The tradition of baking bread marked with a cross is linked to paganism as well as Christianity. The pagan Saxons would bake cross buns at the beginning of spring in honour of the goddess Eostre – most likely being the origin of the name Easter. The cross represented the rebirth of the world after winter and the four quarters of the moon, as well as the four seasons and the wheel of life.
The Christians saw the Crucifixion in the cross bun and, as with many other pre-Christian traditions, replaced their pagan meaning with a Christian one – the resurrection of Christ at Easter.
According to Elizabeth David, it wasn’t until Tudor times that it was permanently linked to Christian celebrations. During the reign of Elizabeth I, the London Clerk of Markets issued a decree forbidding the sale of spiced buns except at burials, at Christmas or on Good Friday.
The first recorded reference to ‘hot’ cross buns was in ‘Poor Robin’s Almanac’ in the early 1700s:
‘Good Friday come this month, the old woman runs. With one or two a penny hot cross buns.’
One ha’penny, two ha’penny, hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters, give them to your sons,
One ha’penny, two ha’penny, hot cross buns!’
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| The Widows Son. Copyright Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archive – posted with permission |
A century later the belief behind the hot cross bun starts to get a superstitious rather than a religious meaning.
In London’s East End you can find a pub called The Widows Son, named after a widow who lived in a cottage at the site in the 1820s. The widow baked hot cross buns for her sailor son who was supposed to come home from the sea on Good Friday. He must have died at sea as he never returned home, but the widow refused to give up hope for his return and continued to bake a hot cross bun for him every year, hanging it in her kitchen with the buns from previous years.
When the widow died, the buns were found hanging from a beam in the cottage and the story has been kept alive by the pub landlords ever since a pub was built on the site in 1848.
To this day, every Good Friday, the ceremony of the Widow’s Bun is celebrated and members of the Royal Navy come to The Widows Son pub to place a new hot cross bun into a net hung above the bar. Legend has it that the buns baked on Good Friday will not spoil.
For whatever reason or belief you choose to bake a batch of hot cross buns on this Good Friday, it will most likely be to enjoy them with your loved ones. May it be for Eostre, Easter, the beginning of a much awaited spring or as a superstitious amulet for when you set sail, bake them with love!
If you want to bake ahead, you can easily bake these buns in advance and freeze them. Slowly defrost in a teatowel and then place in a hot oven for 5-10 minutes with a small ramekin of water to give some moisture to the warm air in the oven.
And finally … you can also find my story about Hot Cross Buns in the latest edition of Pretty Nostalgic Magazine!
If you don’t know the magazine, it’s fairly new and all about British Nostalgia, love for all things Vintage and quirky.
More on Hot Cross Buns on friday!
Regula Ysewijn is a food writer, stylist and photographer, with a particular interest in historical recipes. he is a Great Taste Awards judge and a member of The Guild of Food Writers, as well as one of the two judges on 'Bake Off Vlaanderen', the Belgian version of 'The Great British Bake-Off'. A self-confessed Anglophile, she collects old British cookbooks and culinary equipment in order to help with her research. She is the author of 5 books: Pride and Pudding the history of British puddings savoury and sweet, Belgian Café Culture, the National Trust Book of Puddings, Brits Bakboek and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. 
Beautiful hot cross buns and interesting story.
Congrats on the feature! The pictures are magnificent.
Cheers,
Rosa
Thank you Rosa, I suspected you might be interested in the Pagan bit 😉
You are welcome. Indeed… 😉
Love your feature on Pretty Nostalgic – sounds like a magazine that suits you to a T! 🙂
Thank you Emiko, it really is a lovely magazine! x
It's fun to know the history behind our Easter traditions. I never liked hot cross buns as a child but that is definitely in the past.
A good story does add to the taste I always feel 😉 Once a boring old bun and now kinda interesting!
Absolutely lovely. Story, pics, buns.
Thank you Amelia!
What a cool story! I am seeing them all over town these days, and I am tempted by the ones we have at work (from St John's Bakery)…But now I am also tempted to make my own! Love is always the magic ingredient, isn't it? 🙂
Make your own! I tried the ones from St John's on saturday and wasn't a big fan 😉 And as you say love is the magic ingredient and the smells of the oven work a treat as well 🙂
Very well done Regula. I've just finished watching the Easter Bake Off which featured the same story of the pub in the East End of London. Nice to be featured in a magazine whose theme reflects so closely to your own. Congrats again m'dear x
Hi Jacqueline, wish I could have seen it, I have never been inside that pub sadly as it was closed when I wanted to visit. And thank you, Pretty Nostalgic really is a lovely magazine!
I still feel a tiny bit of guilt when eating a HCB on any day other than Good Friday (protestant Fenland upbringing) and remember the excitement on Good Friday morning when my Dad would cycle into the village to fetch the still warm HCBs from the bakers.
I will be baking my own tomorrow… the trial run last week were delicious (recipe from Delia online) and they will be trad, not HCBs with a swanky modern twist.
Those childhood memories are the best aren't they. Hot Cross buns should indeed be traditional and not some modern version, it just isn't the same. This recipe is adapted and tweaked from the oldest ones I could find, so very traditional.
If you have leftover buns… check again tomorrow as there will be a post about what to do with lefover and stale Hot cross buns 😉
Very informative post, thanks for sharing this great story! I've never baked hot cross buns! I should try it!
Yes do try, you will love it! x
Thanks for sharing these useful information! Hope that you will continue doing nice article like this. I will be one of your loyal readers if you maintain this kind of post! This is one of the best posts I found so far.
I've been looking for a good recipe to make these for Ostara coming up. I just LOVE the story you explain behind them, many are very unaware. Thanks for this!
These buns look absolutely perfect! Every year I try a slight tweak on my favourite recipe so maybe this year I'll give yours a go. I like mine toasted with LOTS of salty butter or, this is a bit weird, piled with jam and clotted cream like a scone!
Kate – I like mine with LOADS of salty butter, too!