In the distant past Good Friday was a day when very little work was done and definitely no washing as it was thought that linen hung out on Good Friday would become tainted with Christ’s blood. At one time it was also a day which required people to eat nothing except bread, now it’s the proper day for Hot Cross Buns, which are the descendants of small cakes/ buns made in celebration of the arrival of spring and for the Anglo Saxon goddess Eostre. The Greeks and the Romans had festive spring cakes too.
Even the cross was there before Christianity – it was originally a symbol of the year divided into four seasons. At one time all bread was marked with a cross to help it rise, but this was frowned upon by the church after the reformation so that a cross was allowed only on special Holy days.
The earliest reference to Hot Cross Buns was in Poor Robin’s Almanack in 1733 and they were once thought to have holy powers and one would be hung in the house from one year to the next to protect the household from harm. If the bun went mouldy then disaster would strike the house!
Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Buns
One a penny, two a penny Hot Cross Buns.
If you have no daughters give them to your sons,
One a penny, Two a penny, Hot Cross Buns
I have made my own Hot Cross Buns in the past but now they’re just bought from Aldi and are traditional flavour although there are lots of different sorts available – (like mince pies at Christmas)- I’m not sure about Jaffa Orange or Raspberry and Vanilla and ‘Caramel’ sounds much too sweet.
The Aldi pack proudly states that they are ‘Baked In Britain’ – I should certainly hope so – I hope that things never get so bad that we had to import Hot-Cross-Buns! Or perhaps the Aldi message means we already are importing them unbaked and Aldi just shove them in an oven!
(Info taken from my books – The English Year by Steve Roud and Cattern Cakes and Lace by Julia Jones)
Back Tomorrow
Sue
