Easter Monday in United Kingdom

(the day after Easter Sunday)

1. Easter Monday occurs after Easter Sunday, which commemorates Jesus Christ's resurrection, according to Christian belief. It is a bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland but not Scotland.

2. For many people, Easter Monday is the last day in a four day weekend.

3. If people have been on a short vacation or have visited family or friends, who live some distance away, they often travel back on this day.

4. For other people, it is just a welcome day off to enjoy the spring weather or work on their garden or home improvements.

5. In some places, there are egg rolling competitions, Easter bonnet parades, displays of traditional Morris dancing fairs or special sports matches.

6. In Biddenden, Kent, special cakes are distributed in memory of conjoined twins born in 1100, who lived to the age of 34.

7. In Leicestershire, the villages of Hallaton and Medbourne hold a bottle kicking match.

8. It has been held at least since the early eighteenth century, but its roots may be in pagan times.

9. The event starts with the three bottles and a hare pie, which are actually wooden barrels, a parade through the two villages.

10. Two of the barrels are filled with beer. The third is actually solid wood.

11. The actual game consists of the two teams taking turns to get the three barrels across two streams a mile apart, by any means possible.

12. The game is quite rough and participants can leave the game for refreshments at any time.

13. The winning village gets to take the filled barrels to the local pub.