Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 73, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1917 — PicturesQue Ancient Customs of Holy Week [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PicturesQue Ancient Customs o f Holy Week

Where monarchs bathe the feet of beggars and why hot cross buns are eaten ott Good Friday at breakfast:: Impressive church services

, HKIST’S moment of triumphant entry into .Jerusalem. witen the people look! palms nnd went to meet him, 1' !IS been cohiinemorHted in tlu* church• * tiu tin* .Sunday before Easier. which f day. therefore, has been railed "l’alm (fjQjr As guA-is-tlie hoginnliJgL.iiULuLy ._ week, it is a happy iinerlude bctween the devotional rig<as ot tlit? six days. In which all religious exercises and i*ersonal . sacrifices are redoubled imtil the routing in of the greai feast of Faster. Palm Sunday sivms also to foreshadow the.coming of the spring, at least from a merely mundane point of view, because of Ihe great throngs of . Worshipers' who pour into the streets from Roman Catholic and Protestant Episcopal churches, wearing or carrying the hits of pultu, green branches or willow slips which have been distributed by the priests. In this country palm is almost always used for this purpose, hut in some countries, where this lent is not available.-its place is taken by bits—- . of native green. Box and yew also have been used from time to time as a symbol of Pal in Sunday. Generally the greater part oF the palm is distributed in file form Of lit this -being so especially in the case of the men worshipers. The women receive crosses or large or small brunches, according to the fashion of different parishes. Rome in Holy Week. * In the years before the war the Holy, week services at ltmue drew thousands of persons from all parts of the world to that city. These ceremonies begin with the beautiful I’alm Sunday •procession at St. Peter's. In all Roman Catholic churches everywhere the Palm Sunday procession, Jn which palms are carried in imitation of thefirst Palm Sunday procession, is a stately and picturesque spectacle. In the churches under the care of* the religious orders, such as the Society of Jesus, the services of Holy week, including those of Palm Sunday, are usually very benntiftd and elaborate. "Maundy Thursday." the good old English name for Holy Thursday, was so called front the French “mande,” from the Latin “mandatiun" -—in allusion to (Christ’s words spoken at file hast Supper, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.” In commemoration of Christ’s act of humanity- in washing the feet of his disciples on the occasion of the Last Supper one of the most important ceremonies of the day. since the early middle ages, has been the washing of the feet of 12 or more poor persons by some one of higher worldly, standing than themselves. Iu the very early church this ceremony is not known to have existed, hut from the fourth century it became yearly more popular. Finally tile rite came to be performed by the pope, all Catholic sovereigns, prelates, priests and nobles. At Durham cathedral until the sixteenth century every charity hoy had a monk to wash his feet. When Queen Elizabeth was thirty-nine years old she performed this ceremony for HO poor men and women at her palace of Greenwich. it being then the cuslorn for the sovereign to wash tin* feet of "as many

persons ms she was years old. Emperor and Beggar. On thfs occasion, history recites, the feet of the honored beggars were first washed by the yeoman of the laundry. Afterward the subalmouer washed them and then the qtteen herself, kneeling, after washing each foot, made the sign of the cross upon it and kissed it. In Continental countries this practice is still kept up. The late emperor of Austria*never failed to carry out the rite. The devotees of the Greek church also use this ceremony at Moscow, I'etrogrud and Constantinople. Tlie day of the Passion. .Good Friday in English. supposedly from “God’s Friday,” is the most solemn day of the year in the church. From the beginning to the -end of the three hours’- service which commemorates Christ's agony upon the cross there is no lifting at the deep. gloom eltar- . M'-teristic of the occasion. Altars and celebrants are draped in black - in the Unman Catholie churches. In the Lutheran churches also the altar and pulpit are draped in black. The three hours’ service is used in the Episcopal church, and in lids church, as in the ltoinan Catholic, the history of the Passion according to .St. John is part of the .Good Friday ritual. This is followed in the Roman -Catholic church ■by the adoration of the cross, an ancient ceremony, And the mass of the presanciitied. so called because the elements have been consecrated the day I adore. In tlie-Greek church als<> tiuGopfl Friday fast is extremely the mass very long. —— . : . Churches FittSff jJo Limit. More persons flock to the churches on Good Friday than on any other day of the year except Easter. In some of the churches in New qrk it is netd-ssnry t.» issue cards for- the services -on hoth these days, as there is no other way of controlling the great number of worshipers who seek admission. Despite the length and solemnity of the Good Friday service the desire to attend is so gfeat that it Is no uncommon tiling to see devout men and women standing in long lines in front of the offices where the cards are distributed, fearful that they may even then he too late to gain admission. ■ The most popular of the secular customs connected with tiiis day is the serving of hot cross buns. The genuine hot cross bun is rather a small one, spicier than ordinary buns, and has a brown, sugary surface mailed with a cross. It Is said that ttie hot cross bun Is of pagan origin and can he traced hack to- an ancient custom of worshiping the Queen of Heaven by the eating of sacred cakes. But the buns that existed previous to ilie Christian era were not in reality those<of today, “because bore no cross. In very early times t ■ - -• ■ *~ r '-. 1 -. jr .

the cross was placed on the bun to exorcise its pagan spirit. For two dozen buns scald one cupful of milk, add to it a tablespoonful of butter, quarter of a ciinful of sugar and a salt-spoonful of srilt—When lukewarm- add half a compressed yeast cake, softened in a little warm water,- and a pint of Hour. This should he mixed early In the evening. Beat well and let the hatter rise until foaming and double its original bulk. Then add a half cupful of sugar, quarter of a toaspoonful of mixed cinnamon, nutmeg and mace, a half cupful of currants, n tahlespoonful of shredded candied lemon peel and enough flour to make a dough that can be kneaded.. ' Knead well and set In a warm place overnight. In the morning turn oht on a well-floured hoard and divide into pieces weighing about three ounces each. I’at them out round, let them stand for a few minutes, then roll into oblong shapes and lay in a greased dripping pan far enough apart for expansion. Anglo-Saxon myth and Jewish nnsrlia are supposed both to have played a-part in the construction of the Christian Easter. Whether Easter was named from the Anglo-Saxon Eostre, goddess of spring, or from another root which signified “the rising," the meaning seems much the same, and today the universal use of flowers as the most appropriate Easter token testifies to the general recognition of their Appropriateness as symbolizing a rising from the dead. Why New Clothes Are Worn. The idea of new clothes on Easter, thought by nnr? r 'TiTrfTfwTsin'“fafTas truly symbolical of the festival as the Easter egg or the Easter flower. To burst afresh upon the world in festival attire is an instinctive demonstration of

genuine Easter feeling. Unfortunately, of late years the spring hat no longer plays a leading part as an Easter symbol, for, as it insists on appearing with the New Year and won’t stay in its shell until Easter time, it can no longer make an Easter entrance with any dramatic effect^ - Those who complain that it is difficult to remember the date of Easter should glance over the records of the troubles of the early Christians in this regard. It was maiiy7~niany years before it was possible to settle upon the method whereby the date of Easter should be determined, and so violent were the disputes over the matter that different schools of Christians arose, some following one decree as to the Easter celebration and others obedient to entirely opposite pronunelamentos. Discrepancies in Dates. / There was such difference in calculations as to the time of the feast that Bede records that in n certain year Queen Eanfleda. who had received her instruction from a Kentish pries* of the Roman olfbdienee. was fasting and keeping Palm Sunday while her husband. Oswy, king of Northumbria. foil owl tig* the rule of Ihe British church, was celebrating the Easter festival. In 325, at the council summoned by Constantine, it w T ns decided that Easter day was to he on Sunday and Hint it was to be calculated at Alexandria, the home of astronomical science. From this arose the present method of calculating Easter, which sets the day as the first Sunday after the first TuTTmoon after the vernal equinox, provided"TFaT full moon does not fall on Sunday. Should it do so, then Easter is the following Sunday.—New York Herald.