New Delhi: “Ready, set, go!” US President Joe Biden shouted, and blew a whistle. And thus began the White House Easter Egg Roll event Monday, after a two-year pandemic hiatus. The annual event for children dates back to 1878.
Biden, first lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris Monday launched the first White House Easter Egg Roll in two years, resuming the annual tradition after the forced break induced by the coronavirus.
As part of the festivities, children using long-handled spoons race to roll pastel-coloured eggs down a portion of the White House South Lawn.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event did not take place in 2020 and 2021.
This was Biden’s first big event at the White House, and was held in five waves from 7.30 am to 6.30 pm.
IN PICS | Easter Egg Roll Celebration Returns To White House After 2-Year Covid Hiatus
What Is Easter Egg Roll?
It was then President Rutherford B. Hayes who started the White House Easter Egg Roll event in 1878.
The egg roll is usually the largest event at the White House.
Some historians believe then First Lady Dolley Madison, the wife of fourth US president James Madison, first suggested the idea of a public egg roll, according to an article on the White House History website, which also says there had been stories of informal egg-rolling event at the White House during president Abraham Lincoln’s time too.
From the beginning of the 1870s, the residents of Washington started to celebrate Easter Monday on the US Capitol’s west grounds where children rolled dyed hard-boiled eggs down the terraced lawn. However, a concern for the landscape led to the passage of a legislation by 1876, which restricted the public use of the Capitol grounds, effectively stopping any egg rolling too. But in 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes opened the White House South Lawn, which was previously reserved for the First Family’s private Easter activities, to public egg rollers. This started a new tradition that continues till date.
The egg roll races, an Easter Monday favorite now, were started in 1974, when Richard Nixon was the president.
Bidens’ First White House Easter Egg Roll
Joe Biden and Jill Biden welcomed around 30,000 children and their parents or guardians at the egg roll event Monday, which also saw an egg hunt and other activities. The theme for this year was “Egg-ucation Roll”, planned by the first lady, who is also a community college professor. The South Lawn was set up with an education theme.
The Bidens were seen standing on the White House balcony, next to two people wearing Easter Bunny costumes.
According to news reports, there was a light rain on Monday, but that did not dampen the spirits as the children and all others roamed the soggy White House grounds.
Among the attendees were many top administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House press secretary Jen Psaki who were present with their children.
Also present was NBC’s ‘Tonight Show’ host Jimmy Fallon, who read out his children’s book, ‘Nana Loves You More’. The Bidens also went to a section of the South Lawn to read children’s book ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?’.
Quoting Stewart D. McLaurin, who heads the White House Historical Association, a report in The New York Times said the return of the event was a hopeful sign that the White House would continue to open to visitors.
White House social secretary Carlos Elizondo said the Bidens were “looking forward to hosting more events in the coming months and sharing the White House with the American people”.
As many as 50,000 hand-tooled wooden eggs commemorate the event each year. Each child got to take home a commemorative wooden egg.
McLaurin told NYT that the White House Historical Association planned to order 80,000 wooden eggs for next year’s event, and that the planning for the “elaborate process” would begin almost immediately.
The association spends about $750,000 each year on the Easter Egg Roll, he said.
