Candy Canes

There are many legends that have sprung up over the years surrounding the origin of a the candy cane. It is one of the favorite of the kids. In the last 75 years it has become a powerfull teaching tool because of the shape and striping. The crook represents the shepards. The three small stripes represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The 4th bold stripe represents Christ's redemptive blood. The white is for represents the sinless life of Jesus.

One of the legends centers on a chior master at Germany's Cologne Cathederal in 1670. He was looking for something to keep the children in line when they weren't singing. He came up white candy sticks. Hard candy has been around for centuries. It was usually a solid color because of the difficulties of making it multi-colored. He knew this candy would take a long time to consume and thus occupy them longer. he didn't know if the parents would allow it though. So he decided to use it as tool to teach about Christ also. He had the candy bent to represent the sheperds. The white represented Jesus' sinless life. The parents loved it. Within a 100 years white candy canes were being placed on Christmas trees in Germany.

Another legend about the candy cane comes from England. It is about the striping on it. In England during Oliver Cromwells rule it was said that Christians carried them in there front pocket to identify themselves secretly. The stripes represented the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and the redemptive blood of Christ. This legend probably wasn't true. The striping would have been expensive and Cromwell was Protastant, so there wouldn't be any reason for Christians to hide themselves.

Europeans evetually brought the candy cane to America. This happend sometime before the Revalutionary War. Identification with Christmas didn't take place though until Americans started clebrating Christmas with gifts, trees and such right before the Civil War. The German-Sweedish immigrant August Ingard was the first in the U.S. to use candy canes as ordnaments in 1842. By the turn of the century it was incredibly popular throughout the year.

The candy cane took it's current form in the 1920's. Bob McCormick in Albany, Georgia found a way to hand twist colors into hard candy. In Indiana priests who know the old story of the red and white candy canes from England, used it once again to add meaning to the candy cane. So eventhough this story of how the striping came about in Enland might not be true, it could still be used to teach the children about Christ.

So there you have it the story of the candy cane. How it reminds us of the sheperd who rejoiced when told of the birth of Jesus. How the three small red stripes represent the Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit. How the bold red stripe tells us about the redemptive blood of Christ. Finally the white candy tells how Jesus lived a sinless life, the only one ever lived. 'Till next time.- THE GREAT ONE