Duck Egg Fighting Fare

There are certain cultural activities that originates from one place and spread to other parts of the nation or other parts of the world. Soccer being a prime example of such a case, where a sport from a single nation, i.e. England, has become the most widely played game in the world.

However, the same cannot be said of the ‘Bare Oo Tite Pware’ (Duck Egg Fighting Fare), a century old local ritual, which takes place in one small part of a small town called Sagaing, in central Burma, on the full moon day of 'Ta Po Tware'. To this day it remains the only place in the world where this fare takes place.

In a square next to a small pagoda, tens of duck egg vendors with their wicker baskets full of duck eggs, sittings no more than 4 or 5 feet apart from each other, shouting out for players to come and play. The whole place is lit by nothing more than the light of the moon and the lights from the candles from each of the vendors.

The game consists of 2 players sitting around a duck egg vendor. The vendor has, in his/her wicker basket, boiled duck eggs cooked for different amount of time. The vendor randomly pulls out 2 eggs from the basket and places them on the cover of the basket. One of the players chooses an egg and he’ll either decide to be a cracker (the one to crack the opponent’s egg) or a sitter (the one to let the opponent crack his egg).

The loser is the one who’s egg crack first and is then has to pay for the cost of 1 egg to the vendor. The winner gets to keep the loser’s (cracked) egg. The vendor takes away the winner’s egg and set it aside (for resale to street hawkers and shops), not to be played again. But it is not uncommon for unscrupulous vendors to put the winner’s good egg back into the basket.

Seasoned players of this game would often add excitement to the game by laying down extra bets, such as cash or in most cases eggs (that he already won) and the opponent is forced to follow suit. The winner then gets not only the loser's egg but everything else that's one the table. The vendor keeps the scores of the games being played by means of counting tamarind seeds, as they are hard wearing and commonly available.

Apparently, there is certain amount of skill involved in making sure that you have a winning egg. This involves inspecting the egg for its hardness, position of the air sack and thickness of the shell.  The various means for performing such inspection includes placing the egg against the candle light, shaking it against the ear, lightly scratching the shell with the teeth or licking the shell. So, there’s more to egg cracking than at first appears…if you are into that sort of thing.