But even more strange than that is the chief ceremony. In old times, it used to be that the priests had a figure of Christ fixed to a crucifix which they carried round the church, treated with great reverence, and ultimately buried solemnly by torchlight. Nowadays, this ceremony has been somewhat changed. On Good Friday the crucifix, in the Roman Catholic Church, is placed before the altar. Then the priests, followed by the whole congregation, approach the figure upon the crucifix creeping upon their knees, and reverently kiss its feet. This ceremony, and the chanting of the Miserere, have a very solemnizing effect upon all who are present.
Long ago, here in England, there was an odd ceremony performed by the King upon Good Friday. This was called Blessing the Cramp-rings. The ceremony is said to have originated in a wonderful ring, presented by a pilgrim to Edward the Confessor, and long used in Westminster Abbey as a cure for falling-sickness and cramp. On Good Friday the King of England used to go in state to his private chapel, and creep humbly upon his knees towards the crucifix. Following him came the King's Almoner with a silver basin in which were a number of gold or silver rings, and these rings the King blessed. Thereafter, they were given away to be used as an unfailing cure for cramp and epilepsy. In those days everybody believed that cramp-rings had the power to cure cramp, and in England to-day there are still a few people who so believe.
You children, however, do not think of rings upon Good Friday; it is much better to think of hot cross buns. If you ask how it is that buns came to be eaten on this day I cannot answer. All that can be said is that bread, in one or another form, has always formed part of religious observances; and it may be that the spicy buns which you eat on Good Friday are connected with a religion that is older than Christianity. All things change, you know, and even the desire for hot cross buns is not so great as it used to be when people struggled in crowds at the doors of the famous Chelsea bun-houses. On Good Friday we do not so often hear the cry:
One a penny, buns,
Two a penny, buns,
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns!
EASTER SUNDAY.
On Good Friday the death of Jesus is commemorated, and that being so it is a day of gloom and sadness. On Easter Sunday the rising of Jesus from the dead is commemorated, and that being so it is regarded by the Christian Church as a day of great joy. In the old times, indeed, it was called the Sunday of Joy, and in the Eastern world it is still called the Bright Day. When friends met each other upon Easter Sunday the favourite salutation used to be: "He is risen," and to this was given the reply: "Verily he is risen." Everywhere there was happiness, and this happiness was shown in many ways. At Easter slaves used to receive their freedom, while at the present day, in Russia, birds that have been shut up in a cage have their cage-doors opened, and are permitted to fly away. That is a beautiful custom; an emblem of the freedom that Jesus brought to the world when he broke the power of Death in rising from the grave. In England this happiness is expressed in a practical manner by many marriages at Eastertide.
Easter Sunday is what is called a movable feast; it is not held each year upon the same day of the month. The rule is, that Easter Sunday is always the first Sunday after the full moon that happens upon, or next after, the 21st of March; and if the full moon happens upon a Sunday, Easter Day is the Sunday after. As regards the name "Easter," it is very likely derived from an old Saxon deity called Eastre; for when the Christian religion was first preached to the heathen the missionaries often took an old heathen festival and turned it into a new Christian festival. Now, in the ancient heathen world there was always great joy and feasting in the spring-time when the sun began to rise higher and higher in the heavens, and there is little doubt that the early missionaries, when they converted the heathen, gave a new meaning to the old joy. Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, had risen from the dead; that was the new gladness.
But Christianity did not quite remove all the rites and ceremonies of the heathen worship; some of them, indeed, linger to this day. The ceremonies connected with fire, for instance, were very prominent in the heathen ritual, and in some parts of Europe bonfires are lit at Easter, while in the Roman Catholic Church great importance is given to the lighting of candles and tapers. Then again, there are the Pasch or Easter eggs—boiled hard and dyed in various colours—which are so interesting to children. This name of Pasch is derived from the Jewish festival of the Passover, and the egg we now regard as an emblem of the resurrection; but all the old peoples of the world looked upon the egg as a symbol of new life coming forth with blessing. It was, in some respects, a sacred thing in the old heathen world of the Egyptians and Persians; while here in this country the Easter eggs used to be blessed by the priests at the altar, and kept all the year as a charm against various ailments. Is it not curious to think, children, how races and religions have come to be linked together by small things? These coloured eggs which please you so much at Easter link you with strange old peoples and their strange old customs.