What is the significance of hot cross buns easter time

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There are links to paganism as well as Christianity originally. The pagan Saxons would bake buns marked with a cross at the beginning of spring in honour of the goddess Eostre — which could very likely be 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 reportedly saw the Crucifixion on the bun and, as with many other pre-Christian traditions, replaced their pagan meaning with a Christian one — the resurrection of Christ at Easter, the cross here representing Christ on the cross.

Hence why they became a staple at Easter time. Interestingly though, hot cross buns have had a colourful history. Queen Elizabeth I banned the sale of hot cross buns and other spiced breads until Good Friday, Christmas and funerals because they were believed to have medicinal or even magical properties, and she was fearful of these properties being abused.

Naturally, the taste of hot cross buns was too good to resist that people risked persecution and baked them at home. With one or two a penny hot cross buns. But the origins of hot cross buns go back even further. In fact, it would not be grandiose to say the vast history of Western civilisation, the rise and fall of deities and dynasties, could be told within the honey-hued glaze of this small, spiced bread.

The Saxons, we are told, ate buns marked with crosses in honour of Eostre, goddess of spring or light, who gave her name to Easter. Antiquarians cite similar practices among the Druids, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans in honour of Diana, goddess of the hunt and the moon. Some of the sacred "cakes" were marked with the image of deer or ox horns, and others a cross, signifying the four quarters of the moon.

Indeed, if you were to go to Pompeii today you could see the remains of such buns in an ancient bakehouse. Herodotus tells us that at the time they were left in sanctuaries built at crossroads for fugitives and hunters.

The Bible records that in BC Jeremiah denounced Hebrew women for neglecting their Christian father and continuing to worship Diana, offering up "cakes to the moon, the queen of the shining sky".

Of course, the early Christian church didn't have time for such pagan idolatry and marshalled the buns into the service of God. Hot cross buns became commemorations of Good Friday, and across Christendom the cross came to represent the crucifixion and the spices symbolised those used to embalm Jesus at his burial. Choc-cross buns Photo: Mikkel Vang. In the late 16th century Queen Elizabeth forbade the sale of hot cross buns at any time other than burials, Good Friday and Christmas, perhaps because they were considered to be so holy.

If you were caught baking them outside this time, you were forced to give all your buns to the poor. To get around this, FoodTimeline explains that people baked the buns in their own kitchens—although if they were caught they had to give up all of the illegal buns on their premises to the poor. So, now you're chance to enjoy! You can buy them or make them at home. Here are five favorites: A 12th-century monk was the first person to mark the bun with a cross. They stay fresh for a whole year.

They expel bad spirits.