If you’re a musician, have been a music student, or had music classes in school, you may remember humming or singing, “Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Buns…” or better yet, you were doing the number system as you sang, “3,2,1….3,2,1” (the numbers used instead of the notes!)
But for some of you, I bet, your mind went right to the food option. Yep. Sticky gooey Hot Cross Buns! It’s Eastertime folks! Bring on the food!
Believe it or not, Resurrection Season has begun. Mardi Gras is past (the night of feasting and frantic festivity), along with Ash Wednesday (the day to repent for what you did on Tuesday) and Lent is in full swing.
But back to the food. In case you didn’t know, Easter, as with any other holiday, has its own special culinary delectables. At Easter you have Lamb (symbolic of the Lamb of God, Jesus, who was sacrificed for our sins), and then there are those yummy, historic, hot cross buns!
But do you know the scoop on the buns?
Apparently, they’ve been documented as early as 40 years after Christ’s death. When archaeolgists excavated the ancient city of Herculaneum (Southwest Italy) which had been buried under volcanic ask and lava since 79 A.D., they found two small loaves, each with a cross on it, among the ruins.
In England, hot cross buns are served at breakfast on Good Friday morning. They’re small, usually spiced buns, marked with a white sugary cross on top. For a long time English bakers, by law, were only allowed to bake and sell the buns at burials, on Good Friday, or at Christmas. There was actually a decree issued in 1592 (Elizabeth I) that shows the exact ruling.
It’s hard for those of us in Western cultures to imagine, that religion and faith used to be so much a part of people’s everyday lives. To think that there were laws actually created that dictated the protection of remembering Christ via a bun!? But alas, ’tis true.
With that, why not build some Hot Cross Buns into your upcoming Easter plans. If anything, to relive the tradition, and to spread the good news. That Christ be remembered, no matter how creative the method, is always a good thing.
Just my thoughts.
S.
