•
St Agatha's Breasts (also Agatha Buns, or Minni di Virgini) - served on the feast day of
St Agatha (5 February), the small round fruit buns are iced and topped with a cherry, intended to represent breasts. St Agatha was martyred by having her breasts cut off, for refusing to surrender her chastity and virginity to pagans. Due to this association, she has become the patron saint of bakers. Minne di Sant'Agata are a
Sicilian version of the bun, made with a soft shortcrust pastry that holds a ricotta and chocolate mixture, and the same icing and cherry outer layer. •
Baklava - in Greece, it is supposed to be made with 33 dough layers, referring to the years of Christ's life. •
Bread - often (though not exclusively) unleavened bread; one of the two elements (with wine) of the Christian
eucharist, the bread represents Christ's body. •
Cattern cake - small individual cakes with
caraway seeds, made on
St. Catherine's Day (25 November) to celebrate St
Catherine of Alexandria, and originating in Tudor times amongst the lace-makers of
Nottinghamshire, England. •
Christmas carp - Associated with the
Arma Christi. •
Christopsomo - a type of
Tsoureki bread served at Christmas in Greece; Christmas symbols, and a cross, are traditionally incorporated into the loaf using dough shapes; it is flavoured with figs. •
Easter biscuit - associated with
Easter, particularly in parts of England, often flavoured with oil of cassia as a symbol of the perfumes used in preparing Christ's body for burial. •
Easter egg - associated with Easter, as a symbol of new life. •
Fanesca - Soup eaten during
Holy Week in
Ecuador. It contains twelve types of beans representing the Apostles and salt cod representing Jesus Christ. •
Figs -
Figs in the Bible are used prominently as symbols. In the New Testament, they are used in the
parable of the budding fig tree and the
parable of the barren fig tree. •
Galette des rois - a puff pastry pie filled with
frangipane and commonly eaten at
Epiphany in northern Europe, francophone Canada, and other locations; it is the origin of other forms of
King cake (see below), and shares the same traditions, including a charm (representing an infant) baked into each pie. • St George cake - individual
fairy cakes with white icing, and a red icing cross, eaten on
St George's Day (23 April). •
Hot cross bun - traditionally eaten on
Good Friday after the Good Friday Liturgy, to break the fast required of Christians on that day. •
King cake - a cake or bread served at Epiphany in many Christian countries, usually having a single bean baked inside it; as the
Three Kings discovered the infant
Jesus after following a guiding star, so the person discovering the bean (symbolic of a
swaddled infant, and in modern times sometimes replaced by a small plastic baby) figuratively shares the joy of the three kings, or symbolically becomes a king for the day. •
Koulourakia - pastry dessert served on Easter Day in parts of Greece. •
Kutia - a ceremonial grain dish with sweet gravy traditionally served mostly by Eastern Orthodox Christians and some Catholic Christians during the Christmas – Feast of Jordan holiday season or as part of a funeral feast and is an essential ritual dish at the Christmas Eve supper. • Lammas loaf - ordinary bread, but baked using flour from the first cut of the new harvest, for the
eucharist of
Lammas Festival (1 August). •
Lampropsomo - a type of
Tsoureki bread, flavoured with ground cherry stones, served at Easter in Greece; the name signifies the light of Christ, and red-painted hard boiled eggs are inserted as a symbol of Christ's blood (often three eggs, symbolic of the Holy Trinity). •
St. Lucia buns (St Lucy buns) - a saffron bun with raisins, also known as
Lussekatter, associated with
St Lucy's Day (13 December) celebrations, especially in the countries of Scandinavia. •
Michaelmas Bannock, St Michael's Bannock, or
Struan Micheil is a
Hebridean bread made from equal parts of barley, oats, and rye without using any metal implements. • Michaelmas cake or St Michael cake - served at
Michaelmas (29 September) this cake is identical to a
butterfly cake, but the 'wings' represent angels rather than butterflies. •
Pancakes - traditionally eaten on
Shrove Tuesday to symbolise the end of rich eating before
Lent (which begins the following day). •
Paska - Polish and Ukrainian sweet bread baked and often blessed with other foods for consumption on Easter Sunday to mark the end of fasting. •
Pączki - eaten by
Poles before
Lent in order to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house, because their consumption was forbidden by Christian fasting practices during the season of Lent. •
Pretzel - Southern France monks (610 AD) baked thin strips of dough into the shape of a child's arms folded in prayer. Also associated with
Lent in some places. •
Religieuse - a type of
éclair common in France, made to resemble a nun (which is the meaning of its name). • St Sarkis Aghablit - salty biscuits eaten by Armenian youths (traditionally girls, but also now boys) on the eve of
St Sarkis's Day to induce dreams of their future
spouse, by the saint's blessing. • St Sarkis Halva - a sweet pastry stuffed with fruit and nuts eaten in Armenian communities on
St Sarkis's Day to symbolise the blessings brought by the saint. •
Simnel cake - symbolically associated with
Lent and Easter and particularly
Mothering Sunday (the fourth Sunday of Lent). •
Soul cake, soulmass-cake, or somas loaf - small bread-like cakes distributed on or around
All Souls Day, sometimes known historically as soulmass or, by contraction, somas. The cakes commemorate the souls of the faithful departed. Once widespread in medieval England, the practice is now limited, but is also continued in a number of other nations. •
Stollen - a German fruit bread with marzipan, eaten during
Advent; it recalls a special Advent tradition restricted to Germany, granted by the Pope in the so-called "butter letter" (1490). •
Święconka - a savoury meal, each element of which is symbolic, blessed in churches on Holy Saturday, and eaten on Easter Day, in Poland. •
Vasilopita - Saint Basil's or King's cake, traditionally eaten on New Year's Day in Greece. It is baked with a coin inside, and whoever finds the coin in their slice is considered blessed with good luck for the whole year. •
Wine - one of the elements of consecration used in the
sacrament of the
eucharist, the wine can be representative of or truly Christ's blood depending on the denomination. ==Hinduism and Buddhism==