Easter Gambling — Medieval Throwing of the Dice

Medieval Easter was the single most publicly sanctioned gambling period in the Christian calendar — a 50-day window when church authorities tolerated, and in some parishes actively hosted, dice games within sacred walls. Across 12th–15th century Europe, village squares and church porches filled with wagers staked on eggs, coins, and livestock. Parish account records from 14th-century England show clergy themselves participating in egg-and-dice games worth several days' wages. The associated 'lifting' ritual — men hoisting women on Easter Monday, women returning the favor on Tuesday — blended gambling culture with licensed physical revelry in a way no other Christian feast permitted. This wagering spirit proved lasting: the egg-as-currency exchanges at the heart of Pace Egging — Northern England descend directly from these same medieval customs.