Since I was a child my family has had an egg knocking competition on Easter Sunday. The Easter weekend was a time for the family to get together, have an egg hunt, exchange small gifts and enjoy Nana’s Sunday roast dinner. On Saturday evening, Nana would get the eggs on to boil – in those days we had white eggs so you could colour them  with onion skins, beetroot and tea bags. The eggs would be put on the table and everyone would pick their preferred egg for decorating. The following day after dinner we would knock the eggs. Whoever’s egg remained unscathed was the winner.

Over the years there were incidents of egg fixing (I won’t name the culprits – they know who they are), the occasional varnished egg or chocolate filled egg slipped into the competition unnoticed, adding to the fun. Now we are on the 3rd generation of egg knockers, we have Ireland, Holland, New Zealand, Britain and more recently Hungary represented. So as you can imagine the competition is fierce! I hope in these times of commercialisation it’s a tradition we can hold on to.

These days we use food colouring or dye on the eggs followed by paint. There’s no proven technique, whether you are the knocker or the knockee – you might just be lucky, but it helps if you psyche out your opponent before the knocking commences!

Happy Easter everyone!