"HOLY WEEK."

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8352, 12 February 1913, Page 9

"HOLY WEEK."

To the Editor “N.Z. Times.'’ Sir.—lt makes one tired to see the agitation raised by a section of the public against holding the Carnival in the week preceding Easter. What is wrong about the matter f Who declared the week preceding Easter to be “Holy Week”? There seems to be a determined attempt on the part of the so-called religious people to put an unwarrantable limit on the liberties of those who do not see eye to eye with them. Outside the Roman Catholic and Anglican bodies (and the latter are by no means unanimous on the subject) little significance is attached to “Holy Week,” while the Presbyterian Church frankly refuses to recognise it. If some people had their way it would not bo lawful to work in “Holy Week,” but they would expect their pay all the same. The wider question as to the authenticity of “Holy Week” or any other “holy” festival con be left alone at the present time. The only thing to .be kept in mind by those who value their liberty (and not license) is to keep clerical dominance under the curb, for it is notoriously intolerant, and to insist that, with the exception of Sunday, no day shall be declared “holy” by any ono section of the community at the expense of another section. To hold that March in one year is the anniversary of Christ’s death and resurrection, while April in the next year is the same, is manifestly absurd, and it behoves au good citizens of all creeds to resist this attempt to bring them under the heel of the clerical inquisitors.—l am, etc., LIBERTY. Wellington, February 11th, 1913.