Egg tapping, or also known as egg fight, egg knocking, egg pacqueing, egg boxing, egg picking, egg chucking, or egg jarping is a traditional Easter game. In English folk traditions, the game has variously been known as "shackling", "jarping" or "dumping". The rule of the game is simple. One holds a hard-boiled egg and taps the egg of another participant with one's own egg intending to break the other's, without breaking one's own. As with any other game, it has been a subject of cheating; eggs with cement, alabaster and even marble cores have been reported.
History
The egg was a symbol of rebirth, adopted by early Christians as a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus at Easter. During medieval times, egg tapping was practiced in Europe. The practice was mentioned to have played an important part in the 14th century in Zagreb in relation to the Easter festival. A study of folklore quotes an early 15th-century reference from Poland. In North America, in colonial New Amsterdam in the 1600s, "cracking of eggs" was invented by Jonathon Day on Easter Monday with the winner keeping both eggs. Egg picking was observed by a British prisoner of war, Thomas Anbury, in Frederick Town, Maryland, in 1781 during the American Revolutionary War. The local custom at that time was to dye the eggs with Logwood or Bloodwood to give them a crimson color, which as Anbury observed gave them "great strength". Thomas Anbury was a young British officer who travelled extensively as a prisoner-of-war during the American Revolution. Anbury was near Frederick Town in Maryland, July 11, 1781, when he noted the egg picking custom which was prevalent at that time. By the mid-20th century a Baltimore, Maryland, newspaper, the Evening Sun, would devote an editorial column to discussing street cries, ritual, and techniques for the game. Clarkson cites the Baltimore Evening Sun for 29 March 1933, and in the Sunday Sun for 17 April 1949. In the 21st century egg cracking is still practiced every Easter by the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York at the annual Pass Easter Ball.
Competition
In England, the game is played between pairs of competitors who repeatedly knock the pointed ends of their eggs together until one of the eggs cracks; the overall winner is the one whose egg succeeds in breaking the greatest number of other eggs. The world egg-jarping championships have been held each Easter Sunday at Peterlee Cricket And Social Club County Durham, England, since 1983. Proceeds from the event are donated to the Macmillan Cancer Support charity. In many places in Louisiana, egg-tapping is a serious competition event. Marksville claims to be the first to make it into an official event in 1956. In the past some cheaters used guinea hen eggs, which are smaller and have harder shells. Nowadays guinea egg knocking is a separate contest category. Preparation for this contest has turned into a serious science. People now know which breeds of chicken lay harder eggs, and at what time. The chickens must be fed calcium-rich food and have plenty of exercise. Proper boiling of the contest eggs is also a serious issue. Some rules are well known, such as eggs must be boiled tip down, so that the air pocket is on the butt end. There is also a rule that the champions must break and eat their eggs to prove they are not fake.
In other cultures and languages
In Assam the game is called Koni-juj. It is held every year on the day of Goru Bihu of Rongali Bihu, which falls in mid-April and on the day of Bhogali Bihu, in January. In Croatia, both coloured eggs and uncoloured Easter eggs are used, as everyone picks an egg to tap or have tapped. Every egg is used until the last person with an unbroken egg is declared the winner, sometimes winning a money pool. In the Netherlands the game is called eiertikken. Children line up with baskets of coloured eggs and try to break those in another person's basket. Players must only break eggs of the same colour as their own. In Romania, visitors strike red eggs against one held by the head of the household and exchange the greetings "Christ has risen!" and "He has risen indeed!" The person who keeps an unbroken egg is said to enjoy the longest life. Christians in Bulgaria have a similar tradition of egg cracking. Adults and children alike each take an egg, then go around tapping each other. The belief is that the winner of the egg tapping contest will have the best health that year. Additionally, when dyeing the eggs, the first egg must be red. It is typically preserved until the next year as a token of luck and good health. Central European Catholics of various nationalities call the tradition epper, likely from the German word Opfer, also used to name the practice, which means 'sacrifice' or, literally, offering. Ruthenians have a tradition of rolling the eggs in a game called čokatisja. Children roll eggs on the meadows like marbles or tap them by hand. If an egg is cracked, then it belongs to the child whose egg cracked it. Greeks call the practice tsougrisma, meaning to clink together. In Jewish culture hard-boiled eggs are part of the Passover Seder celebration. Toward the end of the traditional readings, hard-boiled eggs are distributed among guests, who may then play the egg-tapping game.
