Evening star., 1909-04-11

Hot Gross BUNS.
TIE bun or cake (boun) was of great
antiquity when Christian usage sane
toned its continuance as an Offering. The
hot cross buns and Easter eggs figured
in the Chaldean mysteries, being used In
the worship of Astarte and Ishtar, the
"Queen of Heaven as early as the time
OF Cecrops, the founder of Athens Q6OO
g., B. O.. "A great multitude" Of the
Jews in Jeremiah's day were not only
acquainted with but had adopted this
fern Of Offering. together with the rites
III which the bun formed part. The
licentious character of those rites ac-
counts not only for the bitterness of the
prophets rebuke, but also for the tenac-
ity with which men and women both re-
fused to give up the bun and the wor-
ship in which it played large part.
These buns were frequently purchased al
the entrances Of pagan temples, the trade
OF making and selling them being very
prosperous one. enriching both the tenn
pie and the vendor. The buns seem tc
nave been used as sort of passport or
sign for admission into the mysteries
that were called sacred. but which were
Of. a character decidedly unholy. The
Greeks also used the bun. Aeschylus
speaks Of ii as being ornamented with
two horns. and julius POllux described II
in the same way. Laertius speaks of
1.-The sacred libra as being made of nne
ticur and honey.
The Roman cakes were marked with
crosses dotted In the corners. though the
cross was not SO called and had not the
significance attached to the cross now
appearing on some buns incorrectly bear
ing the name hot cross buns which
are made of two pieces Of dough crossed
at right angles, The whole forming a
cross.
Four Thousand Years Old.
The stamp of the cross marks the effort
Of the church to give a Christian value
to a practice that could not be eradicated,
and which has continued for over four
thousand years i'm some form or other.
It was in The seventh century the custom
OF the housewives in Zerbst, Germany,
a bake at Easter and Whitsunday sew
eral great cakes about yard and half
long as nearly i'm the form of a cross
as their great size permitted.
In some parts of Kent. England, when
the women kneaded their dough into u
loaf they made mark Of the cross with
knife, again making the sign of the
cross when a slice was cut from the loaf.
II was also customary to mark the loaf
with a cross before putting it in the
oven. In the south OF France these buns
bear the original form. which has
meaning very familiar to the students OF
religious symbolism, and which has no
relation 10 1HTlSlldn piCty- III oS Aiis
Asia Minor, the Easter cakes or buns
are made in the form of snakes. red
Easter egg inserted in the mouth of the
snake, and peppercorns or cloves in
serted in the head before cooking the
cake TO serve as eyes. while some of the
cooks dealing in these buns ornament
the snake buns with small birds cut from
the same dough used in making the
cakes. In the north OF England. espec-
tally. it was long believed that eating
hot-cross buns and preserving one in the
house would protect the building from
fire and drive away diseases and evil
spirits. The belief was quite general that
II was a wise thing to preserve two such
cakes to serve as medicine, the mode of
administering the panacea being to crate
a few crumbs of the stale bread into
water and drink the magical mixture.
This was regarded as being especially
valuable medicine for all stomach and
bowel troubles. There were two famous
.,royal bun-houses' at Chelsea. which
disposed Of hundreds of such cakes on
Good Friday between the hours of u
O'Clock am. and Il o'clock pm.
The Puritans sought to abolish the GUS
tom of using hot-cross. but were even
less successful than was jeremiah In his
day, women in each case leading the sue