Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article

April 11, 1993
By Jan Buffington
Vigo County Historical Society

Music part of traditional Easter celebrations

Most traditions celebrated at Easter come from three very different peoples and times in our history.

From the Norse festival Ostara or Eostre, we get the Pagan name for a celebration of spring at the vernal equinox. They celebrated the time nature is resurrected from winter.

From their festival we get the symbols of rabbits (famous for their ability to reproduce in abundance) and eggs (colored like the rays of the returning sun and the northern lights or aurora borealis).

Greek and Latin mythology had similar celebrations when their goddess returned from the nether regions to light the day and bring back life to the earth.

The second set of traditions comes from the Hebrews. This time is known as Passover and celebrates the night when the angel of death passed over the dwellings of the Israelites and spared their firstborn. Passover or Jewish Pesach is celebrated during Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew year.

And the third comes from the Christians. It was at the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem that Jesus, a Jew, was crucified and rose from the dead.

It still is a mystery to me how the date for Easter is determined each year. Dictionaries and encyclopedias go into long-winded explanations that I really don’t care to read, but I do enjoy the season of Easter when it comes.

Flowers are peeking out of the cold ground and the trees start budding. In Terre Haute, you can find colorful egg trees in many neighborhoods and at the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley.

Music comes from all around. The music of the birds mingles with the hum of people at work in their yards. But my favorite music is that written for and played during the many Lenten and Easter services.

One such piece of music is the historical treasure for the week. It is a piano solo titled, “An Easter Emblem,” written by Joseph W. Lerman in 1903. The music was published by DeLuxe Music Co. at Broadway and 28th streets in New York.

It is not known who donated this beautiful music to the museum, but it must have been someone who loved Easter music as much as I do.

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.


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