New Zealand Travel 134 Day 29 − 1 Hot Cross Bun Pajamas and a Family Photograph in the Afterglow of Easter

Today is April 10.
Easter itself has already passed, but here in New Zealand, a gentle afterglow of the season still remains.

Originally, my husband and I were scheduled to travel from Queenstown to Auckland on April 12, and then return to Japan. However, due to a cyclone, our plans are still uncertain, and we are spending our days in a kind of suspended time.

In the middle of this unsettled period, something unexpectedly memorable happened.

My daughter-in-law prepared matching “Hot Cross Bun pajamas” for the whole family.

At first, I did not understand what she meant.
But soon I realized that my husband and the children were already wearing them, and then a matching set was handed to me as well.

It turned out that my size could not be found.
At 167 cm tall and 42 kg in weight, my body type does not easily fit the standard clothing sizes here.

My daughter-in-law searched for quite a while, and eventually decided that a children’s size for a 12-year-old might fit me.

When I tried it on, the shoulders were just barely tight, but the length and width were surprisingly perfect.
Looking in the mirror, I couldn’t help laughing and saying, “I really look like a 12-year-old!”

This morning, we took a family photograph.
A 9-month-old baby was also dressed in the same pajamas, and I stood together with my three grandchildren—five of us in total.

My son and daughter-in-law were not in the photo; it was a picture of just the children and me.

It was a strange and beautiful scene.
Despite our different ages and roles, wearing the same pattern created a feeling that we were simply “people who belong together.”

The design on the pajamas was inspired by the traditional Easter bread known as the
Hot Cross Bun.

Hearing that name brought back memories from long ago.

More than 30 years ago, when I was raising my children in Japan, I was teaching English at a high school.
I was also interested in language acquisition and deeply wished for my children to naturally acquire English—perhaps even to become bilingual.

For that reason, I tried not to treat English only as an academic subject, but as something that could be absorbed through sound and rhythm.

It was during that time that I encountered the nursery rhyme “Hot cross buns.”

Although I was not a native speaker, I would repeatedly sing the song and show videos to my children, hoping to gently expose them to the rhythm and sounds of English.

♪ Hot cross buns, hot cross buns…

At the time, I did not think deeply about it, but looking back now, it feels like a mysterious and meaningful memory.

And now, in New Zealand, surrounded by real Hot Cross Buns, I find myself remembering and softly singing that old song. My daughter-in-law seemed slightly surprised to see this.

To her, Hot Cross Buns are simply sweet seasonal Easter bread.
But to me, they are a song, a memory, and a part of the time I spent with my children.

The song, preserved in the old English nursery rhyme collection Mother Goose, is said to have originated from the street cries of bakers selling bread.

A rhythm born from everyday life gradually became a children’s song, and eventually spread across the world.

Even today in New Zealand, I hear that fewer children know this song.
In a multicultural society, old songs and traditions slowly change their form.

Still, even after Easter has passed, Hot Cross Buns continue to appear in supermarkets, and children enjoy eating them.

Culture does not disappear—it simply continues in changing forms.

This experience was not just a family photograph.
Within something as simple as pajamas, food, song, memory, and culture came together, forming a small circle of connection.

And quietly, I was included in the center of that circle.

In the midst of uncertainty caused by the cyclone, this quiet moment will surely remain in my memory for a long time.

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Hot Cross Bun Song

A traditional nursery rhyme from Mother Goose.

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English

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!

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

⸻

Japanese Translation

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

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

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

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