A FIXED EASTER
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Whether Easter has any connexion with the goddess Eostre may be doubted ; but Mr. Stewart Hirst is certainly right in calling it a festival of re-awakening Nature in the spring. At present Easter is tied to the Moon (very imper- fectly, for the Moon moves as far in a week as the Sun in three months !) ; but if we think less of the full moon that shone on the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of a betrayal, and more of the spring flowers that grew in St. Joseph's Garden of Resurrection, we shall see how the solar .calendar repro- duces the circumstance of Our Lord's death and resurrection better than the present variable calendar.
The Christian Calendar is the almost sacramental means whereby the life of Our Lord is annually renewed for each succeeding generation of Christians. Apart from the claims of business (which are serious enough), I submit that this deeply religious purpose can be best fulfilled by translating the dates front the Lunar Calendar of the Jews to the Solar Calendar of the Romans : Easter, the ninth of April or the Sunday following.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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