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Easter Holy Week in England

Easter Sunday is much anticipated by children

The word 'Easter' derives from the Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn and spring, Eostre, and her festival. This pagan holiday held in her honour was a celebration of renewed growth after the barren winter - the egg representing life force and the hare and rabbit symbols of fertility.

Nowadays Easter is generally observed from Good Friday until Easter Monday, but our Christian ancestors dedicated a full seven days to Easter Holy Week. Modern celebrations are a mixture of ancient rituals combined with the commemoration of Christ's resurrection, so it is still very much a time of death followed by rebirth.

In the past, Easter was regarded as a time when new clothes should be purchased, especially bonnets for the ladies. In parts of north-west England a dummy would be dressed in black and burned as a sign of the destruction of winter, in a ceremony known as Riding-the-Black-Lad. Egg rolling competitions would take place in Preston, Scarborough and Barton-upon-Humber, and traditional sports, such as river jousting and handball would be played all over the country. Feasts of pudding pies, baked custards, roast lamb and veal were also prepared along with regional dishes such as Tansy Pudding and Cheese Cake.

On Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Good Friday), in some parts of England, small biscuits bearing the image of a lamb are handed out by the vicar to his congregation as they leave church, bearing the words 'peace and good neighbourhood'. The biscuits are called pax cakes (from the Latin for 'peace', pax). The custom goes back to at least the 16th century, when cakes and ale were given out during morning service and eaten and drunk in the church, to promote neighbourliness and good feeling at Easter.

For some country folk, Good Friday is commemorated with a village play (known as a 'pace egg play') based on a pagan rebirth ceremony, in which St George smites all competitors and the fool Toss Pot (a sort of tramp who makes suggestions to ladies in the audience and collects money for charity) rejoices. It is basically bawdy entertainment, with plenty of sword fights and shouting from the crowd. It's derived from mummers' plays - mummers being groups of masked performers who paraded the streets during festivals. It is believed by some that the word 'pace' probably derives from 'pasche', the Latin for passion - thus the Easter connection.

The Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking at Hallaton, Leicestershire, on Easter Monday doesn't actually involve hare pies or bottles. Nowadays, the scramble is only a token scuffle for pieces of beef pie. Bottle kicking is the main event - the 'bottles' being small wooden, iron-hooped barrels filled with ale. They are used as balls in a ruleless game of football (not unlike Shrovetide Football) between Hallaton and the village of Melbourne, whose team can include anyone not from Hallaton. The ale bottle is drunk when the game is over.

(Article from: www.allinfoaboutenglishculture.com )