Easter egg games that you may not know about

Easter Monday is the last day of the the holiday weekend – time to do something special.

It’s for socializing and games.

These games are an important part of Slovenia’s Easter heritage.

The Easter game customs are explained by Dr. Nena Židov from the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum.

In the past, children, youth, and adults played the Easter games on Sunday morning after mass in front of the church or on Monday in the village. She recalls using Easter eggs, or sometimes just hard-boiled eggs, for the games.

Knocking (turčanje or trkanje) is a game where two contestants smash the tops of each others’ eggs to try to crack their opponent’s egg.

Whoever’s breaks first loses.

The most important thing in this game is to choose an egg with a thick shell. Connoisseurs can identify the shell hardness by the sound it makes when you tap an egg on your teeth.

Rolling (valjčanje or kotaljenje) somewhat resembles bowling.

Competitors slide their egg down a small ramp and try to hit their competitors’ eggs lying at the bottom of the ramp. If a competitor’s rolling egg hits the still egg, then the rolling egg counts as a hit.

The winner is the one who hits the most eggs.

When aiming at Easter eggs (šicanja, sekanja ali zbijanja) the competitor uses a coin.

The coin must break through the shell and get stuck in the egg – or better –hide inside or even peek out of the other side!

The players get all the eggs that they successfully hit. Otherwise, the player gives the coin to a teammate.

In some places, oranges or apples have also been used as targets.

All the games listed above began to disappear after World War II, but today they are being brought back in some places.

Some places hold Easter egg competitions, which vary slightly by region.

Some of the competitions are drawing tourists’ attention and becoming important in influencing the recognition of places.

Points to Consider

1. How many Easter eggs do you usually color?
2. Do you know any of the games?
3. Which one are you planning to try?

***

The original version of this article was published on 1^st April.