CELEBRATION!

Here is your official invitation to welcome the Easter season and long-awaited spring to Old Austerlitz (we’ve spotted a few daffodils and crocuses rising from the ground)! Join us on Sunday, April 10th from 12-2pm rain or shine.

Bring a dozen or so hard-boiled eggs and we will supply traditional and natural dyes to help you create beautiful eggs to take home. If you have some unique dyes or techniques, please feel free to bring them along and share with the rest of us. While you are here, we will serve refreshments, including hot cross buns! (see article below), weather permitting, you can even play croquet on the lawn.

The shop will also be open with Easter goodies and new items for spring. Don’t forget our beautiful new collection of greeting and note cards.

HOT CROSS BUNS

Hot cross buns are a simple and sweet spiced bun with a cross sliced onto the top. The buns often contain raisins or currants and sometimes orange peel. Modern versions may include other fruit and today the cross is sometimes formed by a white sugar icing. Although there are many theories as to the origin of these buns, Brother Thomas Rocliffe, an English 14th-century monk, is widely credited as making the very first hot cross bun in 1361. He called his recipe “St. Alban’s Buns” and distributed them to the poor on Good Friday. The cross was said to represent the crucifixion of Jesus, the spices in remembrance of those used at Christ’s burial, and the orange peel the bitterness of His time on the cross. Traditionally the buns were eaten on Good Friday to mark the end of Lent. In 1592, during the reign of Elizabeth I, a decree was issued forbidding the sale of hot cross buns and other spiced breads except at burials, on Good Friday or at Christmas. It seemed that certain bakers had been violating the sacred nature of the treat. The punishment for this violation was the confiscation of the buns for distribution among the poor.

Hot cross buns became popular among all classes and similar recipes were soon being baked throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The buns arrived on American shores with the early settlers.

Many other cultures celebrate the season with special breads: The Germans have Osterbrot, the Polish Babka, the Russians Kulich, the Italians Pane di Pasqua and Casatiello, the Greeks Tsoureki and the Croatians Pinca or Sirnica.

UPDATES

Blueberry Festival 2022 Sunday, July 31st, 9am-3pm Attention Vendors:We are now accepting applications for artists, crafts people, specialty food producers and antiques dealers for the July 31st festival. Please contact Margaret Hover at [email protected] or 518-392-0062 for information and an application. Volunteers:One of the best ways to get to know your neighbors and to give back to your community is to volunteer at the Blueberry Festival. We need volunteers for all areas of the festival — and, in particular, the Pancake Breakfast. Please consider setting aside this day for volunteering. Contact Margaret Hover for more information.

IN MEMORIAM Arlene Janet Dauer passed away peacefully in her home on March 6, 2022. Born January 10, 1933 in Canaan, CT she was the daughter of the late Gilbert and Elvera Castagna Fallon. She moved to Columbia County in the fifties with her husband, Clifford, and here they started their family. Arlene worked as a waitress at Aubergine in Hillsdale for many years until retiring in the mid-nineties. Arlene was a wonderful cook and loved to prepare gourmet meals for her friends and family. She enjoyed traveling and took great pride in maintaining her lawn and her beautiful home in Spencertown. Arlene is survived by her grandson James (Heather) Dauer; son David (Dorothy) Dauer; brother, Gilbert F. (Amanda) Fallon; sisters, Marie (William) Dickenson; Nancy (Richard) Roberts. She was predeceased by her sisters, Christine Fallon; Sandra Fallon; Thelma Fallon; her brother and his wife, Ronald (Song) Fallon. In lieu of flowers contributions in Arlene’s name may be made to Austerlitz Historical Society. Condolences may be conveyed at frenchblasl.com.