, but of promoting a life of blamelessness and piety"; and he attributes the observance of easter by the church to the perpetuation of an old usage, "just as many other customs have been established." this is doubtless the true statement of the case. the first christians continued to observe the jewish festivals, though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events which those festivals had foreshadowed. thus the passover, with a new conception added to it of christ as the true paschal lamb and the first fruits from the dead, continued to be observed, and became the christian easter. although the observance of easter was at a very early period the practice of the christian church, a serious difference as to the day for its observance soon arose between the christians of jewish and those of gentile descent, which led to a long and bitter controversy. the point at issue was when the paschal fast was to be reckoned as ending. with the jewish christians, whose leading thought was the death of christ as the paschal lamb, the fast ended at the same time as that of the jews, on the fourteenth day of the moon at evening, and the easter festival immediately followed, without regard to the day of the week. the gentile christians, on the other hand, unfettered by jewish traditions, identified the first day of the week with the resurrection, and kept the preceding friday as the commemoration of the crucifixion, irrespective of the day of the month. with the one the observance of the day of the month, with the other the observance of the day of the week, was the guiding principle. generally speaking, the western churches kept easter on the first day of the week, while the eastern churches followed the jewish rule, and kept easter on the fourteenth day. st polycarp, the disciple of st john the evangelist and bishop of smyrna, visited rome in 159 to confer with anicetus, the bishop of that see, on the subject; and urged the tradition, which he had received from the apostle, of observing the fourteenth day. anicetus, however, declined to admit the jewish custom in the churches under his jurisdiction, but readily communicated with polycarp and those who followed it. about forty years later (197) the question was discussed in a very different spirit between victor, bishop of rome, and polycrates, metropolitan of proconsular asia. that province was the only portion of christendom which still adhered to the jewish usage, and victor demanded that all should adopt the usage prevailing at rome. this polycrates firmly refused to agree to, and urged many weighty reasons to the contrary, whereupon victor proceeded to excommunicate polycrates and the christians who continued the eastern usage. he was, however, restrained from actually proceeding to enforce the decree of excommunication, owing to the remonstrance of irenaeus and the bishops of gaul. peace was thus maintained, and the asiatic churches retained their usage unmolested (euseb. _h.e._ v. 23-25). we find the jewish usage from time to time reasserting itself after this, but it never prevailed to any large extent. a final settlement of the dispute was one among the other reasons which led constantine to summon the council of nicaea in 325. at that time the syrians and antiochenes were the solitary champions of the observance of the fourteenth day. the decision of the council was unanimous that easter was to be kept on sunday, and on the same sunday throughout the world, and "that none should hereafter follow the blindness of the jews" (socrates, _h.e._ i. 9). the correct date of the easter festival was to be calculated at alexandria, the home of astronomical science, and the bishop of that see was to announce it yearly to the churches under his jurisdiction, and also to the occupant of the roman see, by whom it was to be communicated to the western churches. the few who afterwards separated themselves from the unity of the church, and continued to keep the fourteenth day, were named _quartodecimani_, and the dispute itself is known as the _quarto-deciman_ controversy. although measures had thus been taken to secure uniformity of observance, and to put an end to a controversy which had endangered christian unity, a new difficulty had to be encountered owing to the absence of any authoritative rule by which the paschal moon was to be ascertained. the subject is a very difficult and complex one (see also calendar). briefly, it may be explained here that easter day is the first sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. this, of course, varies in different longitudes, while a further difficulty occurred in the attempt to fix the correct time of easter by means of cycles of years, when the changes of the sun and moon more or less exactly repeat themselves. at first an eight years' cycle was adopted, but it was found to be faulty, then the jewish cycle of 84 years was used, and remained in force at rome till the year 457, when a more accurate calculation of a cycle of 532 years, invented by victorius of acquitaine, took its place. ultimately a cycle of 19 years was accepted, and it is the use of this cycle which makes the golden number and sunday letter, explained in the preface to the book of common prayer, necessary. owing to this lack of decision as to the accurate finding of easter, st augustine tells us (_epist._ 23) that in the year 387 the churches of gaul kept easter on the 21st of march, those of italy on the 18th of april, and those of egypt on the 25th of april; and it appears from a letter of leo the great (_epist._ 64, _ad marcian._) that in 455 there was a difference of eight days between the roman and the alexandrine easter. gregory of tours relates that in 577 "there was a doubt about easter. in gaul we with many other cities kept easter on the fourteenth calends of may, others, as the spaniards, on the twelfth calends of april." the ancient british and celtic churches followed the cycle of 84 years which they had originally received from rome, and their stubborn refusal to abandon it caused much bitter controversy in the 8th century between their representatives and st augustine of canterbury and the latin missionaries. these latter unfairly attempted to fix the stigma of the quartodeciman observance on the british and celtic churches, and they are even now sometimes ignorantly spoken of as having followed the asiatic practice as to easter. this, however, is quite erroneous. the british and celtic churches always kept easter according to the nicene decree on a sunday. the difference between them and the roman church, at this period, was that they still followed the 84 years' cycle in computing easter, which had been abandoned at rome for the more accurate cycle of 532 years. this difference of calculation led to easter being observed on different sundays, in certain years, in england, by the adherents of the two churches. thus bede records that in a certain year (which must have been 645, 647, 648 or 651) queen eanfleda, who had received her instruction from a kentish priest of the roman obedience, was fasting and keeping palm sunday, while her husband, oswy, king of northumbria, following the rule of the british church, was celebrating the easter festival. this diversity of usage was ended, so far as the kingdom of northumbria was concerned, by the council of streaneshalch, or whitby, in 654. to archbishop theodore is usually ascribed the credit of ending the difference in the rest of england in 669. the gregorian correction of the calendar in 1582 has once more led to different days being observed. so far as western christendom is concerned the corrected calendar is now universally accepted, and easter is kept on the same day, but it was not until 1752 that the gregorian reformation of the calendar was adopted in great britain and ireland. jealousy of everything emanating from rome still keeps the eastern churches from correcting the calendar according to the gregorian reformation, and thus their easter usually falls before, or after, that of the western churches, and only very rarely, as was the case in 1865, do the two coincide. easter, as commemorating the central fact of the christian religion, has always been regarded as the chief festival of the christian year, and according to a regulation of constantine it was to be the first day of the year. this reckoning of the year as beginning at easter lingered in france till 1565, when, by an ordinance of charles ix., the 1st of january finally took its place. four different periods may be mentioned as connected with the observance of easter, viz. (1) the preparatory fast of the forty days of lent; (2) the fifteen days, beginning with the sunday before and ending with the sunday after easter, during which the ceremonies of holy week and the services of the octave of easter were observed; this period, called by the french the _quinzaine de paques_, was specially observed in that country; (3) the octave of easter, during which the newly-baptized wore their white garments, which they laid aside on the sunday after easter, known as _dominica in albis depositis_ from this custom; another name for this sunday was _pascha clausum_, or the close of easter, and from a clipping of the word "close" the english name of "low" sunday is believed to be derived; (4) eastertide proper, or the paschal season beginning at easter and lasting till whit sunday, during the whole of which time the festival character of the easter season was maintained in the services of the church. many ecclesiastical ceremonies, growing up from early times, clustered round the celebration of the easter festival. one of the most notable of these was the use of the paschal candle. this was a candle of very large dimensions, set in a candlestick big enough to hold it, which was usually placed on the north side, just below the first ascent to the high altar. it was kept alight during each service till whitsuntide. the paschal, as it was called at durham cathedral, was one of the chief sights of that church before the reformation. it was an elaborate construction of polished brass, and, contrary to the usual custom, seems to have been placed in the centre of the altar-step, long branches stretching out towards the four cardinal points, bearing smaller candles. the central stem of the candlestick was about 38 ft. high, and bore the paschal candle proper, and together they reached a combined height of about 70 ft., the candle being lighted from an opening above. other paschal candles seem to have been of scarcely less size. at lincoln, c. 1300, the candle was to weigh three stones of wax; at salisbury in 1517 it was to be 36 ft. long; and at westminster in 1558 it weighed no less than 3 cwt. of wax. after whitsuntide what remained was made into smaller candles for the funerals of the poor. in the ancient churches at rome the paschal candlesticks were fixtures, but elsewhere they were usually movable, and were brought into the church and set up on the thursday before easter. at winchester the paschal candlestick was of silver, and was the gift of canute. others of more or less importance are recorded as having been at canterbury, bury st edmunds, hereford and york. the burning of the paschal candle still forms part of the easter ceremonial of the roman catholic church (see lights, ceremonial). the liturgical colour for easter was everywhere white, as the sign of joy, light and purity, and the churches and altars were adorned with the best ornaments that each possessed. flowers and shrubs no doubt in early times were also used for this purpose, but what evidence there is goes against the medieval use of such decorations, which are so popular at the present day. it is not the purpose of this article to enter on the wide subject of the popular observances, such as the giving and sending of pasch or easter eggs as presents. for such the reader may consult brand's _popular antiquities_, hone's _every-day book_, and chambers's _book of days_. authorities.--bingham, _antiquities of the christian church_; bede, _ecclesiastical history of england_; procter and frere, _a new history of the book of common prayer_ (london, 1901); surtees society, _rites of durham_, ed. j.t. fowler (1903); de morgan, _companion to the almanac_ (1845); de moleon, _voyages liturgiques_ (paris, 1718). (t. m. f.) easter island (rapanui, i.e. great rapa), an island in the eastern part of the south pacific ocean, belonging to chile (since 1888), in 27 deg. 8' s. and 109 deg. 28' w., 1400 m. e. of pitcairn, and 2000 m. from the south american coast. it is roughly triangular in shape, with its hypotenuse 12 m. long running north-east and south-west, and its three angles marked by three volcanic peaks, of which the north-eastern reaches 1768 ft. of altitude. the area of the island is 45 sq. m. the coast has no good natural harbour, and landing is difficult. there is no lack of fertile soil, and the climate is moist enough to make up for the absence of running water. formerly the island appears to have been wooded, but it now presents only a few bushes (_edwardsia_, _broussonetia_, &c.), ferns, grasses, sedges, &c. the natives grow bananas in the shelter of artificial pits, also sugar-canes and sweet potatoes, and keep a few goats and a large stock of domestic fowls, and a tahitian commercial house breeds cattle and sheep on the island. it is doubtful whether rapanui was discovered by davis in 1686, though it is sometimes marked davis island on maps. admiral roggeveen reached it on easter day 1722; in 1774 captain cook discovered it anew and called it teapi or waihu. it was subsequently visited by la perouse (1776), kotzebue (1816), &c. at the time of roggeveen's discovery the island probably contained from 2000 to 3000 inhabitants of polynesian race, who, according to their own tradition, came from rapa iti (little rapa) or oparo, one of the tubuai or austral group. in 1863 a large proportion of the inhabitants were kidnapped by the peruvians and transported to work at the guano diggings on the chincha islands. the next year a jesuit mission from tahiti reached the island and succeeded in the task of civilization. the natives, who number scarcely one hundred, are all christians. easter island is famous for its wonderful archaeological remains. here are found immense platforms built of large cut stones fitted together without cement. they are generally built upon headlands, and on the slope towards the sea. the walls on the seaside are, in some of the platforms, nearly 30 ft. high and from 200 to 300 ft. long, by about 30 ft. wide. some of the squared stones are as much as 6 ft. long. on the land side of the platforms there is a broad terrace with large stone pedestals upon which once stood colossal stone images carved somewhat into the shape of the human trunk. on some of the platforms there are upwards of a dozen images, now thrown from their pedestals and lying in all directions. their usual height is from 14 to 16 ft., but the largest are 37 ft., while some are only about 4 ft. they are formed from a grey trachytic lava found at the east end of the island. the top of the heads of the images is cut flat to receive round crowns made of a reddish vesicular tuff found at a crater about 8 m. distant from the quarry where the images were cut. a number of these crowns still lie at the crater apparently ready for removal, some of the largest being over 10 ft. in diameter. in the atlas illustrating the voyage of la perouse a plan of the island is given, with the position of several of the platforms. two of the images are also represented in a plate. one statue, 8 ft. in height and weighing 4 tons, was brought to england, and is now in the british museum. in one part of the island are the remains of stone houses nearly 100 ft. long by about 20 ft. wide. these are built in courses of large flat stones fitted together without cement, the walls being about 5 ft. thick and over 5 ft. high. they are lined on the inside with upright slabs, on which are painted geometrical figures and representations of animals. the roofs are formed by placing slabs so that each course overlaps the lower one until the opening becomes about 5 ft. wide, when it is covered with flat slabs reaching from one side to the other. the lava rocks near the houses are carved into the resemblance of various animals and human faces, forming, probably, a kind of picture writing. wooden tablets covered with various signs and figures have also been found. the only ancient implement discovered on the island is a kind of stone chisel, but it seems impossible that such large and numerous works could have been executed with such a tool. the present inhabitants of easter island know nothing of the construction of these remarkable works; and the entire subject of their existence in this small and remote island is a mystery.