Egg Blowing
According to Life magazine (Dec 15, 1952), in the early 1950s the sport of egg blowing (Eieren Blazen) was all the rage in Holland.
The rules of the game:
I can't find any references to the game beyond this one article in Life.
I can see why it would be an amusing game at parties. But probably not appropriate for the age of Covid.
The rules of the game:
The game is played with an empty eggshell, windpower and a billiard table with two goal nets at each end. Each team has five players, one of whom acts as goalkeeper. Other team members sit along the sides. The referee places the eggshell in the center of the table and after that it is a blowing free-for-all to get it into the opposing team's net. Players must sit on their hands throughout the game and must keep from touching the egg with their lips. Breaking these rules gives the opposing team a free blow at the goal.
I can't find any references to the game beyond this one article in Life.
I can see why it would be an amusing game at parties. But probably not appropriate for the age of Covid.
"Players and spectators go into convulsions of laughter as a woman blows so hard at egg that she blows out her false teeth on the table"
Comments
Right. So, someone somewhere has grasped the completely wrong end of the stick, and probably has been made a fool of by the locals.
There is (or rather, was) something called "eieren blazen", Anglice Egg Blowing, in the Netherlands, but this wasn't it.
To blow an egg is to create the empty egg shell, not to blow it about the table. You take an egg, you make a hole at the top and bottom, and you blow the contents out of the egg, leaving only the empty shell. There's a trick to it, which I do not possess. It's an art of, I don't think even my parents' generation, probably my grandparents'. Nobody does this any more.
Why would you do this? Well, to paint the shell. Either for Easter or for other purposes.
I dare say it's a lost art nowadays. But even back then, there was never a table top game of eggshell football. Those people were having a good old laugh at the ignorant colonial wannabe-journalists, and they went for it hook, line and egg puncher.
There is (or rather, was) something called "eieren blazen", Anglice Egg Blowing, in the Netherlands, but this wasn't it.
To blow an egg is to create the empty egg shell, not to blow it about the table. You take an egg, you make a hole at the top and bottom, and you blow the contents out of the egg, leaving only the empty shell. There's a trick to it, which I do not possess. It's an art of, I don't think even my parents' generation, probably my grandparents'. Nobody does this any more.
Why would you do this? Well, to paint the shell. Either for Easter or for other purposes.
I dare say it's a lost art nowadays. But even back then, there was never a table top game of eggshell football. Those people were having a good old laugh at the ignorant colonial wannabe-journalists, and they went for it hook, line and egg puncher.
Posted by Richard Bos on 04/08/23 at 09:41 AM
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Category: Sports | Eggs | 1950s