The Religious Meaning Behind Hot Cross Buns

An Easter staple, hot cross buns are believed to date back to 1361.

Some say their precursor, called Alban buns, was invented by a monk called Brother Thomas Rocliffe at St Alban’s Abbey. He is said to have given them to the poor on Good Friday.

They’re slightly different to the ones we know and love today – the cross on top was cut into the bun, rather than placed on top with a flour mixture – but they still contained spices, fruit, and yeasted dough.

Given their possible religious past, then, perhaps it’s not surprising that some think hot cross buns allude to more of the events of Easter than just the obvious cross.

The cross on top of the buns may have been placed on buns like Brother Roclliffe’s to allude to Jesus’ crucifix (Good Friday being “the day of the cross”).

But according to historian of food Dr Eleanor Barnett, hot cross buns weren’t really eaten as we know them now until the 18th century.

She also says not everyone agrees that they came from Brother Rocliffe: some think the origins date back to Ancient Greek crossed bread, while others think it has to do with Passover.

Nonetheless, Dr Barnett writes, the traditional ingredients are still “laden” with religious symbolism: “The bread is a nod to the Communion wafer, the spices represent the spices Christ was wrapped in in his tomb, and the cross is of course a reference to his crucifixion”.

Whatever their origin, they’ve proven somewhat divisive in the past. For instance, Queen Elizabeth I tried to tightly control the sale of buns because they looked a little too “Catholic” and “superstitious” for her taste.

“Perhaps they were associated with the blessed and crossed buns distributed by some Catholic churches on Good Friday, which were made from the same dough as the holy Eucharistic bread,” English Heritage shared.

Later, some believed that crumbling hot cross buns into water could cure them from illness. Victorian people would swap hot cross buns on Good Friday, saying, “Half for you and half for me, between us two good luck shall be”.

Others thought it could calm their stomachs, protect them from evil, keep pests away from grains, and never go mouldy.

Writing for The Conversation, historian Darius von Guttner Sporzynski said: “Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Poles, Romans, Saxons, medieval monks and 18th-century street sellers all had their versions of spiced, crossed bread. Each group gave the buns its own meaning, from honouring gods to celebrating Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.”