by L.S. Watts

Created on: November 23, 2010

For over 350 years, the candy cane has been a delight for both children and adults alike, but it hasn’t always been the way we think of candy canes today. So how did the candy cane come about? How did it’s popularity grow to be such a symbol of Christmas?

Origninally the candy cane was simply a white, straight stick made from pure sugar. It was simply a sweet treat that didn’t necessarily have anything to do with Christmas. It wasn’t until the 1600s that the candy cane was first associated as Christmas candy.

As Christians in European began adopting the use of Christmas trees as apart of their celebration during Christmas time, they decorated the trees with a variety of foods, including these straight white candy canes. It was the choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany that began to evolve the candy cane closer to the candy cane we now today.

In 1670, the choirmaster began handing out these candy canes to the children to keep them quiet and well-behaved during the longer nativity scenes. However, he bent the candy cane to resemble the shepherds’ staffs in the story of Jesus Christ’s birth as a way to remind them on the story.

This practice spread like wildfire throughout Europe as clergymen handed out these sweet treats to children at Christmas time so they would always remember the birth of Christ. The candy cane tradition didn’t take off in America until 1847 when a German-Swedish immigrant named August Imgard moved to Wooster, Ohio. He began decorating his Christmas tree with these staff-shaped candy canes. Soon after other people were inspired to do the same.

Around 1900 red stripes were added to the candy canes. Also around the same time, people began adding peppermint and wintergreen flavoring to the candy canes. No one knows the exact date on when the stripes or the flavoring was added, but if you look back at Christmas cards prior to 1900 they feature candy canes without stripes.

Although many people are led to believe that it was a candy maker in Indiana that incorporated the red stripes in an effort to show Christian symbolism, there is simply no evidence to back this up. Could it be true? Possibly so, but it seems no one knows his name nor where in Indiana.

The story has it that this alledged candy maker from Indiana added the stripes to symbolize the story of Jesus Christ. The shape is believe to symbolize the shepherd’s staff or if you turn it upside down it is in the shape of a “J”

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