Easter Pockin'

In central Louisiana, especially in Avoyelles Parish where we live, there's a tradition that involves knocking, or as many say "pocking" eggs.   Basically it involves several people, each with boiled and dyed eggs in their possession, who compete to break the eggs of their opponents.   Everyone is supposed to begin with the same number of eggs, but we're not big on rules around here.

Everyone is an opponent.  The last one with an unbroken egg is the winner. Another way to win is to keep track of how many eggs one of your eggs breaks.  Everyone is on the honor system, but it's relatively easy to keep track of those who claim to be in the running for winner--all it takes is a quick look at how many unbroken eggs a person has.  

Richard and I knocking against each other.

I was doing quite well with a pink egg, which had broken three other eggs, but I set it down on an end table and it rolled away onto the ceramic tile.  The tile won that round!

Poppa put himself in charge of handing out the eggs.  

(Make note of this.)  

It's really lots of fun.  We're not a very competitive family, but Easter seems to bring out the best in us.  

Jenny's surprise after Stacey crushes her winning egg.

It's important to keep your eggs organized.  Ma-ma (Rich's mom) is just a bit OCD about her eggs.

Papa knocks eggs with everyone....a couple of times.  He goes through a dozen eggs in just a few minutes.

 Sometimes we get so excited, we just have to grab someone to hug tightly.  If it happens to be "my best cousin," well, so much the better.

 And the winner is......

Poppa. 


Somehow he managed to end up with the oddly shaped, heavy-on-the-shell, deformed egg.  It probably has nothing to do with his being in charge of handing out the eggs.  

On a side note, there are a couple of towns in our parish that have egg knocking contests.  The rules are strict and the competition is fierce!  

I hope you had a wonderful, blessed Easter, also.