Hot Cross Buns
Hot Cross Buns
A surviving British Easter custom is the eating of "hot cross buns"—spiced currant cakes with a cross marked on the top. In former times, the bun vendors were a familiar feature of street life on Good Friday, with their cry of "Hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns!" In modern times, the buns are sold from bakeries well before the Easter holiday.
Although the cross symbolized the Crucifixion, it had a more ancient origin. The cross was also a pagan symbol, and it was used by the Anglo-Saxons to indicate the four seasons on loaves baked for the vernal equinox and to discourage evil spirits that might prevent bread from rising.
As a Christian symbol, the buns derive from the ecclesiastical consecrated loaves given in churches as alms and to those who could not take communion. They were given by the priest to the people after the Mass, before the congregation was dismissed. They were to be kissed before being eaten.
In the 1660s, the spiced loaves were prohibited as "popish," but allowed on Good Friday for the Easter celebrations. Spiced buns replaced the loaves after the Restoration.