Launch the Season

The Christmas candy cane is a wonderful thing.  How it got to being a symbol of Christ with white standing for the purity of Jesus Christ and the red stripes the blood he shed on the cross... that came well after candy canes were introduced. There is a folklore story of its origins and then there is verifiable evidence. Folklore has it that in 1670 in Cologne, Germany the choirmaster gave the children candy to keep them quiet. The crook was supposedly added to remember the shepherds.  Other stories are that the crook was added to make a J for Jesus.  The story goes that candy canes spread to other parts of Europe where they were handed out during reenactments of the Nativity. That is the folklore story. On the evidence side, straight sugar sticks were introduced at an exhibition in Massachusetts in 1837 and the first mention of candy canes in literature was in 1866. The Nursery monthly magazine had them associated with Christmas in 1874.  What about the barber pole and the similar red and white stripes? The barber pole had red and white during a time when barbers performed bloodletting and other medical procedures. The white colour represented bandages.  The blue represents less urgent services.   Sometimes the candy cane has been referred to as barber pole candy. I wonder how many candy canes are consumed each year? Each year about 1.76 billion candy canes are made and 90% are sold between Thanksgiving and Christmas. What is the world's largest candy cane? It is 51 feet long - created by a Geneva chef in 2012. Is there a permanent candy cane statue in the U.S.? There is at Buffett's Candies - a giant candy cane is on display outside the factory in Albuquerque, NM.  Where are the giant candy canes on Fortnite? You can find one of the candy canes in the Wailing Woods, on the northeast of the map, overlooking the forest. If you go east of Shifty Shafts, there will be a candy cane waiting on a snowy hill. Can I tour a candy cane factory? Yes - go to Nelson's Candy Kitchen in Columbia Historic State Park, about two hours southeast of Sacramento. You can watch through the window every Saturday and Sunday in the early afternoon from the end of November through the weekend before Christmas. We have angels heralding the season in today's picture.