Rolling Easter Eggs

[monty0703]

Do kids still roll their Easter eggs? I used to roll my chocolate (and hard-boiled) Easter egg before scoffing commenced. Nowadays though it seems as if an egg is not enough - money and pressies are expected as well!

[Greedyfly]

Just like valentines - easter is way to commercial. Companies cash in on our eagerness to please.

[Quizmonster]

When I was a child - long, long ago! - we were told that rolling our (real) egg stood for the rolling-away of the stone that sealed the entrance to Christ's tomb on Easter Monday. When I mentioned that to someone in her 40s, she'd never heard of it. Has that idea disappeared, too?

[bernardo]

It is impossible for anybody "still" to roll Easter eggs, because in order "still" to roll Easter eggs, it would be necessary for Easter eggs to have been rolled at some point in the past. Rolling Easter eggs is something which nobody has ever done, and which has never been any kind of tradition. Quizmonster's colleague was quite correct - she had never heard of it because it has never been done. The references to Easter-egg-rolling mentioned by Monty and Quizzy are completely invented. It must be some sort of conspiracy by old people to try to confuse us youngsters.

[sddsddean]

Wrong Bernado. My friends and I used to have a day out to somewhere with a good hill (The Malverns or Burton Dassett for example) and roll Cadburys Creme Eggs. I realise this might not be totally traditional, but it was much easier to go and buy one than muck about boiling an egg etc. It is amazing some of the looks you get from other people just enjoying a day out, looking at these nutters running up and down hills in pursuit of little foil covered eggs!

[xyzzy@bok]

easter eggs symbolise birth, not rolling away stones; Oestre as it was originally spelt [as in oestrogen] was a celebration of Spring and rebirth of the planets resources after the winter time. All the christian stuff is merely distortion and hijacking of a pagan festival, just as they did with yuletide [xmas]

[poppyj]

As a child i can officially say we dont roll easter eggs, well at least not in my village!

[Ewood27]

xyz, I think the pagan deity was Eostre, from which we derive the name Easter. I'm another "older generation" and I've certainly heard of egg rolling, though I've never done it and haven't heard of any symbolism. Maybe if I'd grown up in a hilly part of the country ... !

[Quizmonster]

I can assure you, Bernardo, that most of the kids in my small home town in the north of Scotland did roll hard-boiled eggs that our mums had prepared - often in tea to make them an interesting colour. Sometimes, too, we coloured them ourselves with crayons, paint-sets or whatever. (Does anyone ever buy a kid a paint-set nowadays?)

This was in the 1940s and everyone of my age from that area would confirm the truth of the claim. We were dotted all over the nearby 'braes' on Easter Monday, unless it was raining, hurtling after our soon-to-be picnic snack, believe me! Fathers tend to be absent from one's visual memories of such days because they were mostly dotted all over the world still dealing with baddies!

Whatever the truth of the mythical/religious significance of the activity, we knew it was all about rolling away the tombstone of Christ. Why else would we have done it on Easter Monday, for goodness' sake?

[monty0703]

Hmmm, Barnardo, at the tender age of 28 I wouldn't class myself as an "old person" - just someone who (as a kiddie) followed a tradition. Like Quizmonster, I too was told it stood for the rolling-away of the stone of the tomb. Quizmonster, you'll be pleased to know that my niece and nephew will be painting their hard-boiled eggs in a variety of colours! And a mini-rant - kids eat too many sweets without every family member buying them chocolate eggs! Oh no - I've only one Cadbury's mini-egg left....

[monty0703]

oops - BErnardo (sorry).

[apricot]

I remember in the past 12 years or so going to Kendal Castle and watching the children roll eggs down the hill. There they call in pace egging (it may be spelled differently). I had a large rottweiler at the time who loved eggs and would charge down the hill and beat the kids to it. Who was going to argue? It was much fun but I don't think it happens now.

[gazzawazza]

I'm 41 and can definitely remember rolling eggs when I was ickle although I can't remember what it was supposed to symbolise. We did it with hard-boiled eggs which we had painted ourselves, and when they finally cracked we scoffed them. Incidentally, there is a village near where I live where this activity is known as "jarping."

[spiff]

I did as a child(34 now). as apricot mentioned, we called them "pace" eggs. they were eggs that were boiled in onion skins to give them colour. I believe the name "pace" came for the latin for "peace"..(pax)

[jenstar]

My family, heathen though we are, always painted hard-boiled eggs and then rolled them. I say you definitely have to decorate them first!

[Quizmonster]

For a website all about 'jarping' and 'pace' - probably actually 'Pasch' as in 'paschal', meaning 'of Easter' - eggs click http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=27721 I'm delighted that so many younger people do recall the tradition. Great to hear, Monty, that your young relatives will still be painting their eggs, just as I did! Cheers

[apricot]

Thanks quizzy, I knew locally it was known as pace egging but also knew there was a proper spelling. I remember only a few years ago visiting friends in Holland and painting hard boiled eggs then suggesting we go pace egging. Haha no hills in Holland so we just ate them instead!

[Ewood27]

I have just telephoned my sister-in-law in Darlington, where she has lived all her life (she's in her 70s). She and sundry children, grandchildren and others of her extended family are going to hard boil eggs, paint them and roll them in the local park as they have done for years. She doesn't know of any symbolism though. So yes, kids of all ages do still roll eggs.

[uber_pea]

I still roll a boiled egg down the hill in my backgarden (im 18). I always have done...:)

[uber_pea]

oh! and I painted them too. As famous people..I remember I did Scary Spice one year... I never did it for religious reasons though, just for fun.