Once again, it was Lin who suggested this topic for this week’s LBC Friday post when a few of us write blog posts on the same topic. I marvel at the synchronicity of it all when I think back to her list without any dates, and the topic just neatly fitting into Good Friday!
Before I come to write about Easter Eggs, let me address Hot Cross Buns. In India, due to our colonial English connection we call them buns and it is for the first time that I have come across them being called bunnies. Bunnies here would mean rabbits! So, please indulge me while I talk about buns rather than bunnies.
It was in Montessori School that I first heard of Hot Cross Buns. The school was run run by Christians and I wouldn’t be surprised if we were taught this during Easter. We were taught to sing the nursery rhyme there and not ever having seen or eaten one, I was quite confused about what it meant. At home, my parents decided to show me what it was and some buns were procured but to the best of my recollection they were neither hot nor did they have the crosses on them. It was much later when I was much older that I was able to see and eat a genuine hot cross bun. In India, it is still extremely rare to come across hot cross buns except during Easter time, though cold buns without the cross on them are available in just about every grocery shop. Most grocers even sell buns for making hamburgers at home, but again, without the crosses on them.
The song that got me interested in Hot Cross Buns is this one.
Strangely enough, my son Ranjan had brought some easter eggs just last week from a friend of his who runs a patisserie in one of our neighbourhood shopping centers. I thoroughly enjoyed the marzipan shell and not so much the toffees inside.
Easter eggs again were totally unknown to me till my early thirties. I had imagined that easter eggs were some kind of pastry made to look like eggs till then. When I was posted to a small town in Kerala in the mid seventies, the local baker had made easter eggs for easter and that was the first time that I understood what they meant.
I always enjoy your non-western take on western things. It seems Easter and the things celebrated have pagan origins – a similar them to many things Christia I do not care for hot cross anything but had a lot of fun with my kids and now grandkids when it comes to Easter eggs.
I discovered earlier today that the origins of the festivals do indeed go back to pagan days.
Make that two, Ramana. It’s always fascinating how other cultures do things, and see our customs. As for the Easter eggs- the Germans have what they call present eggs- about the size of a large softball and consisting of colored layers of different kinds of sweet gook. Good for a six month supply of after dinner sweets. Or dental visits. Glad everything is now straightened out on our pages. Can’t wait to write April Fools.
Dunnasead recently posted..And Gutenberg Lived Here: Of Easter Eggs And Hot Cross Bunnies
@Dunnasead,
As usual, Lin aka Dunnasead stokes my fire. What on earth are “present eggs”? “Germans, sweet gook???????????”
Kinderegg and hard boiled coloured greetings,
U
Ursula recently posted..Shake can well before use
I would not know. She lives in Germany, your old motherland! You might however like to read my response to her comments.
The ones that Ranjan brought home had a few toffee pieces which is what I suppose you call sweet gook! The overall size of the eggs were about half the size of an American softball. Yes, I am familiar with that as I have played softball in my youth!
@Ramana Rajgopaul, Actually the eggs are layer upon layer of chocolate cream, colored marzipan, nougat et cetera, in a chocolate shell so it looks beautiful when sliced. yes, this is the pagan part. The belief holds us together, the joy is shared commonly.
Dunnasead recently posted..And Gutenberg Lived Here: 2018: Somewhere Near Roswell
All based on eggs and fertility, pagan rituals, hot cross buns were more like Chelsea buns with icing on top.
XO
WWW
wisewebwoman recently posted..Joy. A Commoner’s Perspective. 1.
Oddly enough one of our local newspapers had an article elaborating on exactly this, earlier today and I found it quite fascinating. Ostara was apparently a Norse Goddess of fertility.
i love that you know and also sang that nursery rhyme!
i remember it well.
but that little video of it was darling. i haven’t eaten many hot cross buns in my life.
Nor I. Because they are available only during Easter time. But normal bun, whenever I can lay my hands on one, I would happily have.
I never liked hot cross buns, but I did like the rhyme. We also loved coloring hard boiled eggs and getting baskets of candy from the Easter Bunny.
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After reading your comments, I researched for colouring boiled eggs and found it quite fascinating!
When I was growing up in a Ukrainian Canadian community, Easter eggs were hand painted, after being hard-cooked. After the eggs was immersed in the first hot dye, designs made with hot wax were drawn on the egg, after which the egg was immersed in a darker color, and so on, until the egg was covered with detailed, beautiful designs and patterns. I can’t believed I was able to remember this process!
Still the Lucky Few recently posted..A Senior’s Early Years—The Old VW Van
Quite a tedious job that and I wonder if that practice still continues. Easter eggs here are all sweet with the outer coating made of hardened icing and inside some toffee pieces are left for breaking the case and finding for children. The outer case is edible too.
My dear dear Ramana, my computer crashes – and I have timed it despite my normally not being measured – every SEVEN minutes. Hence I left you a message – alas it was wiped before I could press send. No loss.
Before the inevitable happens again: The egg is a miracle. Think about it next time a chicken crosses your path.
Hope is in on the threshold, the threshold being a beginning. From then onwards? I don’t know, Ramana. Upwards and onwards, down and below.
To new beginnings and old endings,
most affectionately,
Ursula
Ursula recently posted..Shake can well before use
I hope that everything works out alright for you and the new beginnings bring happiness.
I thought I would reply here since I loved coloring those eggs! We had so much fun. I am not sure I have ever eaten a hot cross bun. Like you, I learned the rhyme long before I knew what one was. I want to say I first saw one in Scotland, but I am sure this is likely incorrect…
Colouring of the eggs seem to be such a long process! Anyway, I suppose that you had the patience.