More memories from my archives: The quality of these pictures is not much, but the sentimental value can not be assessed! It's hard to believe that these boys have grown and become fathers themselves. My goodness!! But here they are hamming it up for the camera in 1983 with a giant candy cane. Our favorite show that year was "The Dukes of Hazzard" and Christopher is pretending to be Boss Hogg in the upper right hand and lower left hand pictures. Their Dad was the one who thought up the optical illusion of the candy cane going into Erick's ear and then out of his mouth, but it's hard to get two giggling sugar hyped boys to actually pull the illusion off, but they came close.
The candy cane is a holiday food (???!!!) that is attributed to an American candy maker. Here's a portion of that talk I gave recently at the Wesleyan Church in Stroudsburg which tells the story of the Candy Cane: (Read at your leisure)
There are conflicting stories about the candy cane's first appearance, but all the stories connect the meaning of the candy cane to Christian symbolism. One story says they were used in the 1600's to keep the children's choir quiet during the Christmas service. Since the sermons were long the candy was designed to take a while to consume. Apparently they didn't worry too much about sugar highs back then! Another story links the candy cane to a candy maker in Indiana who wanted to "help us remember what Christmas is really about". This version seems to carry more truth to it than the one dating to the 1600's and appears to be the general consensus to the candy cane's origins.
The story goes like this: The candy maker began with a stick of pure white to symbolize the virgin birth and sinless nature of Christ. He made the candy hard to symbolize a solid rock like the foundation of the Church (Jesus Christ) and the firmness of God's promises. He then fashioned the candy in the shape of a "J" to represent the name of Jesus. But if you turn the candy cane upside down it becomes a shepherd's staff which also signifies Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The candy maker added three thin, red stripes to represent the suffering Christ endured at the hands of the Roman soldiers on the cross because Jesus was born to die for our sins. He flavored his candy with peppermint, which is somewhat similar to hyssop and in the same plant family. Hyssop was used in the Old Testament for purification and sacrifice. This too reminds us of Jesus as the Lamb of God who came to be a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Whatever date you choose to assign for the origins of this sweet holiday treat, its meaning is still the same. So every time you see a candy cane now, remind yourself of the candy maker's message: Jesus is the Christ of Christ-mas!
Thank you one and all! I'm glad you enjoyed the info- it was fun learning about it myself. And I particularly enjoyed my imagination's trip to a cathedral in the 1600's with a children's choir on a sugar high!
@maggiemae thanks Maggie!
@jackie8 thanks Jackie!
Thank you Henri!
Thank you Terry!
@lyno Thank you Lyn!
@bruni Thanks Bruni! I'm glad you liked it.
@digitalrn Thank you Rick!
@pandorasecho Thank you Dixie! So sweet of you to say that!
@tanja_1211 Thank you Tanja!
@paulavdmerwe Thank you Paula!
@sangwann Thank you Dione!
@nicolecampbell Thanks Nicole!
@prttblues Thanks Bev!
@alia_801 Thanks Alia!
Thank you one and all! I'm glad you enjoyed the info- it was fun learning about it myself. And I particularly enjoyed my imagination's trip to a cathedral in the 1600's with a children's choir on a sugar high!