These little treats, which seem to have originated in Herefordshire, were once handed out by churches after the service on Palm Sunday, the day which marks Jesus's triumphant entry into Jerusaleum.
Posted on 03/29/2015 9:41:01 PM PDT by Steelfish
How To Make Pax Cakes, A Palm Sunday Tradition Mark Palm Sunday with your family by making pax cakes, a forgotten Herefordshire sweet treat
Palm Sunday treat: Mary-Anne Boermans' lenten biscuits Photo: Mary-Anne Boermans By Leah Hyslop 29 Mar 2015 The Easter period is inextricably connected with certain foods – eggs, roast lamb and hot cross buns. But not many people in Britain today will enjoy a pax cake. These little treats, which seem to have originated in Herefordshire, were once handed out by churches after the service on Palm Sunday, the day which marks Jesus's triumphant entry into Jerusaleum.
More like biscuits than cakes (though confusingly, some accounts also refer to them as buns), they were generally stamped with the image of a lamb and a flag – the symbol of the Jesus, the “Lamb of God – and were meant to symbolise peace and goodwill. (The word "pax", in Latin, means peace).
Ella Leather, the author of a 1912 book called The Folklore of Herefordshire, believed that the practice dated back to the Middle Ages, making it “the oldest of the many quaint ceremonies now practiced in Herefordshire, or indeed in the West Country”.
The cakes were often enjoyed alongside a glass of ale, which must have been a strong encouragement to reluctant churchgoers to attend Palm Sunday service. A 1907 account of the ceremony reported that "It was a strange sight to see everyone in church with a bun, and still more curious to see the ladies filing out with their prayer books surmounted by one of these confections.”
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
English food traditions are amazing. I have nearly 100 volumes on these various traditions. Simnel cake for Easter!
These little treats, which seem to have originated in Herefordshire, were once handed out by churches after the service on Palm Sunday, the day which marks Jesus's triumphant entry into Jerusaleum.
A noble tradition! How many other places have unique traditions to honor our Lord?
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