The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-03-27
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Il~I over the Christian world it bears
on it's bosom a wonderful mass of
IS1YEH2I driftwood from those ancient fes-
| 49, rivals when man was struggling
| to express his joy over the resurrection OF
| nature from her long wintry trance but no
single tradition of the Christian jubilee
| dates back further into the childhood OF
the world than the use of sacred bread and
cakes. How many of the London vendors
| who cry Hot cross buns on Good Friday.
| or of the bakers in all Christian lands who
have the cross-marked loaf for sale at this
holy period. have the faintest notion of the
| antiquity of these sacred cakes?
| Like many another rite or symbolism
which figured in religious ceremonies of the
pagan world. there was adopted by the early
| Christians and invested with holier mean
| ing by the devotees of the new faith, the
Good Friday bun. which. according to we'll
| informed students of religious antiquities
| dates back thousands of years. Hislop tells
| us, in his Two Babylons," that bonus
| buns, or bread offered TO the gods from
| the most ancient times. were similar to our
| hot cross buns of Good Friday. and that
| buns. known by that self-same name, were
| used in the worship of the Queen of
| Heaven" Ishtar or Astarte as early as the
| days of Cacrops, founder of Athens, in 1900
B. C.
Many were the virtues ascribed to these
! sacred cakes. Not only were they generally
| used in the direct services Of ancient idol
| airy from time immemorial. but in families
of the early Christian period in England,
| as safeguards against disease and danger.
| One authority says that in several counties
of England even to this day a small loaf
| of bread is annually baked on the morn
| ing of Good Friday and put by till the same
| anniversary comes again. 1t is not meant
TO be eaten, but used as a medicine "a
small portion being grated into water and
| made into a sort of panada. This is
sidered positive cure for many disorders"
Brand quotes writer in the Gentlemen's
| Magazine who shows that these little loaves
were formerly unleavened and always
| marked with the sign of the 1t is
very old belief that eating buns on Good
Friday protects the house from fire. In his
History of Northumberland" Hutchinson
derives the Good Friday bun from the
sacred cakes offered at the Arkite temples
every seventh day and called bouns
Some authorities date the origin of the hot
cross bun, we know it to-day, to
| plague-stricken time of the middle ages,
| WHEN the CHURCH. the instance OF many
physicians, agreed to relax the very rigid
diet prescribed for the faithful on Good
Friday, and allowed them to eat bread or
buns, but with the stipulation that they
should all be marked with the sign of the
cross This custom, applied also to loaves
of bread, still prevails throughout northern
Italy and parts of Spain.
From the earliest times of which any rec
| OrdS
had prominent place in the crude forms
of worship Of the human race And for the
best of reasons. AS the great staple or staff
of life it naturally took on a sacred char
acter. 1t was thought to be a direct gift
from the heavenly powers and the fittest
of all offerings to place on their shrines
at festal occasions.
The prophet jeremiah has trouble enough
with the idolatrous customs of the Jews to
make him gray. They worshiped the Queen
OF Heaven with all sorts of obIation and
ritual and, when he rebuKed them in the
name of the Lord, they answered him. men
and women alike: I'VE will certainly do
whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our
mouth. to burn incense unto the Queen of
heaven, and pour out drink offerings to
her and make her cakes to worship her
we ana our fatherS, and our kings and our
princes, in the cities of Judah and in the
streets of Jerusalem; for then had we
plenty of victuals and were We'll and saw
no evil
The cakes here mentioned as so conspjcu-
Gus feature of the idolatrous ritual are
| regarded as the oldest sacred cakes I'm his
| tory, for their pedigree must have dated
indefinite centuries back of Jeremiah's day
They figured in all the heather festivals
| especially in the festival Of Tammuz AT
which the rebirth of nature in springtime
was universally celebrated among ancient
peoples. for these cakes typified the central
and sustaining principle Of life.
Behold" says Ezekiel. at the gate of
the Lords house, which was toward the
north, there sat women weeping for Tam
muz. Now this TammuZ was the hero of
the Syrian mysteries, and was adopted bv
the Jews, the prophet describes Later
he reappears as Adonis in the Identical
legend of the Greeks. He is the youth of
whom the Queen of Heaven became enam-
CURED. but he was untimely slain by wild
boar and spirited away TO the lands of
shades, where Persephone reigned. Venus,
in her inconsolable grief, made such a
melting appeal 10 Persephone that the god
, | dess of the underworld agreed to a com
| promise. She consented that the much
| beloved youth might return TO earth for six
months OF the year, and then complete the
So each year at springtime his death was
mournfully celebrated by the women in one
day of general wailing and sorrow. and
this was followed by wild rejoicings on the
second day, when he returned from the
t dead. This festival was always kept on a
scale of great magnificance.
Venus bewailing Adonis means. In myth
illogical language, nature mourning for de
: parted man the death OF nature) and re-
joicing, anon. at the resurrection of both
nature and man. And. i'm the exquisite
legend woven into this charming festival.
= we have typified the half year OF natures
: bloom and the other half OF her barren
{ ness and sleep.
: The pagan pedigree OF much In the
early Christian ritual, not only 10 fes-
; tival dates. but very largely as well TO
symbolisms of observance. can readily ex-
plain the early adoption of the sacred cakes
! by followers OF the new faith. When this
| began. however. Is mere matter of coniec-