544 MEDICINE-MEN OF THE APACHE. 
ing all the Passover week—l4th to 21st Nisan, i. e., during this week’s 
moon—Shemites fast, only eating unleavened bread, and most dili- 
gently—not without reason—cleansing their houses.”  ‘“ And especially 
had all leavened matter to be removed, for the new leavener had now 
arisen, and prayers with curses were offered up against any portions 
which might have escaped observation. The law of their fierce Jahveh 
was that, whoever during all this festival tasted leavened bread, ‘that 
soul should be eut off” which Godwyn mollifies by urging that this only 
meant the offender should die without children; which was still a 
pretty considerable punishment for eating a piece of bread !”! 
“The great day of Pentecost is the 6th of Sivan, or, say, the 22d 
of May, 1874. From the first barley tivo loaves were then made, ‘the 
ottering of which was the distinguishing rite of the day of Pentecost.’”? 
On St. Bridget’s Eve every farmer’s wife in Ireland makes a cake, 
called bairinbreac; the neighbors are invited, the madder of ale and 
the pipe go round, and the evening concludes with mirth and festivity. ® 
Vallencey identifies this as the same kind of offering that was made to 
Ceres, and to “the queen of heaven, to whom the Jewish women burnt 
incense, poured out drink offerings, and made cakes for her with their 
own hands.” 4 
THE HOT CROSS BUNS OF GOOD FRIDAY. 
The belief prevailed that these would not mold like ordinary bread.’ 
“Tn several counties {in England] a small loaf of bread is annually 
baked on the morning of Good Friday and then put by till the same 
anniversary in the ensuing year. This bread is not intended to be 
eaten, but to be used as a medicine, and the mode of administering it is 
by grating a small portion of it into water and forming a sort of panada. 
It is believed to be good for many disorders, but particularly for a diar- 
rhea, for which it is considered a sovereign remedy. Some years ago 
a cottager lamented that her poor neighbour must certainly die of this 
complaint, because she had already given her two doses of Good Friday 
bread without any benefit. No information could be obtained from the 
doctress respecting her nostrum, but that she had heard old folks say 
that it was a good thing and that she always made it.”° 
Brand quotes a writer in the Gentleman’s Magazine who shows that 
they were “formerly, at least, unleavened,” p. 156. They “are con- 
stantly marked with the form of the cross.” “Itis an old belief that 
the observance of the custom of eating buns on Good Friday protects 
the house from fire, and several “other virtues are attributed to these 
buns,” p. 156. “ Hutchinson, in his History of Northumberland, follow- 
1 Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. 1, p. 441 
2 Tbid., p. 447. 
3 Brand, Pop. Antiq., vol. 1, pp. 345, 346, quoting Gen. Vallencey’s Essay on the Antiquity of the 
Irish Language. 
1 Tbid., p. 345. 
* Thid., p. 154. 
© [hid., pp. 155, 156. 
