Those delicious and tasty baked buns that are so popular around this time in Guyana have taken centre stage once again. But they disappear as fast as they come. Cross buns have become a family treat for the Guyanese household over the past decades.
They are specially prepared at this time of the year when Christians are recalling the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Cross buns are small, spicy fruit cakes decorated with a cross symbolising the crucifixion, usually embedded on top, or fixed in place using icing sugar. Cross buns have been around for longer than the average person may think.
The popular British nursery rhyme was echoed around the streets by sellers in the 19th Century:
Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!
One a penny two a penny – Hot cross buns
If you have no daughters, give them to your sons
One a penny two a penny – Hot cross buns
They are sold all year round in the United Kingdom but as we all know, they are only around during Holy Week in the Christian calendar.
The first recorded use of cross buns dates back to the 18th Century. Popular belief is that the Saxons ate buns marked with a cross in honour of the goddess Eostre (the cross is thought to have symbolized the four quarters of the moon). Others claimed that the Greeks marked cakes with a cross.
Since Guyana was once a British Colony, it could be safe to say that the custom of preparing these special treats at this time of the year remain with today’s Guyanese.
Cross buns are hot-selling items this week all around Guyana. Several pastry shops and bakeries have been working overtime to meet the tremendous demand.
The tantalising smell of cross buns is refreshing to anyone passing close to where they are sold, or better yet, baked.
Several churches have joined in the traditional baking of cross buns and have made this an annual calendar event. The Catholics and Anglicans do this and sell on Holy Thursday each year. The Sacred Heart Roman Catholic parish in Georgetown is famous for its annual Hot Cross Buns sale which attracts hundreds.
In New Amsterdam, the Society of St Vincent de Paul, a Catholic organization prepares hundreds of bags of cross buns each year and distributes to the poor and needy, orphanages and senior citizens homes like the Dharm Shala at Fort Canje and Good Samaritan Home in Stanleytown.
The rest, they sell and use the proceeds to help the poor. Since many Christians do not eat fish or meat on Good Friday, hot cross buns is said to the popular breakfast choice, even a snack throughout the Friday and Saturday.
You dab a little butter, jam or fix a slice of cheese between the buns and satisfy your craving for the good old treat, cross buns. Go grab one and have a bite!
(Leon Suseran)