Nearly 30 Sikh children and their parents are invited for the first time by the White House for the Easter Egg Roll today.

The First lady, Michelle Obama, will host 30,000 people at the South Lawn of the White House for the Easter Egg Roll. And this year, the White House has reached out to the Sikh community. It made arrangements with the Sikh Coalition, a national advocacy group, to distribute a limited number of tickets to families from various parts of the country.

Christians believe Jesus Christ was resurrected on the third day after his crucifixion. According to history.com, Easter eggs and the Easter bunny are ancient symbols of new life and are prominent symbols of Christianity’s most important holiday.

The White House Easter event is the largest public event held at the White House every year on the Monday after Easter, according to a news release. Approximately 250,000 tickets were requested through the first online lottery.

The event will begin at 7:45 a.m. and end at 5:45 p.m. Five groups of 6,000 guests each will spend two full hours at the South Lawn.

Traditional festivities include the egg hunt and the egg roll, which is a race in which children push decorated, hard-boiled eggs across the lawn. About 14,500 hard-boiled and dyed eggs will be used between the egg roll and the egg hunt, and an additional 4,500 hard-boiled eggs will be provided for the egg dying station.

But this years theme, ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ which follows the first lady’s national initiative to combat childhood obesity, has updated the traditional festivities. New activities have been added to ‘egg roll classics’ to promote healthy and active living. These include sports, organic gardening and presentations on food science by White House and celebrity guest chefs.

Numerous singers, entertainers and athletes will also participate in this year’s event, including casts from kids’ shows such Sesame Street; J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books; tennis star, Billie Jean King; and Washing Redskins football players.

At the end of the event, children will receive ‘green’ souvenir eggs, crafted from Forest Stewardship Council certified U.S. hardwood. A total of 135,000 souvenir wooden eggs were produced for this year’s event. They are available in four unique colors – purple, pink, green, yellow – and include the stamped signatures of the president and first lady. The packaging of the eggs, made from recyclable paperboard, was designed to minimize waste and environmental impact.

Each child will also receive goody bags made from one hundred percent post-consumer recycled plastic. But it still will contain sweets such as Hershey’s chocolates and Peeps, albeit with a brochure on healthy eating.

According to the White House news release, the Easter egg roll is a White House tradition dating back to 1878 and President Rutherford B. Hayes, but there are records of informal egg rolling events as early as Abraham Lincoln’s administration.

After the Civil War, egg rolling often took place on the Capitol building’s grounds. But by 1876, Congressmen grew tired of the torn up grounds and rowdy crowds and passed a law prohibiting the use of the Capitol Grounds as a play area.

On Easter day in 1878, when the ban on egg rolling at the Capitol was enforced, some claim that President Hayes saw tearful children while riding by the Capitol Grounds in his carriage and invited them to play on the White House lawn.

By 1899, the White House Easter egg roll had become quite popular, with over 8,000 people in attendance.

President Ronald Reagan was the first President to hide autographed eggs for children to find in the Egg Hunt. President Nixon and first lady Pat Nixon were the first to include the Easter bunny in the festivities. President George H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush were the first to affix the signature of the President and first lady to the commemorative egg.

The event cannot officially be called the White House Easter Egg Roll until the opening ceremony begins and the Easter bunny makes an appearance.


Note: Story by Anju Kaur
Sikh News Network staff journalist
anjukaur@sikhnn.com
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