Part nine of a series on the history and traditions Christmas.
Candy canes became a Christmas tradition not because their red and white stripes matched the colors of the season, but because they were effective at getting unruly children to behave.
Sometime during the 1670's, a choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany, took a candy known as the “sugar stick” and bent one end to resemble that of a shepherd's staff. The treats were given to German children to keep them well-behaved for the duration of church sermons and the long church Christmas ceremonies. Other churches then began performing the same tradition and this new idea quickly spread over to America.
At first, the candy canes were all white, void of any other color. In the 1920's, a man by the name of Bob McCormack began making the candy cane as we know it today, with the red stripes included, for his family, neighbors, and friends. Bob did this process, every year all by hand. That all changed when his brother in law, a Catholic priest by the name of Gregory Keller, invented a machine that automated the candy cane creation process in about 1950.
Over time, the legend of candy canes at Christmas came to be associated with some of the strongest symbols and beliefs of Christianity: the Father, Son and Holy Ghost known as the Trinity, the Blood of the Son of God, Jesus as the embodiment of holiness, purity and without sin and the Son of God as the shepherd of man. The candy cane represents these symbols respectively with its three stripes, its red and white color, and its shape.
Now, we all enjoy candy canes, from the traditional red and white striped peppermint candies, down to the multi colored fruity flavored ones.
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