Heptonstall-Pace-Egg-Play

Northern Easter Traditions Quiz

by Northern Life

Do you know your egg rolling from pace egg or your buckle stealing from your coal carrying? Why not give our quiz a go and test yourself...

How well do you know your Lancashire and Yorkshire Easter traditions? Put your knowledge to the test below. 

1 EGG ROLLING

The idea is to hard boil an egg, paint it in bright colours, and then chuck it down a hill. The first one to reach the bottom intact wins.

  1. Lancastrian superstition dictates that witches use broken eggshells to make boats. What should you do with your broken shells to avoid this?
  2. What Century did this tradition begin? 1600s, 1800s, or 1900s?
  3. What signifies good luck in egg rolling?
  4. Which park in Preston popularised Egg Rolling?

2 PACE EGGING

Pace eggs were simply eggs decorated for Easter. Traditionally, these decorated eggs were given to pace eggers, who dressed up and performed plays in the street.

  1. What were the eggs traditionally boiled in for a nice golden sheen?
  2. In which Calderdale village does the traditional pace egg play take place?
  3. ‘Pace Egging’ gets its name from the Latin ‘Pascha’, but what does ‘Pascha’ mean?
  4. In Pace Egging Plays, which Patron Saint often appears at the end?

3 BUCKLE STEALING

A forgotten tradition where men would steal ladies’ buckles from their shoes on Easter Sunday.

  1. When would the women take their revenge and steal the men’s buckles?
  2. What day would everyone be reunited with their buckles?
  3. In some towns, the tradition involved a different item of clothing; what did ladies steal in Filey?
  4. How did some people exploit the tradition of buckle stealing?

4 DIGGING DEEP

Easter tradition of the Coal Carrying championship

The World Coal Carrying Championships takes place each Easter Monday, with contestants racing while carrying coal.

  1. Where do the championships take place?
  2. How much is the prize sum for the men’s coal-carrying race?
  3. What year did the first race take place?
  4. The hearty debate between friends that eventually inspired the World Coal Carrying Championship took place where? Was it at the local pub, in the churchyard, or school?

5 NUTTERS

Every Easter Saturday, a troupe of folk dancers called the Nutters dance seven miles through Bacup and the surrounding areas.

  1. What is another name for the Nutters?
  2. Why are they called the Nutters?
  3. What type of shoes do they wear?
  4. What do the Nutters have to do at every pub they pass along their journey through Bacup?

6 RIVINGTON PIKE

Each Easter, hundreds of eager walkers turn up to ‘hike the pike’.

  1. What day does the walk take place?
  2. In 2009, at the annual Rivington Pike walk, there were memorable two costumed charity fundraisers. One was dressed as the Queen, but who was the other dressed as?
  3. The Rivington Pike Good Friday Walk, which started in the 19th Century, began as a Christian Pilgrimage to re-enact which part of Holy Week?
  4. Why was the fair moved from the slopes of the Pike down to the road?

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NorthernLife March/April/May 23