Not much except while making a post about Legos last week, I discovered “Brick Artist” Nathan Sawaya’s sculptures and was so impressed that I have gone back to his site since and just happened to learn something new about candy canes.
In his words:
So candy canes were invented in 1670 by a choirmaster who gave the sugar-sticks to children in his choir in order to keep them quiet during the long breaks during the Christmas pageant. Good call, because nothing keeps children quiet like giving them sugar.
I read more and found out that the sticks were bent to represent a shepherd’s staff and were originally all white. The tradition spread through Europe and candy canes made there first appearance in the United States around 1847. Fifty years later, stripes appeared on the canes although no one seems to know by who or why this was done.
getting older & wiser... 