Candy Canes
Candy canes are sweets in the shape of a shepherd’s crook often hung on Christmas trees – white with red stripes.
Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
Background
Candy canes began as straight white sticks of sugar candy used to decorate the Christmas trees.
A choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral decided to have the ends bent to depict a shepherd’s crook and he would pass them out to the children to keep them quiet during the services. It wasn’t until about the 20th century that candy canes acquired their red stripes.
Did you know?
The symbol of the shepherds’ crook is an ancient one, representing the humble shepherds who were the first to worship the newborn Christ.
In the 1920s, Bob McCormack began making candy canes as special Christmas treats in Albany, Georgia. Each candy cane was made by hand.
In the 1950s, Bob’s brother-in-law, Gregory Keller, a Catholic priest, invented a machine to automate candy cane production. Bob’s Candies, Inc. is the largest producer of candy canes in the world.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, angels appeared to shepherds in the fields nearby to tell them the good news. When they had heard this amazing news, they hurried to the stable in Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus.
The Bible says
Luke 2:8-20
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them,
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
John 10:11
Jesus said “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”