Secrets of the Candy Cane

The sweet and simple candy cane, hanging on the Christmas tree, has a secret. Can you guess it?

During Oliver Cromwell's reign as the Lord Protector of Puritan England (1653-1658) harsh rule were handed out. Catholics were not allowed to practice their faith. All religious articles were banned and Christmas was not to be celebrated under threat of punishment.

An unknown and enterprising Catholic candymaker decided to create a symbol of his faith that would be secret.

He shaped it like a shepherd's crook, to remind people of Christ as the shepherd of men. He made it red (for sacrifice) and white (for purity) and twisted it so that the colors became stripes. But if you looked closely, there were two different red stripes. One was made up of three thin lines and represented the Trinity. The other single, thick red stripe symbolized the three made one by the birth of Jesus.

Source:
Unknown

The Rest of the Story

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was filled with sorrow at the tragic death of his wife in a fire in 1861. The Civil War broke out the same year, and it seemed this was an additional punishment. Two years later, Longfellow was again saddened to learn that his own son had been seriously wounded in the Army of the Potomac.

Sitting down to his desk, one Christmas Day, he heard the church bells ringing. It was in this setting that Longfellow wrote these lines:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep.
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men!"

Source:
Pulpit Helps, date unknown.