The annual egg rolling competition
Traditions, searching for spring and preparing to feast.
“Mum, why do we eat chocolate eggs at Easter? I know it’s ‘cos Jesus came back to life but why are they chocolate?”
I have never in my life questioned this. Just happily accepted the much tastier egg form and greedily chomped away.
“I suppose because everyone likes chocolate?”
“Megan from Brownies doesn’t like chocolate.”
Well, you can’t please them all.
My take away from this conversation is that we actually just enjoy eating and having an excuse for a get-together. Perhaps it is having something to look forward to? Like Christmas, birthdays and Halloween. (We love any kind of holiday in this house - led by yours truly.) I try to not let the meaning behind Easter and Christmas go unnoticed and often bring up the topic at dinner times - “So guys, what is the TRUE meaning of Easter?” The kids proudly recite what they have learned at school before swiftly moving the conversation on to the Easter bunny (who still very much visits our house) and how many eggs they think they will find this year, as well as what DID happen to that missing egg that was hidden in the garden four years ago and never found…
This morning I attended the annual egg rolling (or lobbing in some cases) competition at my children’s first school. My eldest has left now but I still have two who attend, so I will be able to enjoy this tradition for a good few years to come. Every year the parents huddle in the yard, wrapped up in coats, hats and gloves because this is Northumberland and the north doesn’t get the spring memo until much later in the year, pretty much as soon as summer arrives.
The children file out in their class groups, each clutching their decorated egg which they hope, this year, will be the winning competitor. There is excited chatter as they are missing their lessons, parents are missing a morning from work and we all have the end of term vibes, as we gather to watch each child have their turn at throwing their hard boiled egg at a painted target in the playground.
The headteacher of the school makes a short speech, thanking parents and children for attending. She announced this morning that the egg rolling competition has been a tradition at the school for over eighty years. Eighty! And something like over four thousand children will have taken part over that time. Of course just as many eggs too. And as I looked around at the groups of parents, I realised for some this will be their final year attending the egg rolling competition, as their children move onto the next stage of school life. For me, by the time my youngest has left that school, I will have been to eleven of these mornings of egg-citing fun. Eleven years. That is not including the year we missed, because Covid put a stop to any kind of egg rolling fun at school and instead we did our own at home. Still good fun, just less crowd cheering.
I already know I will miss this tradition once the littlest starts middle school. I am a one for traditions and have tried to start my own over the years. For example, every Easter Sunday we roll our own decorated eggs down a hill in our local park, dragging various family members along to take part. Every birthday in the house is celebrated by tip-toeing downstairs all together and peering through the sitting room door to see what this years birthday may look like. And every New Years Eve involves a beige buffet and playing board games whilst trying to stay awake. Traditions are good aren’t they?
As the children grow, these traditions, I imagine, are likely to change and we will probably make new ones. But for now, I am enjoying this early childhood stage, where the Tooth Fairy, Easter bunny and Father Christmas are all very much alive and bring with them a lot of excitement.
Easter Weekend
So how are you spending your Easter weekend?
We are planning a National Trust egg hunt on Good Friday at Seaton Delaval Hall, (wearing ALL the layers of course), family time on Saturday and lunch out on Sunday. On Easter Monday I am hoping we make it over to Brimham Rocks in North Yorkshire. HOWEVER, gastroenteritis has taken out two family members over the last two weeks so I am crossing everything the three of us who haven’t been hit, don’t get it this weekend.
It may not feel spring like outside, but in the house I am filling vases with flowers, doing another deep spring clean (see above about gastroenteritis), stashing away chocolates and other Easter goodies and finishing off work so I can completely switch off over the weekend.
I hope you have a lovely weekend, perhaps creating your own family traditions and hopefully the sun will make an appearance at some point over the school holidays ☀️
Tomorrow my paid members are going to be receiving an invite to embrace spring no matter the weather with a gorgeous poem I found, some writing updates and baking recipes ahead of the weekend. You can upgrade to become a paid member below. It costs just £4 a month, which I compare to buying a glossy magazine. Each Friday I share a “getting ready for the weekend” style post with meal planning and home inspiration as well as occasionally a short story, as you switch off and unwind after your busy week. I would love to see you there ❤️