Easter

The pre-Christian Saxons had a spring goddess Eostre, whose feast was held on the Vernal Equinox, around 21st March. Her animal was the spring Hare, and the new life of the land was symbolised by the egg. The festival was ideally placed in time to be absorbed into Christians' celebration of the Resurrection of Christ, held each year on a complicatedly-calculated date between 22nd March and 25th April. Pope Gregory the Great's canny instruction to missionaries to use old religious places and festivals for Christian purposes, rather than destroy them, lead to Eostre's name being applied to this season, and many of the attributes of her feast being adopted seamlessly into Christian celebration.

The Resurrection took place during the Jewish festival of Passover, which has come into the celtic languages as words such as Pasch, Pesse, Pasg. In the North of England this has become Paste or Pace, and there are numerous 'Pace-egg' traditions, including a variant on the Mummers Play called the Pace Egg Play. This word has become associated with particular fields in some places where eggs were rolled - are they still?

A myriad of fairs are held over the bank holiday period; London is particularly rich in these events at such places as Hampstead Heath, Blackheath and Hampton Court Green.

Before Easter

Maundy Thursday Thursday before Good Friday

Norwich Easter Fair. In the city centre. Find out more about English fairs at the Showmen's Guild web-site.

Daisy Nook Easter Fair, near Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancs. This fair was once the only place of entertainment for workers from the nearby cotton mill towns on Good Friday - their only holiday apart from Christmas Day. It still retains its popularity, and is held in a small secluded valley, partly owned by the National Trust. It was immortalised by LS Lowry in a series of paintings he did in the later 1940s. Find out more about English fairs at the Showmen's Guild web-site.

Good Friday Friday before Easter

Egg rolling, Holcombe Hill, Bury, Lancashire - Begins on Good Friday with a service at the bottom the hill. Traditionally people then walk up the hill, and the egg rolling then starts around mid morning (Bury TIC, +44 (0) 161 253 5111). Also a tradition in the Channel Islands; See some more egg-rolling pictures here.

Midgley Pace-Egg Play visits Heptonstall, Midgley & Hebden Bridge, W.Yorkshire, for information contact David Burnop (+44 (0) 161 877944 day or +44 (0) 1422 846277 eve).

British Ring Taw Marbles Championship, Tinsley Green, Crawley, W. Sussex - marbles played by the established rules inside sand covered rings watched by a referee. For information, contact The Greyhound Inn, +44 (0) 1293 884220 or look at the Marble Museum web-site.

Uppies & Doonies Ball Game, Workington, Cumbria.

Conisbrough 'Tittlecock' Fair, Yorkshire. A fair of unknown origin that takes place on Good Friday in this small former coal-mining village. It follows the custom of carring of a large wooden cross in procession through the village to the Parish Church, where a mid-day service is held. Find out more about English fairs at the Showmen's Guild web-site.

Easter Saturday

Bacup Nutters Dance - Britannia Coconut Dancers march through Bacup nr Rochdale, Lancs (Easter Saturday) - The dancers faces are blackened perhaps to disguise them from being recognised by evil spirits afterwards. It may also reflect a mining connexion in that Moorish sailors are said to have settled in Cornwall and become miners bringing a new custom with them. As mines and quarries opened in Lancashire in the 18th and 19th centuries some Cornishmen travelled North for work and may have taken this custom with them. See more on their web-site.

Pasche-egg-play - plays collected from the Furness Villages in Cumbria were made into a composite play, performed by the Furness Morris Men in the villages at Easter. They perform in Broughton, Coniston, Elterwater, Hawkeshead and Near Sawrey on Easter Saturday and at the Market Cross, Ulverston (also on Easter Monday) , in Baycliff, Broughton & Cartmel on Easter Monday. Contact Bruce Wilson, Furness Morris Men +44 (0)1229 582969 or the Town office +44(0)1229 588499.

Easter Day

'the first Sunday after the full moon which happens on or next following the twenty-first of March the Spring Equinox: and if the full moon happens upon a Sunday, Easter-day is the Sunday following' (quoted in Kightly, 1986).

Easter Monday

Mossley Pace Egg Boys - play in Mossley (Lancs) & Saddleworth (Yorks).

Pace Egg Rolling, Avenham Park, Preston, Lancs

Pasche-egg-play at Ulverston, in Baycliff, Broughton & Cartmel on Easter Monday. Also Pasche Egg Rolling on Hoad Hill, Ulverston. Contact Bruce Wilson, Furness Morris Men +44 (0)1229 582969 or the Town office +44(0)1229 588499.

London Harness Horse Parade, Battersea Park - This started in 1886 to improve conditions for cart horses in London and encourage their wider use. It was amalgamated with the London Van Horse Parade in 1965. The parade now includes private horse drawn vehicles as well as light commercial ones. In 2006 it is being held on 17th April at the South of England Showground, West Sussex - always check details with the organisers before making travel arrangements (contact Corrie Brown, +44(0)1737 646132).

Lowering the Maypole, Barwick in Elmet, W.Yorks - the extra-ordinary raising of this maypole is held in June. Find out more on the web-site of the town's historical society.

Bottle Kicking & Hare Pie Scramble , Hallaton near Market Harborough, Leics - A parade lead by a green-robed man carrying a pole topped by a metal hare, a lady in old fashioned costume carrying a basket of penny loaves, two young ladies carrying a large hare pie, followed by three men in football shirts carrying three bottles above their heads, and a band with bagpipes and drums. They leaveThe Fox pub in the early afternoon followed by a crowd and parade through the village, stopping at the cross on the village green near the Berwick Arms before going to the church where the pie is broken into pieces and thrown into the crowd. The parade returns to the cross where the loaves are broken and thrown into the crowd before they are led to the top of the hill where the bottle-kicking starts. The two teams of Hallaton and Medbourne kick and run with each bottle until they are taken either over the fields and across a hedge into Medbourne, or down the hill and across the brook behind the Berwick Arms to Hallaton. The Hallaton team is exclusive to villagers but the Medbourne team is open to all and both teams have large numbers chasing the bottles on mass.

Great Yarmouth Easter Fair. Held in the market place and of ancient origin. Find out more about English fairs at the Showmen's Guild web-site.

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Common Ground can accept no responsibility for the accuracy of the information given in this calendar. Events may be altered or cancelled without our knowledge - Always check first with organisers before travelling.