Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns!
It's a curious tradition, beginning the most solemn, most severely penitential day of the year with sweet rolls. Like the cross itself, it is a paradox, but not a difficult one. The sweetness of the bun is a little foretaste of the Resurrection; Good Friday will always lead to Easter Sunday. The suffering we experience through our fasting and penance can itself be sweet. Finally, today we have been given the sweetest of gifts, our Savior offering Himself for our sin, that we may have eternal life.
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world!
It's a curious tradition, beginning the most solemn, most severely penitential day of the year with sweet rolls. Like the cross itself, it is a paradox, but not a difficult one. The sweetness of the bun is a little foretaste of the Resurrection; Good Friday will always lead to Easter Sunday. The suffering we experience through our fasting and penance can itself be sweet. Finally, today we have been given the sweetest of gifts, our Savior offering Himself for our sin, that we may have eternal life.
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world!
Our hot cross buns ended up being lemon buns from a local Chinese bakery, because I accidentally used up all my real hot cross buns in bread pudding on Palm Sunday! I thought I had more in the freezer... but when I opened the bag, they were crossless scones! Le gasp.
ReplyDeleteThe lemon buns had the all important cross on top, so I declare that they count, even though they were very soft and not very sweet, in typical Chinese bun style. And the cross on top was kind of a lemon icing. Also it had raisins in it. But still. Bun! Cross! IT COUNTS.
Anyway, we got to do the kiss the cross and split the bun thing, which was the main thing I wanted to do, so I was happy.
Last year was the first time I had hot cross buns on Good Friday (at the Prezzia house, of course) and I remember thinking "Wow! These are waaay not penitential! yum!" Now it makes sense :)
ReplyDeleteAnd Karla--the ones I had last year had raisins in them, if I remember correctly. Is that not typical?
Yeah, raisins are traditional, and I knew that! I don't know why I wrote what I did in the original comment. Hmm. Maybe because the raisins got plumped up by the moist dough and just didn't feel traditional?
ReplyDeleteI've also had chocolate chip hot cross buns before... talk about not penitential! LOL Chocolate chips instead of raisins, cocoa powder in the batter, and chocolate icing as the cross. They were really, really good...
Oh man, Karla, I need to do chocolate chips next year. Also I think my crosses were too dainty. Next time use the big honkin' icing tip and cover that bun! It's symbolic!
ReplyDelete