THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1913. A FIXED EASTER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 28 February 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1913. A FIXED EASTER.

Easter Day will fall this year on March 23, only one day after the verv earliest date on which Easter can fail in any year, and the earliest 'late oil which it !has fallen for 57 years. The confusion in commercial and other interests which will ,b© caused thereby is not a little, and the question is now (says the London Standard) being discussed with .more earnestness than ever whether it would not be better for Easter to be a fixed day.. So far as the city is concerned, tlio opinion of merchants is almost unanimous in l'avor of such a move, but th € question is a very complex one. By Act of Parliament and the rule given in conformity to it in the Common Prayer book, Easter Day is "always the first Sunday after the full moon which happens .upon or next after IMarch 21, and if the lull moon happens upon a Suadav Eiister Day i,s the Sunday after." In spite of all this very clear direction, however, there are 'few days of the year about the date of which there is more controversy, and some advanced spirits have gone tih e length of suggesting that we ought to have a complete reform of the calendar. An attempt in this direction in the House of Commons, however, failed to niovo the Easter festival one bit. The early coming of Easter this year will mean that schools will have a very short term before and a very long term after the holiday. A Church dignitary told a Standard representative that one °f the results of the movable Easter was an interference with certain fixed saints' days which followed, and a great many eminent Churchmen had already suggested the benefits which would accrue if Easter were a fixed festival. "To understand such a vast subject thoroughly," he said, "wf>'must go -back to the origin of it and wade through centuries of controversy and dispute. The festival was instituted in honor of the resurrection of our Saviour, which took place on th e third day after His crucifixion as a malefactor. Friday has been fixed upon a,s the day of commemorating. His death, and because that took place on the day cf full moon tliofip in authority fixed upon the first full moon after March 21 as the regulator of the festival. The point in view was to (prevent Easter being celebrated on a day of full' moon, but as near as it might be permitted. As a consequence there-was a great difference in the times of observing the day. There is really no need for all the clashing of interests that results owing to the moving of such a festival. From the point of view of reverence.

which those who support tho present conditions lay 'stress on, there win. to my mind be no argument. It is not irreverent to celebrate Easter oil a lixed day. Perhaps tho true explanation is that Easter in dated by the moon, the full moon being an important item in its celebration, while Christmas is dated by tho sun. If one were a Plato one eould proceed to argue whether the moon were more .sacred than the sun! Seriously, howevcTj 1 do not think there would be mud!) -opposition from .the Church if a big attempt were mad© to get Easter -fixed on the calendar with a proper date winch would require no mental effort to remember."