Since about 1969, my family has been cracking eggs on Easter Sunday. No one really knows the origins of this tradition (although there are rumors that it come from the Polish side of our heritage), but it's still going strong today.Essentially what happens is you take two hard boiled eggs, name them (the two years I've won the competition, my eggs have been named "Cowabunga" and "Law Chick"), dye them, put them into a NCAA Basketball-esqe type bracket, and then crack them together. There is a specific way the participants must crack the eggs together: one person holds the egg still and the other "hits". Don't ask me to explain it, but somehow (most likely due to the laws of physics) only one egg cracks. The winner then advances to the next round of the tournament.
Just like the NCAA tournament, there are four brackets, but rather than "north", "west", etc., ours are usually "Easter", "Bunny", "Resurrection", and "Chocolate". When the champions of each bracket have been determined, we bring out the "Final Four" sign and play the tape (yes, cassette tape) of my Grandpa talking over the music to "The Impossible Dream" about the dream and ultimate goal of being the year's egg champion. When that feat is achieved, the winner receives a medal, their name and the name of their egg on the traveling trophy, and, (because we charge about $1/ person to enter the contest and accept donations) usually a nice chunk of change.
Because we aren't always able to make it Sioux City for Easter, the Friedman Family often creates their own mini-tournament. A variety of close family friends have been able to partake in the time treasured event. When I moved to Kansas a couple of years ago, I wasn't able to head home for Easter (and thus not able to partake in the competition), so I brought the tradition to St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center. The contest was very well received: there were a good number of participants, everyone appeared to have fun, and the contest (and buildup to it) even spurred a dance. Things just didn't come together last year and the contest didn't happen. But today, the St. Lawrence Annual Egg Cracking Contest made its third appearance. Andrew Schaeperkoetter won this year (I don't know his egg's name), but both names will grace the St. Lawrence Egg Cracking Contest plaque.
Hopefully the contest -- both in my family and at the St. Lawrence Center -- will be around for years and years to come.
