Hot Cross Buns
IS THIS THE OLDEST RELIGIOUS FOOD?
A lot of people are fasting at the moment. Some people are doing the Lent fast, which is a 40 day period. Some are doing the Ramadan fast, which is about 30 days long (depending on the sighting of the moon). I'm doing neither of those, even though I did consider doing one of them this year, but never really get myself ready.
I am planning to give up bread again for at least a month, next month. In the month of April, I will try not to eat any at all.
I was having some cross buns with my coffee this morning and it got me thinking about the relationship between food and religion. Bread is so fundamental that it is sometimes synonymous with food itself. Case in point, "give us this day, our daily bread" from the Lord's Prayer.
I wondered why the cross buns come from. There is a belief that the cross is linked to the Christian cross and is related to easter. That it originated in St. Alban, England, in 1361. It was called the "Alban bun", and was made and distributed to poor people by a monk called "Thomas Rodcliffe" on Good Friday. The tradition went on for about three centuries until it was outlawed by Elizabeth I of England. No idea why.
However, older recipes can be found all the way back in 6th century Greece, where people baked bread with crosses on them. I assume that was linked with early Christianity in the region. However non-christian relations have also been found in old Saxon pagan societies where buns were baked with crosses marked on them. Those crosses were linked to the four quaters of the moon, and the four seasons in the Wheel of the Year.. The would make them at the beginning of Springtime (right about now) in honour of goddess Eostre.
I just found it quite interesting to be honest. It got me so fascinated that I ended up reading a few pages about the history of these buns. Food historians are such amazing people. It's also incredible how much history we know now, simply based on what food people eat. The movement of a particular recipe sometimes is used to track the migration of people across the world historically. It's an entire field unto itself!
Peace & Love,
Adé