Bairín Breac
It has become an annual tradition in Queen of Angels to sample some delicious Irish bairín breac or barmbrack (in English). Bairín Breac is the centre of an Irish Halloween custom. It is called bairín breac because the Irish word bairín means a loaf, and breac means speckled (due to the raisins in it). The Halloween Brack traditionally contained various objects baked into the bread and was used as a sort of fortune-telling game. In the brack were: a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence), a ring, and a bean. Each item, when received in the slice, was supposed to carry a meaning to the person concerned:
- the pea, the person would not marry that year;
- the stick, would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes;
- the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor;
- the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich;
- the ring, would be wed within the year;
- and the bean, would have a future without money.
Today's brack has only the ring hidden in the cake.
All the children gave it the thumbs up! Thanks to Ms Hannigan for organising this lovely treat!
J Mc Teague