As we speed towards another Easter - the Daily Echo show some pictures of the springtime event from the past.

Some of the pictures show kids donning elaborately designed bonnets with head-worn dioramas.

An Easter bonnet is a fancy or new hat worn as a Christian headcovering at Easter time. The hat stemmed from the tradition of wearing new clothes at Easter which signified the renewal of the year.

Mentions of people wearing new clothes for the festival has been noticed as far back as the 16th century when Peter Opie, who noted Mercutio’s taunting of Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet: “Dids’t thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new Doublet before Easter?”

Bournemouth Echo: