Easter traditions between sacred rituals and popular games: a fragment of rural memory

On Easter morning, before the solemn mass, it was customary to bring ‘criscenta,’ a leavened cake typical of the period, to church along with eggs to receive a blessing. This simple but deeply symbolic gesture is part of a larger ritual cycle that sees Easter not only as a celebration of Christ’s resurrection, but also as a time of cosmic and communal renewal, linked to the awakening of nature and the passage from death to life. Indeed, the criscenta, with its round shape and fermented element, recalls agrarian and solar symbols, while the egg, with its closed shell and vital contents, is a universal symbol of rebirth.

Alongside sacred rituality, playful practices with strong social and symbolic value coexisted. In the days leading up to Easter, especially among boys, a popular game in the countryside came to life: a kind of “bowls” with eggs, which took place on a slightly sloping stretch of land, specially chosen to make the eggs roll better. Youngsters would dig a furrow with their hands, taking advantage of the natural slope of the land, and slide their colored eggs into it, trying to hit those of the other players.

The eggs used were never the blessed ones: these, considered sacred, were intended for ritual use and were consumed with reverence or, if accidentally broken, thrown into the fire-another sacred, purifying element. The game eggs, on the other hand, were handcrafted decorations with poor, salvaged materials: there were no artificial colors or markers, so they used colored papers, such as those of fake flowers, glued on the shell with sourdough, in the absence of glue. This creative process reveals a remarkable adaptability and a certain folk aesthetic of reuse, which fits well in rural settings where scarcity of resources was compensated with ingenuity.

The game itself, in addition to fun, had a community and pedagogical function: it taught rules, loyalty and sharing, but also the importance of respect for what was considered sacred. Whoever won go