>>| From: Larry C. Lyons [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>| Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 12:06 AM >>| To: CF-Community >>| Subject: RE: A good american >>| >>| >>| You're thinking of Hot Cross Buns - invented in the Siege of Vienna >>| in the 16h Century.
<cf_disclaimer> Big boring post on the history of some baked goods ... </cf_disclaimer> I found this on Croissants: http://www.gamespy.com/articles/january03/ron7/index2.shtml "Instead of rewarding the bakers with gold, or with medals, true to form, Leopold gave them the right to make a special pastry. You can imagine their delight at this. There were few materials on hand, at the end of the siege, so the fairly simple pastry called the croissant ("crescent," in French, of course) was created. It took the shape of the crescent moon which was on the Turkish banners, and which represents the Turkish flag to this day. As far as the coffee goes, once the Turks had retreated, which they did in great haste, many bags of beans were found all around their camp. The Austrian and Polish troops attempted to eat them, and found them very bitter. Then some Turkish prisoners showed them how to boil the beans and to make coffee, which until then, had been virtually unknown in Western Europe. Something to think about, the next time you visit Starbuck's and order coffee and a croissant. " -------------------------------------- >From this website: http://adventuresinbureaucracy.blogspot.com/2003_03_01_adventuresinburea ucracy_archive.html Sunday, March 16, 2003 Listing "What's next, the croissant? The pastry is said to recall the emblems on Turkish standards during the siege of Vienna in the seventeenth century. They lost the battle. Must Turkish children be reminded of that during tea? It can't be good for their self-esteem." --------------------------------------- But ... I could not find the Siege of Vienna tied to the words Hot Cross Bun anywhere. I ask because I researched this a bit last year when someone asked me where Hot Cross Buns came from and all I could ever find were stories like the one below ... So Larry, got any linkage for me? I would love to read more about them. I have no idea why I'm even fascinated, it may just be that I have had so many friends in the states ask me these silly questions about buns. :) A silly article on the buns ... http://makeashorterlink.com/?M2D512FE4 I found this: ---------------------------- BUN, a small cake, usually sweet and round. In Scotland the word is used for a very rich spiced type of cake and in the north of Ireland for a round loaf of ordinary 'bread. The derivation of the word has been much disputed. It has been affiliated to the' old provincial French bugne, " swelling," in the sense of a i Ad Dardanurn, de diversis generibus musicorum insttumentorum. f Dc Cantu et Mu~ica Sucra (I774). - 'For illustrations see Annales archiologiques, iii. p. 82 et seq. 'Musica getutscht und aussgezogen (BasIc, 151 1). "fritter," but the New English Dictionary doubts the usage of the word. It is quite as probable that it has a far older and more interesting origin, as is suggested by an inquiry into the origin of hot cross buns. These cakes, which are now solely associated with the Christian Good Friday, are traceable to 'the remotest period of pagan history. Cakes were offered by ancient Egyptians to their moon-goddess; and these had imprinted on them a pair of horns, symbolic of the ox at the sacrifice of which they were offered on the altar, or of the horned moon-goddess, the equivalent of Ishtar of the Assyro-Babylonians. The Greeks offered such sacred cakes to Astaete and other divinities. This cake they called bolts (ox), in' allusion to the ox-symbol marked on it, and from the accusative boun it is suggested that the word "bun" is derived. Diogenes Laertius (c. AD. 200), speaking of the offering made by Empedocles, says "He offered one of the sacred liba, called a bouse, made of fine flour and honey.~' Hesychi'us (c. 6th century) speaks of'the boun, and describes it as a kind of cake with a representation of two horns marked on it~ In time the Greeks marked these cakes with a cross, possibly an allusion to the four quarters of the moon, or more probably to facilitate the distribution of the sacred bread which was eaten by the worshippers. Like the Greeks, the Romans eat crossbread at public sacrifices, such bread being usually purchased at the doors of the temple and taken in with 'them,-a custom alluded to by St Paul in I Cor. X. 28. At Herculaneum two small loaves about 5 in. in diameter, and plaiiily marked with a cross, were found. In the Old Testament a teference is made in Jer. vii. 18-xliv. 19, to such sacred bread being offered to the moon goddess. The cross-bread was eaten by the pagan Sa~ons in honour of Eoster, their goddess of light. The Mexicans and Peruvians are shown to have had a similar custom. The custom, in fact, was practically universal, and the early Church adroitly adopted the pagan practice, grafting it on to the Eucharist. The boun with its Greek cross became akin to the Eucharistic bread or cross-marked wafers mentioned in St Chrysostom's Liturgy. In the,medieval church, buns made from the dough for the consecrated Host were distributed to the communicants after Mass on Easter Sunday. In France and other Catholic countries, such blessed bread is still given in the churches .to communicants who have a long journey before they can break their fast. The Holy Eucharist in the Greek church has a cross printed on it. In England there seems to' have early been a disposition on the part 'of the bakers to imitate the'church, and they did a good trade in buns and cakes stamped with a cross, for as far back as 1252 the practice was forbidden by royal proclamation; but this seems to have had little effect. "With the rise of Protestantism the cross bun lost its' sacrosanct nature, and became a mere eatable associated for no particular reason with Good Friday. Cross-bread is not, however, reserved 'for that day; in the north of England people usually crossmark their cakes with a knife before putting them in the oven. Many superstitions cling round hot cross buns. Thus it is still a common belief that one bun should be kept for luck's sake to the following Good Friday. In Dorsetshire it is thought that a cross-loaf baked on that day and hung over the chimneypiece prevents the bread baked in the house during the year Troin " going stringy." ------------------------- History of Hot Cross Buns Hot Cross Buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday and during Lent, but lucky consumers of Warburtons Luxury Hot Cross Buns and Hot Cross Bun Loaf can enjoy them from January through to the beginning of May. There are several different stories about the exact origin on the Hot Cross Bun, and it is said to have roots in Christianity, Paganity and folklore. One story goes back to the 12th Century, when an Anglican monk placed the sign of the cross on some buns to honour Good Friday - a Christian holiday also known as the 'Day of the Cross', marking the day on which Christ was crucified. The bun was the only thing permitted to enter their mouths on this holy day. Others claim Hot Cross Buns formed part of Pagan spring festivals and monks simply added the cross to convert people to Christianity. Finally, no account would be complete without a tale of Olde English folklore. A widow's son went off to sea and she vowed to bake him a bun every Good Friday. When he didn't return, she continued to bake a Hot Cross Bun for him each year and hung it in the bakery window in the faith that he would some day return to her. Locals kept the tradition up for her even after she passed away. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
