Just as the Church marked the anniversary of the dedication of a church and of ordination by a special festival, so was the anniversary of their baptism a day of joy and thanksgiving for the baptised. It was also a day for renewing their baptismal vows, and for serious self-examination. The Church provided for this inasmuch as she was accustomed to celebrate this anniversary, and appointed a special Mass for it. It was called the _pascha annotina_.[175] A festival of this nature had a _raison d’être_ only so long as it was customary to baptise people when they were grown up. When it became general to baptise little children immediately after their birth, this festival fell out of use. The _pascha annotina_, however, appears in the _Homilarium_ compiled by Paul the Deacon by command of Charlemagne, about 785-90, and in the Sacramentary of Essen, composed between 850 and 874. EASTER AND THE EASTER OCTAVE If one wishes to form a correct idea of the festival of Easter, one must always bear in mind its close connection with the solemn administration of baptism. The preliminary ceremonies began on Saturday afternoon and lasted throughout the night. When the number to be baptised was very large, the administration of baptism and the Easter festival could be combined. This connection was lost at only quite a late date, in days when all remembrance of the grounds for it had died out, and people had no longer any idea of the catechumenate. The chief and most striking ceremonies were then transferred to the forenoon, and it is much to be regretted that, in those centuries, no creative force was forthcoming to form something in keeping with the altered conditions of the time. Owing to the alteration in the hour, many of the ceremonies are rendered meaningless. The interval thus produced was occupied by the festival commemoration of the Resurrection, and by a great procession. The latter can easily be traced back to the solemn procession of the catechumens and clergy from the baptistery to the cathedral, which took place in primitive times after baptism. It was probably ignorance of this custom which led later writers to trace the origin of this procession to the words of Christ to His disciples: “I will go before you into Galilee” (St Matt. xxvi. 32; xxviii. 16),[176] directing them to go to Galilee after His resurrection.