EASTER (Ger. ostern, Fr. paque, Scot. parch, from Gr. pascha, the passover), the festi val of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, derives probably its Teutonic name from the fes tival of the goddess Ostara, in Ang.-Sax. Eastre, which the Saxons of old were wont to celebrate about the same season at which the Christian festival of E. occurs. In the ancient church, the celebration of E. lasted 8 days. After the 11th c., however, it was limited to 3, and in later times, generally to 2 days: It was formerly the favorite time for performing the rite of baptism. The courts ofjustice were closed, and alms dis pensed to the poor and needy, who were even feasted in the churches—a custom which led to much disorder. Slaves also received their freedom at that season; and as the austerities of Lent were over, the people gave themselves up to enjoyment; hence the day was called the "Sunday of joy" (Dominica gaudii). To the popular sports and dances were added farcical exhibitions, in which even the clergy joined in sonic places, reciting from the pulpit stories and legends, with a view to stir the hearers to laughter (risus paschalis). Against,this indecency,, the reformers of the 16thloudly and suc-. cessfully raised their voices. During the whole Week beeore is. in the inter val between Palm Sunday and the beginning of the E. festival—daily services were held. See PASSION WEEK and GOOD FRIDAY.
On E. day, the people saluted each other with the E. kiss, and the exclamation Sur rexit (He is risen); to which the reply was Pere surrexit (He is risen indeed). The chief solemnity always consisted of the celebration of the Lord's supper.
The proper time for the celebration of E. has occasioned no little controversy. In the 2d c., a dispute arose on this point between the eastern and western churches. The great mass of the eastern Christians celebrated E. on the 14th day of the first Jewish month or moon, considering it to be equivalent to the Jewish Passover. The western churches celebrated it on the Sunday after the 14th day, holding that it was the com memoration of the resurrection of Jesus. The council of Nice (325 A.D.) decided iu favor of the western usage, branding the eastern usage with the name of the " quartadeciman" heresy. This, however, only settled the point that E. was to be held, not upon a certain day of the month or moon, but on a k,anday. The proper astro nomical cycle for calculating the occurrence of the E. not determined by this council. It appears, however, that the metonic cycle (q.v.) was already in use in the west for this purpose; and it was on this cycle that the Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582, was arranged. The method on which this calendar is constructed is too com
plex for description here. An elaborate account of the whole matter was published by prof. De Morgan in the Companion to the British Almanac in 1845, and to this the reader is referred. The time of E. being the most ancient and important of all the movable feasts of the Christian church, determines all the rest. It was debated, at the time of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, whether E should continue to be movable, or whether 'a fixed Sunday, after the 21st of Mar., should not be adopted. It was deference to ancient custom that led the ecclesiastical authorities to adhere to the method of determination by the moon. It must be remembered, however, that it is not the actual moon in the heavens, nor even the mean moon of astronomers, that regu lates the time of E, but an altogether imaginary moon, whose periods are so contrived that the new (calendar) moon always follows the real new moon (sometimes by 2, or even 3 days). The effect of this is, that the 14th of the calendar moon—which had, from the times of Moses, been considered "full moon" for ecclesiastical purposes—falls gener ally on the 15th or 16th of the real moon, and thus after the real full moon, which is generally on the 14th or 15th day. With this explanation, then, of what is meant by "full moon," viz., that it is the 14th day of the calendar moon, the rule is that E. day is always the first Sunday after the paschal full moon, i.e., the full moon which happens upon or next after the 21st of Mar. (the be7i, nning of the ecclesiastical year); and if the full moon happens upon a Sunday, E. clay the Sunday after. For any given year, the day on which the paschal full moon falls, and then E. day, are found by the following table and rule: First ascertain the dominical letter (q.v.)—taking the second where there are two— and the golden number (see EPACT); look for the golden number in the third column of the table, and opposite to it stands the day of the full moon ; then look for the domini cal letter, next after the day of full moon, and the day standing opposite the dominical letter is E. day. It sometimes happens that E. day, as thus determined, is different front what it would be if by "full moon" were understood the astronomical full moon. Thus, in 1818, E. day, the calendar, fell, and was celebrated on the 22d of Mar., the earliest possible clay, although the full moon was on that day; and in 1845, it again fell on the day of the actual full moon (the 23d of Mar.).