Bottle-kicking

Records of bottle-kicking date to the late 18th century, but the custom is thought to originate much earlier, from before the Christian era.

Other explanations of the custom's origin include the idea that the tradition harks back to England's pagan past, when hares were sacrificed to the goddess Ēostre.

B. Firth included an account of the bottle-kicking in his Highways and Byways in Leicestershire (1926): [6] "Hallaton is best known throughout the shire for certain preposterous Easter Monday festivities which attract the vulgar from near and far."

Two of the bottles are filled with beer; the third, called "the dummy", is made of solid wood and painted red and white.

The contest is a rough one, with teams fighting to move the bottles over such obstacles as ditches, hedges, and barbed wire.

The festive day normally draws to a close with participants and spectators retiring to the pub for drink and banter.

[citation needed] The rugby ball also mimicks the shape of the small beer keg (bottle) used in the event.