LEGEND OF THE CANDY CANE

Candy canes are favorites of Christmas decorations amongst kids. These red and white J-shaped candies are tasty too.

It is said that their origin lies in an event in Cologne Cathedra about two hundred thirty years ago. It was said that one evening, the children were being very loud and noisy at the Church and were not paying attention to the choirmaster. In his efforts to keep them quiet and still for Nativity ceremony, he gave them a long, white, sugar candy stick. Since, giving out chocolates and candies at church was otherwise considered sacrilegious; he bent these sticks on one end to make them look like shepherds' cane who went to worship the Christ on the day he was born and thus, attached a religious significance to them.

In 1847, a German-Swedish immigrant in Wooster, Ohio liked candy canes so much that he put them on his Christmas tree as decorations. The idea soon caught up and became quite a fashion.

By 1900, candy canes started coming in red stripes and peppermint flavoring and it was said that the white color was symbolic Christ's purity while the red symbolized the wounds he suffered. The peppermint flavoring was said to represent the hyssop herb described in Bible for purification.

Some other interpret that the 'J' shaped candy cane is not a cane but the letter 'J' that stands for Jesus. However, there are no evidences supporting these views.

Around 1920, Bob McCormack from Georgia started mass-producing candy canes that came to be known as Bob's Candies. Since then, the firm has remained the most popular candy-cane manufacturer company in the world.