Hot Cross Bun - the humble bread with a history!

This post was a long pending one since the culmination of the Lenten season, but as always the laziness bug had bitten me and voila, suddenly it's a whole week past Easter!

So, this is the time of the year when hot cross buns sell like hot cakes in the market. I always used to look forward to Maundy Thursday evenings to behold these delicious, sweet delights finding their way to our dining table. These are doughy, soft, raisin-studded buns, often with currants and streaked with a spicy flavour. Hot cross buns are anointed with a holy cross on the top, traditionally marked with a simple knife imprint or thin ropes of dough. These days, however, the knife imprints and dough are swapped with innovations such as cream or icing piped on the bread, post baking. 

The ones we munched on this season had a chocolate cross on the top, as you see in the picture below

  

The holy cross on the hot cross bun symbolizes the significance of Good Friday, the day that marks the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The spices added to the bun represent the spices in which Jesus was wrapped in at the time of burial. 

While we all love hot cross buns, how many of us are aware of the fascinating stories and traditions behind their origin?

Legend has it that if you bake your Hot Cross Buns and hang them from your kitchen rafters, it will keep the evil spirits at bay.  In fact, it will keep you away from all sorts of kitchen mishaps, accidents and ensure that all future breads baked in the kitchen come out perfectly. 

Another belief goes that a hot cross bun served as a source of protection for sailors at sea. The sailors often carried these holy breads aboard on their voyage in the hope of being protected against shipwrecks.

This belief primarily came into being as early as the 19th Century, when a widow bade goodbye to her sailor son who went to the sea promising his mum he would visit her on Good Friday.  The woman set to work in her kitchen - whipping up and baking buns in batches. She set aside few buns for her son. Days went by, months went by...but her son never returned. Undauntedly every year, she adopted it as a tradition to bake hot cross buns and set aside these treats for her son. She continued sticking to this Good Friday routine until her death, but unfortunately she never saw her son again. Quite a heart-breaking story, isn't it?

The roots of hot cross buns also go back to stories revolving around medicinal and healing effects. These buns would be ground into powder, mixed with water and given to a person suffering from any illness, even the most deadly diseases. 

Hot cross buns are also believed to cement friendships when shared with friends on Good Friday. In Ireland, people share their buns with their besties reciting these lines:

 "Half for you and half for me,
between us two, good luck shall be"

Hot cross buns look so humble and simple, yet look at the host of traditions and heritage associated with it! No wonder they say appearances can be deceptive, huh?