Weird Or What?: Britain's eccentric Easter celebrations

Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking

HALLATON, LEICESTERSHIRE

Don't ask why but at Hallaton in Leicestershire, they hold a parade led by a green-robed man who carries a pole topped by a metal hare, and a woman in old fashioned costume carrying a basket of penny loaves. Two young women follow them, carrying a large hare pie, followed by three men in football shirts carrying three bottles above their heads, followed by a band with bagpipes and drums. At the parish church, the pie is broken up and thrown to the crowd. At the cross on the village green, the loaves are broken and thrown to the crowd. There follows a football game, played across country with the bottles instead of a ball, between the Hallaton team, made up exclusively of villagers, and the Medbourne team, open to anyone.

Hocktide Festival

HUNGERFORD, BERKSHIRE

Hungerford, in Berkshire, is the only place in the country still to maintain the annual Hocktide festival, on the second Tuesday after Easter. The festival dates from the 14th century when Prince John of Gaunt gave the rights of free grazing and fishing on common land to the local people, or "commoners". The town crier blows his horn and calls together the Hocktide Court in the town hall. All commoners living in the High Street must pay a fee to ensure their rights of fishing and grazing. Meanwhile, "Tutti-Men", who carry poles decorated with flowers, are led through the streets by the "Orange-Man" to collect kisses from all the ladies resident in the High Street. They receive an orange in return.

Egg rolling

LANCASHIRE

Egg rolling, a sport in which participants precipitate their specially prepared hard-boiled eggs down a hill, is still a surprisingly popular pastime in England, and one that goes on all Easter weekend. Customs differ from place to place. The winner's egg may be the one that rolls the farthest, survives the most rolls, or is rolled between two pegs. In Bury, Lancashire, it happens today - Good Friday - at about midday, on Holcombe Hill. On Monday, it will be happening at Avenham Park, Preston, and Hoad Hill, Ulverston.

Uppies and Downies

WORKINGTON, CUMBRIA

Unique to Workington, Cumbria, this game is played three times a year - today, next Tuesday, and a week tomorrow. There are about 100 players on each side, the Uppies being those born above the Cloffocks, in the town centre, where the game begins. The Downies are those born below. The game ends when the ball reaches one of the goal areas at opposite ends of the town. There are no rules, and as a consequence the game can be rough. The last fatality was in 1983 when a contestant drowned in the Derwent.

Hot cross bun< ceremony

BROMLEY BY BOW, LONDON

Early in the 19th century, a widow who lived at the site of what is now The Widow's Son pub, in Bromley-by-Bow, London, was expecting her sailor son back for Easter, and put a hot cross bun out ready for him on Good Friday. Her son never came back but she waited and waited, and each year she put out another bun. Successive landlords of the pub that opened on the site in 1848 have kept the tradition going. Another, much older London tradition is the handing out of money and hot cross buns to 21 widows after the service at St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield - only now, buns are given to children instead.

Egg jarping

COUNTY DURHAM

This is similar to conkers but played with hard-boiled eggs. Contestants tap their opponents' eggs until one breaks. The winner goes through to the next round, and so on until there is only one egg left unbroken. In the North East, it is called "jarping", a word that has escaped the compilers of every major dictionary. A good hit by a jarper is called a "dunch". The game is popular in County Durham, where it is played on Easter Sunday. In recent years, Peterlee has hosted the World Jarping Championships, which is reportedly a hard-fought competition. Cumbria tends to favour the term "egg dumping".

World Coal Carrying Championship

GAWTHORPE, YORKSHIRE

The World Coal Carrying Championship takes place between the Royal Oak pub, in Gawthorpe, Yorkshire, and the maypole on the village green. Contestants run for one mile, carrying a 50kg bag of coal. The record times, so far, are one minute and six seconds for men, and five minutes and five seconds for women. The contest dates from an incident at the Beehive Inn in 1963, when Lewis Hartley said to Reggie Sedgewick: "Ba gum, lad, tha' looks buggered!" to which an affronted Mr Sedgewick riposted: "Let's 'ave a coil race from Barracks t' Maypole." And they did.

The Bacup Nutters Dance

BACUP, LANCASHIRE

Whatever the weather, at 9am tomorrow, a group of Morris dancers dressed in turban-like hats decorated with rosettes and coloured feathers; black jerseys; red and white kilts; white stockings and black leather Lancashire clogs will assemble with blackened faces at the Travellers Rest pub on the A671. Accompanied by the Stacksteads Silver Band, they will dance through Bacup, from boundary to boundary. The tradition is said to have originated with Moorish pirates, and to have been brought to Lancashire by Cornish tin miners. The reason for the blackened faces could be down to the mining connection or it may be to protect the dancers from being recognised by evil spirits.

Biddenden Dole

BIDDENDEN, KENT

This historic charitable ritual at Biddenden in Kent, involves the doling out of bread, cheese and tea. The legend goes that there were two sisters, Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst, born in 1100, who were joined at the shoulder and hip. When one sister died, aged 34, the other refused to be separated from her, and died six hours later. They left 20 acres of ground called the Bread and Cheese Lands to provide money for the annual handout, known as the Biddenden Dole. There is a representation of the sisters on the cakes. Originally, the Dole included free beer, but that was later changed to tea.

British Ring Taw Marbles Championship

CRAWLEY, WEST SUSSEX

Ring Taw is a specialised and rare variant of the game of marbles, an adult pub game played around the world, to an official set of rules. It is usually played in a ring of rough sand, six feet in diameter, which contains 49 standard-size marbles in a circle in the centre. Two teams of six players, each with a larger marble up to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, compete to knock the smaller marbles out of the ring. The World Championships, sanctioned by the British Marbles Board of Control, are held today at The Greyhound Inn, Tinsley Green, Crawley, West Sussex.

London Harness Horse Parade

ARDINGLY, WEST SUSSEX

You don't see many harness horses in London these days. Come to think of it, you don't see the London Harness Horse Parade in London these days either. But in 1886, Sir Walter Gilbert Bart organised a parade of 102 cart horses in Battersea Park to encourage humane treatment of the animals. A separate London Van Horse Parade was first held in 1904. By 1914, both parades attracted over 1,000 entrants, but numbers fell with the arrival of the car and they were amalgamated in 1966. The parade now includes donkeys and ponies as well as draught horses such as Shires. It is now held at the South of England Showground, Ardingly, West Sussex.

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