OK, I searched the forums and the archive, but I didn’t find a post addressing this specifically.
I’ve received more than once a story proclaiming the “true story of the candy cane,” saying it was designed as a christian symbol.
So, is this true, or is it as Tom and Ray of Car Talk say, “boooooogus”?
Reviving this zombie because I ran across a new - albeit equally dubious - story for the origin of the candy cane.
According to this 1934 comic strip:
European people once carried hollow glass walking sticks filled with colored sweetmeats, hoping that witches desiring to injure them would stop to assort all the separate candies and so not attempt it. The modern striped candy cane grew out of this practice.
This is even less plausible than the Christian symbolism story.
The hell?
Note that glass canes do exist. A rather magnificent one shows up on an episode of Antiques Roadshow#. The owner does not know what the cane was used for. The expert informs him that glass canes were used to absorb all the bad luck in a home and then taken outside and cleansed of bad luck. I don’t know if that is true. It certainly sounds plausible. I have seen a few glass canes for sale at antique shops. The cheapest one was over a hundred dollars. I also strongly prefer a cane that does not break into many pieces if it so much as falls over.
#The values of antiques and collectables on the show are often way off. The facts and history are generally accurate.
I’d think candy sticks with twisted different colored hard candy were made first. Seems like once those are being made it’s easy to bend a crook in them to make a cane, maybe just for use as decorations.
According to the Snopes article linked to above, there were early examples of twisted color candy sticks and plain white cane-shaped candy sticks. I would assume both were designed to attract customer attention. And at some point in the mid-19th century, some candy makers began combining the two ideas.
Sensible.
I know it makes no sense. However, it does strike me as something people would actually do.
I wasn’t knocking what you wrote. Just getting sarcastic on folks of yore.
So silly to use glass when everyone knows only ancient teakwood containers can safely transport evil spirits through doorways.
Seperately—
Colored sweetmeats? What? Like, you dye them for Easter and have sweetmeat hunts for the kids?
Makes sense for glass canes because cleaning candy makes a mess.
Oh, sorry. I wasn’t sure whether you were making a joke because you accepted it as true or because you thought it was false.
It has not been a great year so far.
Sorry.
I had assumed(yeah, we all got assumptions), the candy maker of yore had made candy sticks.
Next morning he comes down to “Ye Olde Sweet Shop” and finds all his candy drooped over.
So he displays it. And it becomes a thing.
Ba da bing!
I doubt this. I have seen footage of candy canes being made. You need to bend them immediately after the liquid candy solidifies and forms into sticks. There is a very short period during which they remain soft and pliable.
Unless you were joking and I missed it again.
I was joking.
But the nature of sugary treats is, add a bit of warmth and things get soft.
Haven’t you ever had a jolly rancher or lollypop stuck to your carpeting?
Oh, Sorry.
Shockingly, I have not. This is probably only because I dislike Jolly Ranchers and rarely buy lollypops. But, I understand what you mean.
I think solid glass canes would be rigid enough (though obviously brittle) but hollow walking sticks filled with “colored sweetmeats”? I think they would be much too delicate. And why? A hollow wooden or metal stick would be so much easier.
Yeah. I have seen and very carefully held glass canes. They can at least support their own weight. You would need to make the sides of a hollow glass walking stick very thick indeed. Otherwise, it would collapse into many pieces almost immediately after being picked up.
I’m guessing (honestly just a hunch) the idea was that witches had to actually see the candy to be warded off. It would still be a whole lot easier to do with a sort of lattice work wooden or metal walking stick.
Here’s an example of a Witch Cane. No mention of candy (and it’s a solid glass rod) witch cane; walking stick - Horniman Museum and Gardens
Thanks!
From the commentary on that page-
So the guy on Antiques Road Show was more or less correct
I clicked a link to ‘four ways to ward off witches’. The image and text for the first two display properly. The image and text for the second two keep fading in and out. Is anybody else having this problem?
