Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: Easter years ago was a time for new clothes and Easter Egg Hunts

Monday, March 24, 2008

Easter years ago was a time for new clothes and Easter Egg Hunts - by Kevin Dayhoff

Easter years ago was a time for new clothes and Easter Egg Hunts

Sunday Carroll Eagle, Sunday, March 23, 2008 by Kevin Dayhoff long version

Sunday Carroll Eagle, Sunday, March 23, 2008 by Kevin Dayhoff

Happy Easter. Yes it’s not quite warm out although warmer weather should be just around the corner. The first day of spring was – thankfully – last Thursday.

And yes, it seems like Christmas was just yesterday. As a matter of fact, Easter will not be this early again for about – oh, another 220 years or so in the year 2285.

The last time Easter was this early was in 1913, but in 1818, Easter arrived on March 22. If you usually associate Easter with April, there is good reason. According to an ecclesiastical mathematician in desperate need of a life, the “cycle of Easter dates repeats after exactly 5,700,000 years, with April 19 being the most common date, happening 220,400 times.”

For those of you following along in your book at home, the story of Easter - the Resurrection of Christ - is told in Matthew 28: 8-20, Mark 16: 9-20, Luke 24:13-49, John 20: 11-21 and Acts 1: 1-11. However the best version is 1 Corinthians 15: 3-9, because it was written by my favorite writer, Paul of Tarsus, only a few years after it all happened in 33 AD.

For those of us who grew up in the church Easter marked the opportunity to wear our “Easter Sunday Best” new clothes.

Another childhood memory is that all the church services and activities during Holy Week and Easter were observed with strict pomp and ceremony as dictated any number of ecclesiastical liturgists in the congregation.

I learned at a very young age that the difference between a terrorist and liturgist is you can negotiate with a terrorist. For those readers who aren’t aware of ways of the church, a liturgist is sort of like a “parliamentarian” in public meeting – only with an edge.

We have new pastors at our church and I can’t wait to see how they deal with liturgy issues. If they are smart, they will nod appropriately and do as they are told by the congregational liturgists and repeat “et cum spiritu tuo” as often as possible.

Keep up with me now. In the “Introductory Rite,” the pastor or a cantor will say, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” At that point the congregation responds, “And also with you.”

However, if you go back to original Latin, the response is “et cum spiritu you,” which means “and with your spirit.”

I learned at in my Religion III class (MWF 10:10) at Elon College that one does not question the translation. I once asked Professor Overton why the translation was wrong. (Remember religion professors are liturgists on steroids…)

“Because that is the way it has always been Mr. Dayhoff. Do you have any additional impertinent questions to share with the class today?”

“Good. Now please explain to the class why the remainder of the Chronicler’s history – Ezra, Nehemiah – is not paralleled in the Deuteronomic History, which concludes with the Exile.”

Professor Overton emphasized the word “Exile.” I caught his drift. It was then that I realized that the fear of liturgists that I had learned as a child was real. You could say it was my “Road to Damascus” experience in learning the liturgist mantra, “that’s the way we have always done it,” the hard way.

Of course, throughout Carroll County’s history, the celebration of Easter has always had an emphasis on the religious aspects of the holiday. However childhood thoughts of Easter in Carroll County are full of memories of community Easter Egg Hunts.

I only vaguely remember Easter Egg Hunts in the Westminster Playground. 60 years ago, the Venture Club of Westminster sponsored the annual event on Easter Sunday. An article in the Democratic Advocate on March 26, 1948 also detailed a planned concert by the Westminster Municipal Band; an invocation by Father William T. McCrory, Assistant Pastor of St. John's Catholic Church and that City Councilman J. Albert Mitten would be Master of Ceremonies.

I was recently asked about Easter parades in Westminster and I have no recollection of any such parades. More research is on order, however, local historian Joe Getty noted in an article he wrote a number of years ago for the Historical Society of Carroll County: “Easter Monday parades were held in Westminster in 1884, 1885, and 1887. After a short lapse, a large parade was held in 1892…”

For the folks who have asked about story behind the historical marker at the old Post Office at the corner of Main Street and Longwell Avenue, that will be the subject of a future column. Meanwhile, there is an Easter connection.

However, according to the Historical Society in 1899 “Carroll County was selected by the U. S. Post Office Department as the first county to receive full Rural Free Delivery. Edwin W. Shriver was the leading proponent of countywide service… He initiated an experimental delivery on Easter Monday 1899 and full service was inaugurated on December 20th.”

In other news, 85 years ago, on March 23, 1923, the Democratic Advocate newspaper ran a story about a controversy over a proposed site for a high school to be built in Sykesville to serve southern Carroll County. The article reported that some folks wanted the school to be in Eldersburg and not in Sykesville.

The Carroll Record carried an article on March 23, 1972 which noted that the Carroll County commissioners had asked the state to accelerate the Route 30 by-pass around Manchester and Hampstead. “Construction funds are presently ear-marked for 1975 and 1976.”

Of course, over 35 years later, the portion of the road around Hampstead is not quite completed. Speaking of the Hampstead by-pass, word is that there is a movement to name it after the late Carroll County Delegate Richard C. Matthews.

Delegate Matthews, from Hampstead, passed away on December 13, 2007 and was the subject of my December 30^th Sunday Eagle column. The popular elected official faithfully served Carroll County in Annapolis from 1967 to 1994 and it is only fitting and appropriate that the road be named after him.

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Labels: Annual Easter, Dayhoff Elon College University, Religion, Religion Apostle Paul, Religion Bible, Religion Bible Acts - See more at: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2015/10/easter-years-ago-was-time-for-new.html#sthash.A3LmaxvC.dpuf

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