The season of Lent – the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before Easter – is well underway. We just celebrated the third Sunday of Lent.
For a lot of us, this is a time of preparation and a chance to deepen our faith and grow our relationship with God.
We may “give something up” or fast from doing certain things in our daily life, like eating chocolate or spending time scrolling on social time.
We may practice almsgiving and give money to charity or donate our time to help volunteer.
We also may spend time in prayer or be more intentional about reading the Bible.
We may use this time to slow down a bit and reflect more on life around us. We often have so many things to do and places to be that we can move through motions without taking time to pause and be more present. Lent helps us to press the pause button.
Although we aren’t pressing the pause button here at Ashley’s Pastries, we are baking special treats for this season. Each Lent we bring back the traditional Hot Cross Buns, a spiced sweet roll made with raising and marked with an icing or dough cross on top. We bake these fresh daily, but they are only available for a limited time. They’ll leave our cases at Easter and won’t come back until Ash Wednesday in 2025.
If you haven’t tried one yet, we invite you to come by and pick one up. While you’re here, make sure to place your order to get some for the holiday. Good Friday is the day we sell the most.
Hot cross buns have a long history, dating back centuries. Hot Cross Buns are served throughout Lent, but especially on Good Friday because they are symbolic of this significant day in the Christian faith when Jesus was crucified. The crosses represent the cross on which Jesus died.
Legend has it that hot cross buns can help cement friendships – those who share one together will have a strong bond for a year. Or, if you hang a hot cross bun in your kitchen, it’ll stay fresh all year and bring you good luck.