The Amazing Candy Cane

Christmas is full of miracles

Happy times and laughter

Things we accept as part

Of all that has to do with this holiday

Have we ever thought?

Of where certain things came from

Can you believe?

The candy cane dates back to over 350 years

When candy makers began

Making hared sugar sticks

They weren’t in any color

Only white and perfectly straight

Let’s take a look back into history

It was in the 17th century

When European-Christians

Began decorating with evergreen trees

Which became known

As Christmas trees

Decorations weren’t shiny and bright

They were quite natural

Cookies and sugar-stick candies

Then in 1670, there came a choirmaster

In Cologne, Germany

This man did the amazing

He took the sugar-sticks

And bent them to represent

A shepherd’s staff

And so it was that these canes

Were handed out to children

To keep them quite

During nativity church services

So it was that this tradition

Of clergymen handing out candy canes

During Church services

Spread all over Europe and on to the U.S.A.

The canes were still all white

But the candy makers added sugar roses as decor

Now it was in America in 1847

That along came a German immigrant

He was called August Imgard

And in Wooster, Ohio

His Christmas tree he did decorate

With a lot of candy canes

It wasn’t until

About fifty years went by

When people were introduced

To a candy cane

All pretty in red and white stripes

Perhaps it was Santa Claus and his elves

Who made the candy cane so decorative?

But no one knows who the creator was

However after 1900 striped candy canes

Did appear on Christmas cards

And after this those candy makers

Added peppermint and wintergreen flavors

Now there are other legends and beliefs

Which surrounds the candy cane

Some say it was a secret symbol of Christianity

There is the notion that it was shaped like a”J”

That represented Jesus

The red and white stripes

Standing for Christ’s blood and purity

The three red stripes as a symbol

For the Holy Trinity

The candy hardness like a fortress

Representing the Church’s foundation

The peppermint flavor symbolizes

The use of hyssop which was an herb

That was referred to in the Old Testament

Though no one can find historical evidence

It’s interesting to think about

The next time you buy a candy cane

And so that we can have lots of Christmas dreams

As we lick and enjoy candy canes

Gregory Keller a Catholic priest

Invented an automated candy cane machine

So that we can enjoy a lot more

Of this amazing Christmas treat