- skip - Brewer’s

Hot Cross Buns

.

Fosbroke says these buns were made of the dough kneaded for the host, and were marked with the cross accordingly. As the Good Friday buns are said to keep for twelve months without turning mouldy, some persons still hang up one or more in their house as a “charm against evil.” (See Cross.)

⁂ The round bun represents the full moon, and the cross represents the four quarters of the moon. They were made in honour of Diana by the ancient Roman priests, somewhere about the vernal equinox. Phœnicians, Carthaginians, Egyptians, as well as the Greeks and Romans, worshipped the moon.

 

previous entry · index · next entry

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

previous entry · index · next entry

Horus
Hose
Hospital
Hospital (The)
Hospitallers
Host
Hostage
Hostler
Hot
Hot Cockles
Hot Cross Buns
Hot-foot
Hot Water (In)
Hotch-pot
Hotch-potch
Hotspur
Hottentot
Hougoumont
Hound
Houqua
Hour