The holiday season has arrived whether that’s Christmas, Yule, or another Winter Solstice festival. One familiar sight around this time will more than likely be the red & white candy canes adorning trees, stockings, and as a general treat given out.

Christianity has been quick to assign Christian symbolisms to candy canes as has been done with a good many other Christmas decorations and symbols that frequently have a pagan origin to them.

Christmas Folklore

There are a few stories that have sprung up since the 20^th century regarding the origins of candy canes and a Christian connection. While these stories are quaint, there are no facts or records to back them up.

Indiana Candymaker – First Story

This story says that a candymaker from Indiana, U.S. decided to make a candy that would witness or testify of Jesus Christ. The J symbol for Jesus’ initial “J” or represents the cane of the Shepherds in the fields going to the manger in Bethlehem to see the newborn Christ. The white is for his virgin birth and his purity. Then three red stripes represent the scourging Jesus suffers when people are healed. There is a large red stripe to represent the blood shed by Christ in paying for people’s sins and their eternal salvation.

To do this, this nameless candymaker took a stick of white hard candy and formed the cane, added the red stripes, and before the candy hardened, twisted it to the “J” or cane shape.

Debunked – This one lacks any documentation. Surely, we’d have a record of who this candymaker was if we knew his home state and why he made the candy cane, to begin with.

Persecuted Christians – Second Story

This story says that candy canes were made during a time when Christians were being persecuted and that this cane-shaped candy served as a means by which to recognize each other.

Debunked – This story is easily refuted as the earliest that candy canes are mentioned is the latter part of the 17^th century, when much of Europe is Christian. By this time, only those needing a secret means to recognize each other are non-Christians. Nor does this story mention which era of time Christians were being persecuted.

German Origin – Third Story

This story says that in 1670, the choirmaster in Cologne, Germany is the creator of the candy cane. Frustrated as many teachers and parents are when you have restless children who get a case of giggles and wiggles and are unable to stay still or quiet. In this case, choir boys get restless and noisy during long sermons. So the choirmaster hit on an idea and found a local candymaker for some treats. While looking at some white candy sticks, the choirmaster pondered if he would be allowed to give the boys sweets. That’s when the choirmaster asked the candymaker about bending the sticks into a cane shape as he would use the candy as a means for teaching. The white represents the purity of Christ, the cane hook for the story of the shepherds who came to find the infant Jesus at the manger.

Debunked – Aside from sounding authoritative because it’s “church history,” again, like the story of the candymaker from Indiana, there are no records of this happening.

What Can Be Verified

The above stories are largely quaint anecdotes and the earliest records for any of them are from the mid-20th century, the 1900s. The earliest mention of candy canes is in 1866 with the short story “Tom Luther’s Stockings” in Ballou’s Monthly Magazine. Their first-time association of them with Christmas comes in 1874. This is some two hundred years after the candy cane was to have been invented and popularized with the festive holiday season.

We have documentation of candy sugar sticks with colored stripes starting in 1844. The mention and evidence of the “J-shaped” candy canes with red stripes don’t come until the beginning of the 20^th century. The evidence for this comes from Christmas cards printed before 1900 depicting plain white canes. Not until after, do the striped canes begin to appear on Christmas cards.

The best that can be guessed at is that some unknown person did come up with the idea of bending the cane sugar sticks into their familiar “J-shape” to represent a shepherd’s crook and to make it easier to hang on a Christmas tree for decoration. While it’s a good guess, that’s all it is.

German Immigrant – In 1847, it is believed that the immigrant August Imgard in Ohio, U.S.A. is the first person credited in America who decorated a Christmas tree using candy canes.

Famous Candy Company

Though indirect, this story is verifiable for the religious connection. The owner of the Famous Candy Company, Bob McCormack in 1919 did begin the process of bending candy canes into their J-shape, a process that needed to be done manually and resulted in limited quantities due to the amount of labor needed.

It’s McCormack’s brother-in-law, Gregory Harding Keller, a Catholic priest who came up with the means to automate the bending process for candy canes. Hence the Keller Machine. So yeah, there’s the Christian connection for those looking for it.

The Famous Candy Company would become Mills-McCormack Candy Company and then Bobs Candies.