Choirboys & Candy Canes

It all started with a choirmaster and a few fidgety choir boys.

Cologne Cathedral is a stunning 7th-century Catholic church whose flying buttresses and multiple renovations have been a centerpoint of German nationhood for centuries. In 1670, a Cologne choirmaster offered white candy sticks to the younger children in his choir to keep them quiet during a live Nativity ceremony. When church elders protested the indecency of candy in church, the choirmaster bent the sticks into shepherds' crooks to align with the play.

Pulled sugars were already popular in 17th-century Germany, and the choirmaster's ingenuous addition of a hook allowed Germans to hang the candy sticks from trees, on gifts, and alongside other Christmas treats. The popular white candy canes debuted in the United States nearly 80 years later when a German immigrant named August Imgard decorated a blue spruce with paper ornaments, cakes, and candy canes in his home of Wooster, Ohio, one Christmas. Imgard felled the tree in the woods beyond town, and he mounted it on a platform that revolved slowly when a music box played; people traveled from nearby towns to see the beautiful tree with a tin star on top.

The red stripes and peppermint flavor were not added for another hundred years, when the beginning of the 20th century brought the invention of mass-production factories. Today nearly 2 billion candy canes are sold between Thanksgiving and Christmas each year, making candy canes the most popular non-chocolate candy sold in December. For a five-minute insider's view of the candy cane-making process, look here: Candy Canes.

As you move through this Advent season, pondering God's gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love as we anticipate the birth of Christ, consider the relics that we include in our Christmas celebrations. What are the stories behind the elements? How do the narratives remind you of Jesus or draw you closer to God's love? How can you be a Christ follower who presses in, seeking meaning where others assume? How will you bring joy -- and perhaps a candy cane or two -- to those around you this week?

Have a joy-filled week,

Jennie