How important was Easter to those who lived in England during the Regency? It mattered. The Easter Triduum – which begins with evening services on the Thursday and ends with evening services on Easter Sunday – is the highlight of the Christian year even today, and in the Regency era, Easter was primarily a religious festival, though with quite a few traditions involving food.
In Georgian and Regency England being a member of the Church of England was a prerequisite for having a government job, being a member of Parliament, or even (for much of the eighteenth century) being an officer in the army. Being seen at church, at least occasionally, was important. Officially, a person could be fined if they didn’t attend every Sunday, though the law was largely ignored. By the Regency era, the parish church was still the centre of community life, at least in rural England. In urban areas, church attendance was low among the working classes, in part at least because of insufficient room in the churches. “For example in 1821 the population of Sheffield was 60,000 but the number of church seats 4000, of which only 300 were unrented i.e. open for use by the poor.” (https://anglicanism.org/nineteenth-century-urbanisation-and-the-church-of-england-an-assessment)
So, apart from church, how would our Regency upper and middle class characters have celebrated Easter?
Let’s start with Lent. This is the period of preparation starting with Ash Wednesday, forty plus days before Easter. Lent was and is a period of abstinence, almsgiving, and prayer, and while the Lenten discipline was not as rigid in the Regency era as in earlier centuries, many of our characters would have simpler meals, hold and attend fewer or simpler entertainments, or mark the period in some other ways. The strict fast from meat, butter, and other luxuries was no longer kept, but devout people still kept Lent, and many still do today.
Lent ended with Good Friday, which marks the crucifixion and death of Jesus. One notable tradition for Good Friday is hot cross buns. Buns made with spices and butter had been made for many centuries, giving people a treat after the long fast from such things during Lent. According to a popular account, a twelfth century monk added a cross and handed them out after church for people to break their fast. Hot cross buns were eaten for breakfast on Good Friday, and that was still a tradition in my family when I was growing up.
In some parts of England, households baked a loaf on Good Friday and hung it somewhere in the kitchen until Good Friday the following year. In many cases, the year-old bread was ground into powder and used as medicine.
Easter Sunday was and is a day when practising Anglicans are expected to receive communion. Church service were well attended, and both the church and the parishioners dressed for the occasion. The church was decorated, and people wore new or refreshed clothing as a symbol of renewal and rebirth. For women, it might be as simple as a newly trimmed bonnet.
After services, it was time to go home for a good meal. Roast lamb was a popular choice for the central dish of the day, and sweet treats might include Simnel cake or Tansy pudding.
After that meal, the family might go out to a good egg rolling, if it was the custom in their area. Children would set a hard-boiled egg rolling down hill, and race it. In some places, they still do. Eggs were seen as a symbol of rebirth, but also, the strict fast of the medieval era excluded eggs from the diet, so being able to eat them again on Easter Sunday meant eggs had two reasons to be associated with Easter. The eggs were often dyed and decorated, which brings me to another tradition that still exists today – pace egging. Children in costume would perform traditional songs and plays, and be rewarded with eggs and small gifts.
Easter Egg Hunt
Easter egg hunts were a German tradition that became popular in England in imitation of Queen Victoria. Between April 1 – 5, this blog is part of the Annual Historical Easter Egg Hunt on line. My egg is shown above. Find out more at the Event page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/share/1Awen348CS/, or jump to the next stop on the hop https://tesswrites.com/.