Why is the candy cane red and white?
Would you believe that the candy cane was actually invented as a tool to keep children quiet? It's true! Just like children today, kids in the 1670's in Germany had trouble sitting still through church. Then a choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral, came up with a plan to keep kids quiet and happy. He took a well known candy, a "sugar stick" and bent one end to resemble a Shepherd's staff. He gave it to the children during the long Christmas Ceremonies. It was the quietest church service they had had in a long time. Candy canes quickly became a Christmas tradition.
For many years candy canes were all white. In the 1920's a man by the name of Bob McCormack began making the candy cane with a red stripe to symbolize the blood Jesus shed for us.
Today when we eat a candy cane at Christmas time we can think of the symbols of Christ that it holds. It is white to represent His sinless life: it had red stripes to remind us that He shed his blood for us: it is hard to tell us that Jesus is our rock and our foundation.
" But He was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised fro our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." ((Isaiah53:5)
" We make living by what we get, but we build a life by what we give. It is through giving rather than getting, that the Spirit of Christ enters our lives" (Thomas S. Monson)
We made lots of yummy Candy cane treats and then we sat and watched The Christmas Devotional from Salt Lake. Perfect ending to a perfectly yummy day. I love Christmas.
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