Bread for Astarte

[My Good Babushka]

The hot cross buns popular on Good Fridays are related to the ancient Greeks, to the time of Cecrops and to the liba offered to Astarte. Bun came from boun, bous, the sacred ox. The bread was originally stamped with horns.

For luck's sake, one hot cross bun must be kept from one Good Friday to the next.

The bun was sometimes hung over the chimney to ensure bread baked at the hearth would be of the highest quality.

A Good Friday hot cross bun was sometimes grated, a little at a time, into water, and taken as medicine for diarrhea throughout the year.