Every Easter, the hunt for pastel-colored eggs takes place in yards, parks, churches and houses around the globe.
Children wait behind a starting line, scanning the grounds for hidden treasures. Once given the signal, some sprint to collect troves of hard-boiled or plastic eggs, while others take their time to gently fill their baskets.
Easter egg hunts date back to Germany and the 16th century, according to the English Heritage, a charity that cares for historic sites across England. From there, the tradition spread to England.
Looking for eggs during the Easter egg hunt for the children and grandchildren of Belle Meade Country Club members April 20, 1962 are Ann, left, and Helen Nance Waldrum and Leona Anderson.
“It was practice initially in the royal court,” said Andrew Hann, the head of the Historians’ Team on the English Heritage podcast. “We know, for instance, that Queen Victoria enjoyed egg hunts as a child at Kensington Palace. … There’s one reference from Queen Victoria’s diary in 1833 where she says, ‘Mama did some pretty painted and ornamented eggs and we look for them.”
The playful activity made its way to America. And while German immigrants brought Easter egg hunts to Pennsylvania in the 18th century, the first official White House Easter Egg Roll took place in 1878 under President Rutherford B. Hayes’ administration.
Photographer Gerald Holly of The Tennessean took photos in 1961, capturing 500 hundred children in black-and-white snaps searching the high grasses of the Colemere Club.
The next three decades brought hunts to Belle Meade Country Club, Howard High School and Boyd Park. Some of the first photographs of color came in the 1990s. A cute photo by Larry McCormack shows a 5-year-old grabbing the tail of the Easter Bunny.
Calvineshia Ray, age 5, must not be to worried about getting eggs on Easter as she gets a little mischievous by pulling the Easter Bunny’s tail at the Thelma Harper’s Easter egg hunt that was held at the Police Training Academy April 11, 1998.
The eggs-ellent tradition continues through today at several locations including the Nashville Zoo, Tennessee Central Railway Museum, and Bellevue Neighborhood Market.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: See the photos of seven decades of Easter egg hunts in Nashville