Lent and Trumpets: A Hot Cross Buns Affair
I don’t know if it’s a global thing, an American thing, or a regional thing. But where I’m from, every third grader learns to play the recorder, that plastic woodwind-ish instrument that sounds like a tired four year old that just wants to go back to sleep. It’s a whiny thing it is.
The first song all recorder wielding third graders learn to play is Hot Cross Buns. So, here we are: today is National Hot Cross Bun Day.
Now that I’ve said this, I didn’t learn to play recorder in third grade. In my elementary school, band lessons started in third grade. And I signed up to play trumpet—a trumpet that I played all the way up and through high school. Being in band, though, meant that in third grade I couldn’t join my fellow classmates in recorder hour, for band was slated at the same time. So, I learned to play trumpet instead of recorder, a more than fair swap in my opinion.
What about actual hot cross buns?
Well, I know very little about them. I don’t even think I’ve had one.
According to the National Day Calendar page (linked above), hot cross buns have religious significance. Their namesake derives from the fact that a sugary cream criss-crosses the bun’s top. And for those following the traditional Christian liturgical year, hot cross buns are apparently consumed around Good Friday. I say “apparently” because I was raised Roman Catholic and currently participate in a Christian denomination that follows the liturgical calendar—yet I still ain’t seen no hot cross buns.
Perhaps this Lent I can bring the tradition—wherever it comes from—into my little corner of the world.
Anyway, Happy National Hot Cross Bun Day!