
Gently rub this off to give the eggs a bit of a shine. Once the eggs have cooled, use kitchen towel to smear flavourless oil over each one.

GOOSE GOOSE DUCK CUSTOM SKINS PLUS
To make the dye bath use 250ml water to the same quantity of colourant listed below plus 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar. You can either boil the colourant (the same quantities as listed below) along with 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar in with the eggs or submerge the hard boiled eggs in a dye bath after they have been cooked. Allow 10-12 minutes boiling time for large hens eggs or 15 minutes for duck eggs.
GOOSE GOOSE DUCK CUSTOM SKINS HOW TO
But we can show you how to make your own – and it’s up to you whether you eat it, smash it or roll it! How To Make Your Own Pace EggsĪny eggs can be used to make pace eggs, although white egg shells will produce more vivid results. Since then they’ve become hugely popular – 80 million are sold in the UK each year – and the pace egg has all but vanished. The first English chocolate egg was sold by Fry’s in 1873. They’re a little like mummers’ plays, or medieval mystery plays, and many feature St George – whose story we tell at our St George’s Day events across the country. Pace egg plays can still be found in Lancashire and West Yorkshire, with one of the most famous at Heptonstall. The world’s most famous egg roll takes place every year on the White House lawn in Washington DC. There’s still an annual egg rolling event in Preston. They were given as presents or at pace egg plays, and sometimes they were rolled along the ground in a race – perhaps to symbolise the rolling away of the stone from Jesus’ tomb. The first mention of pace eggs comes from early 18th-century Lancashire, and they grew in popularity over the century. They were hard boiled hen, duck or goose eggs with a colourful shell.Ī selection of colourful traditional Easter eggs, known as pace eggs. The word ‘pace’ comes from ‘paschal’, the Latin name for Easter. One tradition just about clings on in some parts of England – the ‘pace egg’, and pace egg plays. In Devon and Cornwall, people used to play a game like conkers with their eggs, hitting them against each other until one of them cracked. It was also said that if your egg had two yolks, you’d soon become rich. Some thought that eggs cooked on Good Friday and eaten on Easter would promote fertility and prevent sudden death, and it became the custom to have your eggs blessed before you ate them. Eggs laid on Good Friday were said to turn into diamonds if they were kept for 100 years. Various traditions and superstitions sprang up around the egg at Easter. So when Easter Sunday came around, tucking into an egg was a real treat. Eggs represent new life and rebirth, and it’s thought that this ancient custom was absorbed into Easter celebrations.ĭuring Lent, when Christians fasted to mark Jesus’ time in the wilderness, eggs were one of the foods that people weren’t allowed to eat (incidentally, this is why we make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday). The practice was adopted by the Orthodox Churches, and from there it spread into Western Europe. Early Christians in Mesopotamia dyed eggs in the period after Easter. Throughout history, people across the world have given each other eggs at spring festivals to mark the seasons.

Every year, Christians around the world remember Jesus’ crucifixion and celebrate his resurrection three days later.īut how did the egg come to represent Easter? In this article, Food Historian Sam Bilton takes a look at some of the theories, explores the traditions that have come and gone over the centuries, and shows you how to make your own traditional Easter Egg.

Easter is the most important date in the Christian calendar.
