Easter 2024 - Good Friday - AKA - Meet & Eat Hot Cross Buns
Good Friday and Hot Cross Buns - History
In many historically Christian countries, plain buns made without dairy products (forbidden in Lent until Palm Sunday) are traditionally eaten hot or toasted during Lent, beginning with the evening of Shrove Tuesday (the evening before Ash Wednesday) to midday Good Friday.
The ancient Greeks may have marked cakes with a cross.
One theory is that the Hot Cross Bun originates from St Albans, where Brother Thomas Rodcliffe, a 14th Century monk at St Albans Abbey, developed a similar recipe called an 'Alban Bun' and distributed the bun to the local poor on Good Friday, starting in 1361.
In the time of Elizabeth I of England (1592), the London Clerk of Markets issued a decree forbidding the sale of hot cross buns and other spiced breads, except at burials, on Good Friday, or at Christmas. The punishment for transgressing the decree was forfeiture of all the forbidden product to the poor. As a result of this decree, hot cross buns at the time were primarily made in home kitchens.
Further attempts to suppress the sale of these items took place during the reign of James I of England/James VI of Scotland (1603–1625).
The first definite record of hot cross buns comes from a London street cry: "Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs. With one or two a penny hot cross buns", which appeared in Poor Robin's Almanac for 1733. Food historian Ivan Day states, "The buns were made in London during the 18th century. But when you start looking for records or recipes earlier than that, you hit nothing."
Good Friday and Hot Cross Buns - Traditions
English folklore includes many superstitions surrounding hot cross buns.
One of them says that buns baked and served on Good Friday will not spoil or grow mouldy during the subsequent year.
Another encourages keeping such a bun for medicinal purposes. A piece of it given to someone ill is said to help them recover.
If taken on a sea voyage, hot cross buns are said to protect against shipwreck.
If hung in the kitchen, they are said to protect against fires and ensure that all breads turn out perfectly. The hanging bun is replaced each year.
Good Friday and Hot Cross Buns - Other Recipies
In the United Kingdom, the major supermarkets produce variations on the traditional recipe such as toffee, orange-cranberry, and apple-cinnamon.
In Australia, coffee-flavoured buns are also sold in some bakeries. There are also sticky date and caramel versions, as well as mini versions of the traditional bun.
In the Czech Republic, mazanec is a similar cake or sweet bread eaten at Easter. It often has a cross marked on top.
The "Not" or "Smiley" Cross Bun - Origins
It appears there are two versions of the emergence of the "Not Cross" bun. It is also a part of protest movement connected to the selling of Hot Cross Buns too soon before Easter
In 2015, the Baking Association of Australia and the Craft Bakers Association of Britain agreed that a respectful time for starting hot cross bun production was approximately six weeks prior to Easter Sunday.[1] This timing roughly aligned with the traditional Lent period.
On Monday 21 December 2015, a public protest against the early sale of hot cross buns was held in Melbourne by bakers from across Australia and garnered significant media and public support. Not cross buns were handed out to help deliver the message to the supermarkets and would remain on sale in participating bakeries until six weeks prior to Easter.
A Not Cross Bun is a variation on the hot cross bun. It uses the same ingredients as the traditional version but in place of the cross some other type of piped decoration is used. The Not Cross Bun was notably started in 2012 by an Australian bakery, Sonoma Baking Company who use an 'S' instead of the more traditional 'X'. In the time since Not Cross Buns are now made by many other bakeries across Australia.
One version is that the "Hot Cross" bun. It uses the same ingredients but instead of having a "cross" on top, it has a "smiley face" in reference to it being "not cross" in the sense of not angry. The not cross bun was first sold commercially in 2014 by an Australian bakery, Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses, in response to supermarkets selling hot cross buns as early as Boxing Day (26 December).
Good Friday and Hot Cross Buns - The Cross
The traditional method for making the cross on top of the bun is to use shortcrust pastry; however, more recently recipes have recommended a paste consisting of flour and water.
The Venue
The Cross Keys.
2 Tithe Road,
Woodend,
Bedford.
MK43 9BE.
Other Details
Times - From 14:00 to 15:00
Place - in a room on the left after entering the bar
Small amount of parking on Site
Event Activities
Event Marker so you know you are in the right place!
Event Log - to Sign if you want
Container for the leaving of, discovering of, exchanging of trackable dog tags or coins
Large Plate of Buttered Hot Cross Buns for Sampling
People to talk to about the pastime
People to assist with ideas about caches that you are struggling with
How to play Noughts and Crosses or An Excuse to play with food
A video related to Meeting and eating Hot Cross Buns has been uploaded
It is a Game of Noughts and Crosses
Noughts and Crosses - The Movie is at - https://youtu.be/JjzVUpcU5EQ is the link to the excitment