The spectacle of Bottle Kicking happens every Easter Monday. It is a contest between the neighbouring villages of Hallaton and Medbourne involving three small barrels known as bottles. Two of the bottles are traditionally-made wooden casks of ale, bound with iron bands. The other, called the dummy, is made of solid wood and was introduced in recent times (about 150 years ago) to ensure the contest has a winner.
The contest is believed to have evolved from pagan origins and the sharing of victuals into todays ritual contest. Nowadays, the aim is to get each bottle over designated stream boundaries, winning the best of three successive bottles. The day starts as the casks are filled with about a gallon of ale, are ceremonially dressed with ribbons and blessed in a church service.
The weighty bottles are carried high in colourful parades around Hallaton ending at the battle-ground known as Hare Pie Bank. After a scramble for the hare pie the contest begins with a bottle being cast into the midst of the combatants. After hours of battling, the contest is settled when one side has taken two of the three bottles over their boundary stream. Then everyone gathers on the village green where the ale is shared in celebration among both winners and losers.
