Cross buns from the Easter bread

Good Friday · England

Still kept

Brand thought the cross buns sold on Good Friday in his day had come down from the cakes of Easter bread given as presents at Easter in the Greek church. He added that country people in the north cut many little cross marks on their cakes with a knife before baking them, which he took to be a relic of popery.

Probably the Cross Buns made at present on Good Friday, have been derived from these or such like Cakes of Easter Bread.

From Brand's Popular Antiquities, 1777, p. 312. Read the original

Get a copy: Amazon · Bookshop.org · AbeBooks

We may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

Also on this day

Folklore from the old calendars

The cross on the ass’s back Lore and belief West CountryIn the west of England it was believed that the dark cross on a donkey's shoulders was a mark of honour given by Christ, and that before he rode an ass no donkey carried it.
The king’s cramp-rings on Good Friday No longer kept EnglandOn Good Friday the English king crept along a carpet to a crucifix laid on a cushion in his chapel and there blessed rings in a silver basin, which were given out as sure cures for cramp.
The Bowaldeth Good Friday dole No longer kept CumberlandEvery Good Friday the interest on forty pounds was given to the poor of Bowaldeth, a quarter of Torpenhow parish.
The Suffolk Good Friday loaf Lore and belief SuffolkA small loaf baked on Good Friday was hung in a corner of a Suffolk cottage, where it was believed never to go mouldy and to cure diseases such as the bloody flux.
No washing at Offenham on Good Friday Lore and belief WorcestershireThe poorer people of Offenham would not allow any washing to be about on Good Friday, for fear of much ill luck.
A cross bun kept all year Lore and belief EnglandSome people kept one hot cross bun from Good Friday to the next Good Friday as a charm against the many crosses of life, out of piety and fear of disease.
Mother Shipton and Ham Hill Lore and belief SomersetMid-Somerset labourers believed a prophecy of Mother Shipton that Ham Hill would be swallowed by an earthquake at noon on Good Friday 1879, and Yeovil flooded at the same moment.
No iron in the fire on Good Friday Lore and belief Isle of ManOn Good Friday no iron was allowed in the fire on the Isle of Man, and even the tongs were put away; the fire was stirred with a rowan stick.
Long Rope Day at Brighton No longer kept SussexOn Good Friday the children of Brighton's back streets brought ropes up from the beach and skipped across the width of the street.
No washing on Good Friday Lore and belief YorkshireIn Cleveland it was said that clothes washed and hung out to dry on Good Friday would come in spotted with blood.
Charlie Marston’s Good Friday potatoes Lore and belief County Durham, YorkshireIn the North Riding it was held impious to disturb the earth on Good Friday with spade, plough or harrow.
The Fishlake bell tolled for Good Friday No longer kept YorkshireAt Fishlake, at eight on Good Friday morning, the great church bell was tolled slowly as for a death or funeral, instead of being rung for service as on other holy days.
Fig-sue on Good Friday No longer kept Northern EnglandMany families across the North of England ate nothing but fig-sue for dinner on Good Friday.
Dressing the salt spring at Droitwich Still kept WorcestershireAubrey recorded that the people of Droitwich kept holiday every year on the day of St Richard, who was born in the town, and dressed their brine well with green boughs and flowers.
The witches’ Good Friday meeting Lore and belief LancashireGood Friday was believed in Lancashire to be the witches' great day of gathering.
The passion-dock pudding No longer kept Northern EnglandIn the north of England a herb pudding was a dish nobody went without on Good Friday, and its chief ingredient was the leaves of the passion-dock.
Paste egging at West Derby No longer kept LancashireA Liverpool correspondent wrote to Hone on Good Friday 1826 about paste egging around West Derby, kept up by the young country people.
The Good Friday sermon at Paul’s Cross No longer kept LondonFor a long time a learned man chosen by the bishop preached every Good Friday afternoon at Paul's Cross, the timber pulpit on stone steps in St Paul's churchyard, on the Passion.
Creeping to the cross at Durham No longer kept County DurhamBefore the Reformation a gold crucifix kept inside the image of Our Lady of Bolton in Durham Abbey was taken out every Good Friday, and everyone in the church crept to it.
The clerk’s Good Friday cakes No longer kept Devon, DorsetIn some parishes of Dorset and Devon the parish clerk carried a few white cakes round to every house as an Easter offering.
The Good Friday fast in Connaught No longer kept ConnachtIn Connaught poor Catholic families kept Good Friday with a total fast, giving their children nothing from midnight to midnight, even babies at the breast.
Washing Molly Grime No longer kept LincolnshireIn Glentham church a tomb carries a carved figure the people called Molly Grime.
Hot cross buns Still kept England, LondonIn London and all over England, though not in Scotland, Good Friday began with the street cry of hot cross buns, and a plate of them on every breakfast table.
Good Friday bread Lore and belief EnglandBread baked on Good Friday was kept in the house all year, in the belief that a little of it grated into water would cure almost any illness, and diarrhoea especially.

Cross buns from the Easter bread

Also on this day

Questions and comments

Image credits