#3: Candy Canes

Candy canes are peppermint flavoured stick that is shaped as a cane, which is traditionally white with red stripes.

The Christmas Candy Cane originated in Germany about 250 years ago, starting as straight white sugar sticks. It is believed that in 1670, a choirmaster was worried about the children sitting quietly through an extremely long Christmas nativity service. Consequently, he gave them food to keep them quite. He gave them a plain white peppermint stick that was shaped into a shepherd's crook, to remind them of the shepherds that visited Jesus at his birth.

At around the 1900s, red stripes were added to the plain white peppermint sticks, to symbolise the blood Jesus shed when he died on the cross, on top of the white which symbolise the purity of Jesus. From Germany, the candy cane spread to other areas in Europe, where they became popular and associated with Christmas, becoming a tradition to hand out during the festive season.