Delaware Easter traditions: Uncooked egg hunt, dancing and a roll down Henlopen dune
“The Easter rabbit has much the same night roving habit as Santa Claus,” the Wilmington Evening Journal commented on March 29, 1918, “and somewhere between midnight and Easter sun-up he scampers around the house and lawn and hides an Easter egg or two, of most distracting, brilliant hue for everyone in the family.”
Easter customs, like those of Christmas and Santa Claus, evolved from a number of religious and folklore sources that changed over time and locale.
The origin of Easter egg hunts in Delaware
In Delaware, a century, ago, the Evening Journal reported that the Easter bunny left a series of brightly colored, uncooked eggs scattered around the house. On Easter morning, the family embarked on a hunt for the eggs, often marked with the intended recipient’s name, until they had a basket full and it was time to cook.
The newspaper suggested three egg recipes, including Brer’ Rabbit Eggs, an egg and milk mixture covered with grated cheese and baked; Egg Croquettes, chopped hard-boiled eggs, butter, and white sauce, formed into balls, rolled into cracker crumbs and fried; and Easter Egg Toast, chopped hard-boiled eggs, spread on toast and covered with white sauce.
Delaware beaches were booming for Easter in Roaring '20s
In Delaware, during the “Roaring '20s,” many people visited the beach during the Easter season. In 1928, the holiday fell on April 8, and well before Easter, the Hotel Henlopen was busy making arrangements for the expected crowd.
The Milford Chronicle noted, “[The] Hotel Henlopen after opening many extra rooms for the great Easter holiday, were still unable to accommodate the enormous crowd. Extra help had to be added in the kitchen to supply the demands of the several hundred extra meals which were served.”
The beachfront hotel’s guest did not come for an early season dip in the cold surf. The Milford newspaper reported, “Dancing, dancing and more dancing was what everybody did Saturday night, April 7th at Hotel Henlopen. The ball room was decorated in the Easter colors of purple and white, with ducks and rabbits hanging over the orchestra corner, which made everyone have the Easter spirit.”
The dances at the Hotel Henlopen continued during the week after the holiday, and the Milford Chronicle commented on April 20, 1928, “[E]verybody comes to Hotel Henlopen for dancing. Easter Monday’s dance drew a large crowd from everywhere. Wednesday night’s dance was well attended by young folks of the surrounding towns, and the regular Saturday night’s dance was the largest of the season. Everybody looks forward to Hotel Henlopen’s Saturday night dances for a good time.”
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Cape Henlopen dunes added unique touch to Easter egg hunts
A custom unique to the Lewes area was to trek over the high dunes of Cape Henlopen on Easter Monday. In the shadow of the lighthouse, Easter eggs were rolled down the slopes of the dunes to the delight of young children who chased after them. When all of the eggs were exhausted, the children and some of the adults capped the festivities by rolling themselves down the slope of the steep dune.
The lighthouse made a convenient gathering point for the Easter egg roll, but even after the collapse of the beacon, crowds continued the annual ritual.
Eight years after the lighthouse fell, the Milford Chronicle noted, “For more than 100 years beyond the recollection of any living resident, school children, accompanied by parents, have gone to the sand dunes to roll eggs down the slope where the Henlopen lighthouse [once stood] ... Although the lighthouse has gone, having fallen into the sea in 1926 after 162 years of facing the encroaching waters of the ocean, the Easter Monday pilgrimage to the dunes continues each year.”
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Principal sources
Evening Journal, March 29, 1918.
Milford Chronicle, April, 13, 1928; April 6, 1934.
Hazel, Brittingham, Lantern On Lewes, Lewes: Lewistown Publishers, 1998, p.31.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Easter in Delaware: Uncooked egg hunt, and a roll down Henlopen dune
