The Hot Cross Bun is the most famous, and probably the oldest, of the many English buns. Unlike today, when it is to be found throughout Lent, the Hot Cross Bun was originally eaten only on Good Friday. According to tradition, Fr. Rocliff, a monk and cook of St. Alban's Abbey in Hertfordshire, on Good Friday in 1361 gave to each poor person who came to the abbey one of these spiced buns marked with the sign of the cross, along with the usual bowl of soup. The custom was continued and soon spread throughout the country - though no buns could compare, it was said, with Fr. Rocliff's. Hot Cross Buns became enormously popular in England in the 18th and 19th centuries. Street cries were commonly heard on Good Friday: "Hot cross busn, hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns! If your daughters won't eat them, give them to your sons; but if you have none of those little elves, then you must eat them all yourselves!" Hot Cross buns, and other forms of Good Friday bread, were considered blessed, and were believed to provide powerful protection against disease and danger.
Evelyn Birge Vitz
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