Hot Cross Buns (song) facts for kids

Hot Cross Buns is a famous English nursery rhyme and a simple tune often used to teach music. It started as a "street cry," which was like a short song sung by sellers to advertise what they were selling. This rhyme is about a special sweet bread called a hot cross bun.

Hot cross buns are spiced buns with a cross on top, usually made from pastry or icing. People traditionally eat them on Good Friday, which marks the end of Lent before Easter. They are popular in many countries.

Here is the most common version of the song:

<score %vorbis="1"%%T257066%>\relative c { \tempo 4 = 120 \time 4/4 \key c \major \autoBeamOff \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t g4 d g2 g4 d g2 d'8 c b a g a b c d4 d, g2 b8 b b b b4 a4 g8 a b c a2 d8 c b a g a b c d4 d, g2 \bar "|." } \addlyrics { Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns! One a pen -- ny, two a pen -- ny, Hot cross buns! If you have no daugh -- ters, give them to your sons. One a pen -- ny, two a pen -- ny, Hot cross buns! }</score>

Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns!

If you have no daughters,
give them to your sons.
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns!

The Song's History

The "Hot Cross Buns" song began as a street cry. People would sing it while selling the buns on Good Friday. In the 1700s, there wasn't just one way to sing the rhyme. Sellers would often make up their own versions.

For example, in 1733, a book called Poor Robin's Almanack mentioned a London street cry:

Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs,

With one or two a penny hot cross buns.

Another version was found in old children's books from the 1800s:

'Tis Good Friday morning, the little boy runs,

Along with his sister, to buy hot cross buns;

Her apron is full, yet her brother, the elf,

Unsatisfied still, must buy one for himself.

How the Words Changed

The words we know best today first appeared in a newspaper called the London Chronicle in 1767. It was printed as a round, which is a song where different groups sing the same melody starting at different times.

That version said:

One a penny, two a penny, hot cross-buns;

If you’ve no daughters, give them to your sons;

And if you’ve no kind of pretty little elves,

Why then good faith, e’en eat them all yourselves.

Later, in 1846, James Orchard Halliwell wrote down a similar rhyme in his book, The Nursery Rhymes of England. The last line was changed to “You cannot do better than to eat them yourselves.”

Other Street Cries

People in different towns had their own ways of singing the rhyme. In Coventry, for instance, a street cry was:

One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns,

Butter them and sugar them and put them in your muns (i.e.mouths)

Another unique street cry was recorded later:

Hot cross buns, hot cross buns;

One a penny poker,

Two a penny tongs,

Three a penny fire shovel,

Hot cross buns.

Using the Song in Music

Over time, "Hot Cross Buns" became more than just a street cry. It turned into a popular nursery rhyme. Today, it is often used in music classes. Young children learn to play instruments using its simple tune. It is a great way for them to practice new musical skills.

Images for kids

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  The rhyme as it appeared in an 1860s book of Nursery rhymes printed in London