We Can Thank the Victorians for These Easter Traditions

Joined
Nov 26, 2016
Location
central NC
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By the mid-19th century, Easter had become a celebration period – a time of Easter fairs and various other fun-filled traditions. Here are a few of the most popular traditions and a little about their connection to our Victorian friends.

Egg rolling is a traditional game played by many at Easter and has likely been enjoyed since ancient times. I have read that it used to be known as “pace-egging” in the UK. Perhaps @Waterloo50, @Steph-GB or another of our friends from across the pond can comment. The eggs were traditionally wrapped in onion skins and boiled to give them a mottled gold appearance and children competed to see who could roll their egg the greatest distance. Egg rolling became associated with Easter when the egg did. This developed into a tradition during the Victorian period when celebrating Easter became popular in society.

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Who doesn’t love chocolate Easter eggs? As eggs became associated with Easter as a Christian festival, folks started giving chocolate eggs as gifts. Chocolate Easter eggs first occur in the Victorian period, with France and Germany taking the lead in producing them. They were sold throughout the UK during the Victorian era, but were briefly known as “French-style” chocolate eggs. Cadbury’s launched theirs in 1875.

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Mailing cards and postcards for various celebrations and holidays became popular in the 19th century. As various symbols of Easter became more commonplace (i.e. chicks, eggs, bunnies), they were placed on cards and postcards sent to family and friends.
 
Egg pacing is a traditional event held in the North of England mostly in Lancashire, I believe that the children decorate the eggs and then they roll the eggs down a hill, the winning egg is the first to cross the line without breaking. The eggs were chased down the hill by egg pacers. There were some great egg pacers characters,
here’s some egg pacers names.
The Slasher...St George...Toss Pot...Hector...Doctor...The black Moroccan Prince, I think that some of these traditional names have been toned down to fall in line with modern diverse communities.
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Hmmm I’m glad that’s not done here.. onion wrapped eggs hmmm doesn’t sound appealing to me.. we do egg and spoon races and such games .. decorate eggs, make Easter bonnets, have egg hunts etc .. never heard of pace egging !
 
Hmmm I’m glad that’s not done here.. onion wrapped eggs hmmm doesn’t sound appealing to me.. we do egg and spoon races and such games .. decorate eggs, make Easter bonnets, have egg hunts etc .. never heard of pace egging !
In the West Country, we don’t chase eggs down a hill, nope, we prefer to chase cheese, it’s slightly more aggressive than egg rolling..see vid for pure unadulterated leg shattering violence. We know how to have fun. :unsure:
 
Hmmm I’m glad that’s not done here.. onion wrapped eggs hmmm doesn’t sound appealing to me.. we do egg and spoon races and such games .. decorate eggs, make Easter bonnets, have egg hunts etc .. never heard of pace egging !
The onions are kinda like tye-dying the shell of the eggs. The skins were tied on with string and discarded after. It doesn't change the flavor of the egg within. If I remember right this was sometimes done with beets as well.
 
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