‘Easter Egg Wars’, she asked? ‘Yes, Easter Egg Wars’, I responded to a friend, when she asked about Easter traditions in our home. She laughed and I’m sure she thought I was crazy.
You see, as far back as I can remember, we have always warred eggs on Easter morning. It’s been a tradition passed down from my father’s side of the family, and it’s one we truly love. Of course, it made much more sense before plastic eggs arrived on the scene, because we used real eggs for Easter egg hunts and there were so many eggs.
Every year my parents would buy a dozen eggs per child and we’d gather around the table to dye eggs. First, we each took turns picking out the BEST egg of the group for our “warring competition.” I know, sounds a bit strange and wrong for the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. But still, there we were, choosing the fat egg or the skinny egg, the egg that wobbled best, or the egg with no imperfections. Seven perfect eggs were selected and set aside for a special coloring. All of us, including our dad, (who rarely joined in silliness like this,) gathered around the table days before Easter, and colored the five dozen eggs – minus the seven for the family. It was fun mixing colors, waxing on designs and creating Easter bunny magic.
Then it was time to chose our egg and select its warring color. I usually picked purple, my favorite color. No one was allowed to touch another’s egg or jiggle an egg when it was in the cup being colored. (It was serious business.) Then we wrote our Warring Names on the eggs with wax crayons, but as markers came on the scene, we later used markers. I’m not sure what age I was when we chose our special Warring Egg Name. The rule was you had to use the first letter of your name to create your War Egg Name. Mine was Vicious Vikki. (I’m assuming I had a much simpler one when I was younger.) But my name fit me, and my warring style.
The night before Easter, we would set out the eggs for the Easter Bunny on the table for him to hide… because we knew he was too busy to dye ALL the eggs for everyone in the world. Our Warring Eggs were in a separate container, and we knew we would find our special egg in our basket, all wrapped up in Easter grass the next morning.
When we arose, my four brothers and I, would make sure everyone was up and dressed decently for photos. We’d wait at the top of the stairs or in the hallway until my parents gave us permission to enter the Easter Hunt area. Later, my own children would do the same. You see, unbeknownst to us children, mom and dad would rise before us, “talk to the Easter Bunny” about where all the eggs were hidden in the house, have their coffee, set up our traditional Fried Bread Dough breakfast, and wait with the camera ready to capture the moment we discovered our first egg. They would holler go, and go we did! We would run through the living room and any room on the main floor as fast as we could, grabbing “real” eggs hidden high and low. It always seemed my little brother, Mike, knew where all the eggs were, so we always accused him of getting up early to find them before the hunt.
Once the hunt was complete and the winner announced, we found our Easter Baskets. Oh what joy was found in the Easter Baskets. Â It wasn’t until I was older did I realize why we had such a huge Easter. My mom told me years later that it was the one holiday that they had money to spoil their kids since it was right at tax time. So our baskets overflowed with gifts, and an outfit for Church.
We would then all gather around the dining room table for breakfast. My dad would have each of us draw a number to determine our warring positions. He’d add our names to the Warring Bracket (Think March Madness) and we would begin our wars. Now you might wonder how we went about this. NO, we did not throw the eggs at each other. Most people think that at first, but it’s quite civilized if you ask me.
Two “warriors” would face each other with their egg in their hand, and elbow on the table. The eggs would be turned so that the ‘pointy’ end faced a ‘pointy’ end. The youngest warrior would tap the opponents egg, trying to break his/her egg. Once an end was cracked, the opponents would turn the eggs around, round end to round end, and repeat the tap with the other player tapping first. At this point, either someone was out of the competition because both the ends on the egg were cracked, or each would have a cracked end. When the latter occurred, the warriors would face off with their uncracked eggs pointing at each other, and the younger opponent would tap. Now I’ll say it right here… I have seen someone go all the way to the Winner’s Circle with no cracks. It’s amazing how strong some of these eggs can be!
We would compete against each other following the brackets until we made it to the final two. I always loved my dad’s commentary throughout the competition, as if he were a sports caster on the news using the voice of a race announcer.
“Vicious Vikki is taking on Mag-ni-ficent Mike for the coveted spot of the Easter Egg War Winner. She’s setting up… practicing her gentle motion, making certain her egg is squared on her opponent’s. Mag-ni-ficent Mike doesn’t appear to be frightened  at all by Vicious Vikki, although… his heavy sigh is a sure sign he is ready for his opponent to get going!” My dad always cracked me up. (no pun intended)
When we would make it to the final round, everyone chose their favorite warrior… usually the one who had limped their way to the finale. It was always exciting. I have to say, I’ve had my share of wins over the years, and the best part was owning the bragging rights for a whole year. But sadly, my daughter has become notorious for taking us all down year after year.
After the warring of eggs, we’d dig into my mom’s delicious fried bread dough covered in powdered sugar, another family tradition. We’d eat bread and hard boiled eggs until we were too stuffed to leave the table. The only way you could eat an egg, was if you got someone to war with you. It was fun “warring” the morning away. As we got older, my mom had to put into place a rule, that if you warred the egg and lost, you had to eat it, that way she didn’t have a whole refrigerator full of cracked eggs drying out.
Once breakfast was done, we dressed and went to church…. until we got older and did things differently because we all didn’t want to get up at five in the morning.
For my whole married life, my husband and my children have embraced this tradition. It makes my heart fill with joy. I love to watch the excitement in my now grown children’s eyes as they battle their eggs and laugh with powdered sugared faces. I love that we have introduced our crazy traditions with our friends and family too. My husband’s side of the family has their Warring Competition with more than thirty people. They even have a trophy! Â I don’t know of anyone, including many of my past students, who didn’t find joy in our family tradition of Warring Eggs.
But before I go, Â let me tell you a little secret… don’t think you can pull one over on someone by not boiling their egg! We tried this with my little brother… you know the one… the brother that cheated during the hunts? (lol) He wasn’t able to be with us one year when we had to dye eggs. So we thought we would be funny and not boil his. Needless to say, he went on to kick our you know what’s, and the laugh was on us!
So take it from me, if you’d like to try a new tradition this year, find yourself saying “Easter Egg Wars!” You’ll have a blast and make the most amazing memories to last a life time.
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Our family Names: Killer Keith, Vicious Vikki, Tenacious Tanner, AmyWIN and Slammin’ Sammie – and now a grand baby to name… oh how fun to choose new names!
Arent’ I just too sweet to be VICIOUS VIKKI?
