Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1905-04-19
GOOD FRIDAY BUNS


NEUROLOGICAL language, nature mourn
ing for departed man, or mans grief
at the death or sleep of nature, while
the subsequent JOY at natures rebirth
mans reappearance--i a matter of
course
In this exquisite legend. woven into
that ancient and charming festival,
We have typified the half year OF ma
lures bloom and the other half of her
barrenae,s and sleep, for life is ma
lures trutl and death her lie" Mil
ton shows the identity of the twin leg
ends of Tammuz and Adonis in these
words
Whose annual wound In Lebanon al
lured,
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate,
While smooth Adonis, from his native
rock,
Ran purple to the sea with Tammuz'
blood.
The fact that this springtide festival
was so universally observed by pagan
nations, can readily account for the
early adoption Of the sacred cakes.
which went with it, by followers Of the
christian faith They clothed the old
cus ON in a new dress and invested it
with new significance, but it is mere
conjecture as to when this began. So
very ancient and deep-rooted was the
belief in Immortality, and so very nat
ural the use of bread and cake sym
hols of the Resurrection, that the bun.
marked with the sacred sign OF the
cross, would readily be used by the
church at Easter time to typify the
victory Of life over death, which so
soon followed the crucifixion. 1t is
believed by the best antiquarians that
the hot cross bun Of the early chris
tians carried with it this double signi-
ficance. thGt it was "the venerable
springtime cake of immortality, lifted
oUt OF mysticism and reclad in the
holier dress of revelation" And this
makes it natural. of course, for the
use of the good Friday bun to run
over into Easter week.
The use of pancakes at shrovetfde is
not so easy a custom to trace in its
application to that solemn festival of
the church. Shfcve Tuesday is
movable feast. 1t may fall on any
day between February and March
10, and could easily incorporate the
sacred cake of the old springtime fes-
rivals OF the pagan world We GER
tainly know that the original solemn
ity meant to invest this ante-Ienten
feast by the church, as the forerun-
ner OF penitential season. soon lost
its sacred character and became
time of general merrfment, as in the
mardi gras of the French and the
carnival of Italy-decidedly more aft
er the style of the old Lupercalian fes-
rivals of Rome. Pancake Tuesday in
England. has long been celebrated by
hilarious consumption of pancakes
and homeIbrewed ale.
1t has never been very clearly ex-
planned just why the pancake was
singled out for special honors at
shrovetide, but a plausible reason con-
meets the pancake with an old Saxon
name for February. meaning "the
month of cakes" The pagan Saxons
in that month made a scored offering
of cakes presumably pancakes) to
the sun. 50 the early christians may
have thought it wise to propitiate
their heather neighbors by adopting
their sacred emblem. just as COnstan-
tine, the first christian emperor, tried
to propitiate the paganfsm of his age
by naming the first day of the week
chief characteristic of that pagan be-
| lief
| 1t is but a short and naturaf step
from the use of cakes at sacred festi-
walls to the actual worship of cakes
themselves. and so we find that pagan
races were largely addicted to the
worship of dough idols, as they were
called. When the early Mexicans
sacrificed to their great war god, they
| had an idol baked of meal. moistened
with the blood of children slain in
| his honor. Jewels Of rare value
were imbedded in the soft mass. then
IL was baked and carried TO the tenn
| pie ~ solemn procession, preceded
! by priest bearing a sacred snake,
and the mass was divided into crumbs,
and eaten by the males, young and
! old. after the manner of our commun-
ion. These dough idols are also COM
| mon among the Mongols The trav-
eler Meignan SAW an idol open 10 the
sky and desert. made of compressed
bread and perched on horse. while
five or six other bread images were
bending before the deity in prayer.
Early Spanish writers in America
found that the Pueblo women of San
Domingo on the Rio Grande. offered
bread cakes to their idol on Blended
knee. and then preserved them relig-
iousiy for the rest of the year. The
family which neglected TO keep a sup
ply o. them on hand was sure of mis-
fortune. A very similar cake is al
so known among the Parsees of India,
made of -four and water. small and
round. 1t is often marked with mys-
FERROUS characters by the finger nail,
and then set aside for the guardian
spirits of the dead.
There seems to be an endless appli-
cation of the sacredness of cakes and
bread Besides figuring with such
prominence in religious ceremonials,