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SHARON TUBBSTrue or not, stories about the origins of the humble candy cane add a spiritual reminder amid the bustle of Christmas commerce.
And you thought it was just another piece of peppermint.
You handed candy canes out at holiday parties, tossed them into your child's lunch box and favored them as cheap Christmas tree ornaments.
But the cane has a weighty story to tell, one that has already reached Sunday school classes, book publishers, family living rooms and playgrounds. The legend of the candy cane has even been the center of court cases over the separation of church and state.
Depending on who's telling it, the story has a couple of variations.
One version finds the candy cane in 17th-century Cologne, Germany. To keep fidgety kids quiet during church, clerics thoughtfully made candy in the shape of a shepherd's crook, perhaps symbolic of the shepherds who first learned of Jesus' birth.
Another says that, years ago, a candymaker in Indiana wanted to make a treat to spread the Gospel. He shaped it as a "J" for Jesus and made it hard since Christians say Jesus is the "solid rock" foundation for the church. White, for purity, with red stripes, like the blood he shed on the cross. A little corn syrup, a little sugar.
A candy cane was born.
With this, some Christians began to see the candy cane as not just a candy cane, but a spiritual tool. Instead of those palm-sized tracts handed out on street corners, they could offer passers-by candy canes and tell them the story. Christian authors and publishers are churning out candy cane books and videos. Families see the legend akin to a spiritual 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, a wholesome tale that can be passed down through generations.
Zonderkidz, the children's division of Zondervan religious publishers, commissioned a book in 1997, The Legend of the Candy Cane: The Inspirational Story of Our Favorite Christmas Candy. The book has sold more than 1-million copies, said Kathy Needham, senior director of marketing. "It continues to sell wonderfully every year."
In 2001, Zonderkidz released an animated video of the candy cane story, featuring the voices of Tom Bosley, Ossie Davis, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Florence Henderson.
The legend's implications are significant to Christians determined not to let America forget the Christ in Christmas.
Lyn Folsom, director of religious education at Most Holy Name of Jesus Church in Gulfport, seized on the candy cane legend when she saw it featured on cards in a catalog about two years ago.
"In our world, it's hard to keep the spiritual aspect in this holiday," she said. "That is constantly my message, that it's not about buying things, it's about giving to God by giving to others."
Folsom bought the cards and gave them to church kids. Each year, the youths perform the story of Jesus' birth on Christmas Eve and on Christmas. As Folsom passes out costumes for the shepherds, she reminds them, "Do you know why you have candy canes on your tree? It's because of these shepherds' crooks."
But the spiritual battle to reclaim Christmas could be tough amid an increasingly commercial season. People who don't believe in Jesus comfortably partake in secular traditions and trade cards and gifts. The pot-bellied Santa Claus in his sleigh may be gliding past Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus trudging along in Bethlehem. The National Retail Federation predicts that sales of general merchandise, apparel and furnishings will reach $217.4-billion for the season.
As battles over the line between church and state grow more intense, some have tried to erase religious undertones of Christmas. A Michigan school banned Silent Night and First Noel from its winter concert program, opting for Jingle Bell Rock and Let it Snow, in the interest of non-Christian students, according to a story in the Lansing State Journal last year. Some schools no longer allow Christmas decorations. And then there's civil action No. 03-30008-FHF, a case decided in March in the United States District Court of Massachusetts.
Two years ago, six teens at Westfield High School in Westfield, Mass., wanted to hand out candy canes with the legend attached. School administrators forbade it, saying the story might be offensive. Students could hand out candy canes, but with a "Happy Holidays" message instead. The next year, 2002, the students, who belong to a Bible club, sought legal counsel before asking school administrators. Lawyers said they had a right to tell the story. Their principal disagreed. But they handed out their candy canes with the legend of a Christian candymaker anyway. When the principal tried to suspend them, they filed a federal lawsuit, effectively staying the suspensions. The court eventually found that the school's prohibition of the candy cane legend was a violation of the students' free-speech rights.
Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of the Liberty Counsel, a religious civil liberties law firm in Orlando, represented the students. After the ruling was handed down, he issued a news release: "Federal Court Upholds Student Right to Dispense Candy Canes."
"People think that they are safer to just eliminate the religious references," he said. "Well, that's unconstitutional. That's not being neutral."
The American Civil Liberties Union also issued statements asserting the students' right to pass out candy canes, legend attached.
Dustin Cooper, now a senior at Westfield, said the club passed out about 450 candy canes.
"Some of the atheist people even congratulated it," he said.
But getting to the heart of the matter, is the legend of the candy cane true?
Cooper pauses. "I have no evidence against it."
Neither does Helen Haidle, a children's book author and Sunday School teacher in small-town Sisters, Ore. She had read the legend printed on a box of candy canes several years ago.
Haidle took candy canes to an elementary-aged Sunday school class and told the story. She encouraged students to take two candy canes apiece: one for themselves, one to use as a witnessing tool.
As Haidle tells it, one girl took the candy cane to her public school and walked up to the biggest bully on the playground. "Nervously," Haidle said, she held out her candy to him. "Do you know the story of the candy cane?" she asked. He didn't, so she told him. With nary a word to the girl, the bully took the cane and turned on his heels. The little girl felt defeated at first. But then . . . she saw the bully approach another bully on the playground. "Do you know the story of the candy cane?" he asked.
In 1996, Haidle decided to write a book for kids, the Candymaker's Gift, a fictional account combining the shepherd's crook and Indiana candymaker versions. Last year, she included the story in an adult book, Christmas Legends to Remember. She said she researched the candy cane to find its origin, querying companies that made them, reading books and information on the Internet. She found nothing conclusive to prove or disprove the legend. Once, a woman who read Haidle's book wrote to her. The woman thought her great-grandfather could be the Indiana candymaker.
But Haidle was dubious, "Nobody really knows." She is content to call it legend, rather than hard-core history.
"It's not like this is dogmatic truth and we can prove it," she said. "So just enjoy it. Just enjoy our imaginations. Nobody can prove it's true. Nobody can prove it's not true," she said. "It has just been a way that has brought a little more meaning to Christmas."
- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.