Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1899 — SUNDAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SUNDAY

Easter is unique among the world’s festival periods in having its origin claimed by many nations and races. The English name of the day is derived from that of the Teutonic Goddess of Spring—Ostera, whose name signified “The Arisen,” a mythical being who was worshipped before Christianity was thought of. The Druids, who seem to have been the only religious sect in Britain before the Homan conquest, held yearly a spring celebration in honor of the vernal resurrection of the vegetable world, and religious rites were part of the ceremony. Similar observances were general among the older Asiatic races, and the Egyptians, Greeks and the Romans, ns well as the Teutonic tribes of Europe in pre-Christian times. The Jewish Feast of the Passover had for about a thousand years been celebrated in the early spring, and the early Christians, most of whom were of the Hebrew race, continued to celebrate it in token ®f the saving of their race from the tenth great plague which immediately preceded the Exodus. It was easy, therefore, for the early Christians when they became organized, and began to celebrate certain anniversaries of special meaning to them, to have Easter and its symbolism adopted by all converts. The first name by which the church designated the day was Paska, or Paseha — a word the root of which is fonnd in both Hebrew and Greek, and signifying a sacrifice, and some derivative of this word is still used in all European countries. The word “Easter” is peculiar to English-speaking nations only, and shows that the Christian festival was combined in early days with the earlier ceremonies of the heathen Goddess of Spring.