Two candy canes, a traditional one (left) and a Spree flavored one(right).

A candy cane is a hard cane-shaped candy stick. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint; however, it is also made in a variety of other stripes of different thicknesses. The candy cane is a traditional candy surrounding the Christmas holiday in North America, although it is possible to find them throughout the year. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Spree is a brand of candy manufactured by Nestlé and sold under their Willy Wonka Candy Company brand. ... For the US TV series, see Cane (TV series). ... For other uses, see Candy (disambiguation). ... Alternate meanings: White (disambiguation) White is a color (more accurately it contains all the colors of the spectrum and is sometimes described as an achromatic color—black is the absence of color) that has high brightness but zero hue. ... For other uses, see Red (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Mentha × piperita L. Peppermint (Mentha × piperita) is a (usually) sterile hybrid mint, a cross between watermint (Mentha aquatica) and spearmint (Mentha spicata). ... A stripe may be one of a pattern of areas created by a family of parallel lines, as on the flag of the United States, also known as the stars and stripes in a candy-stripe pattern, on a diagonal and twisted round a cylinder, as for a candy cane... For other uses, see Christmas (disambiguation). ... North American redirects here. ...

The candy cane was originally a straight, hard, and all-white candy stick invented by French priests in the early 1400s. The cane shape is traditionally credited to a choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany, who, legend has it, in 1670 bent straight sugar sticks into canes to represent a shepherd's staff, and gave them to children at church services^[1]. Another theory is that, as people decorated their Yule trees with food, the bent candy cane was invented as a functional solution. Candy with red stripes first appeared in the early 1900s.^[2] Postcards before 1900s show only white colored candy canes. The Cologne Cathedral (German: , officially ) is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne, under the administration of the Roman Catholic Church and is renowned as a monument of Christianity, of Gothic architecture and of the faith and perseverance of the people of the city in which it stands. ... Year 1670 (MDCLXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... Shepherd in Făgăraş Mountains, Romania. ... For other uses, see Yule (disambiguation) and Jul (disambiguation). ...

Urban legends

In recent years, apocryphal origin stories for the candy cane have become popular. Usually they suggest the candy cane was invented by an American Protestant, usually described as being an unnamed candy maker in 1870s Indiana, to represent Jesus. These stories typically suggest that the white of the candy cane represents Jesus's purity, the bold red stripes represents crucifixion, and the three thin red stripes stand for the Holy Trinity. This legend further posits that the general shape is for the "J" in Jesus, as well as perhaps to resemble a shepherd's cane. ^[3] In Judeo-Christian theologies, apocrypha refers to religious Sacred text that have questionable authenticity or are otherwise disputed. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... // The invention of the telephone (1876) by Alexander Graham Bell. ... For other uses, see Indiana (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Crucifixion (disambiguation). ... This article concerns the holy Trinity of Christianity. ...

Candy Cane as an alias in popular media

Candy Cane is also often used as an alias that a girl of easy virtue would assume. A number of examples:

• In the movie Joy Ride, AKA Road Kill , where Lewis (Paul Walker) plays a cruel joke on a truck driver named Rusty Nail by pretending to be a woman called Candy Cane through his CB radio.
• In Frasier episode Frasier Grinch, Frasier gets distracted from his ‘inspiring Christmas story’ by a Christmas part stripper called Candy Cane.
• In the TV series Threshold a stripper who has told Ramsey that his name was Candy Cane appears in the episode Vigilante.
• In the video games Rumble Roses and Rumble Roses XX, the character Rebecca Welsh uses the alias Candy Cane.
• In House episode 1-04, a father jokingly suggests ‘Candy Cane’ as a non-stripper name for his newborn child.

Joy Ride is a 2001 thriller film directed by John Dahl and starring Paul Walker, Leelee Sobieski and Steve Zahn. ... Paul William Walker IV (born September 12, 1973) is an American actor and former fashion model. ... Two candy canes, a traditional one (left) and a Spree flavored one(right). ... Citizens band radio (CB) is, in the United States, a system of short distance radio communication between individuals on a selection of 40 channels within the single 27 MHz (11 meter) band. ... Frasier is an American sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer as psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane. ... List of Frasier episodes (Season 3) Frasier Grinch is the ninth episode from the third season of Frasier. ... Look up Threshold in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Rumble Roses ) is a video game that was developed and published by Konami in 2004 for the PlayStation 2. ... Rumble Roses XX (pronounced Rumble Roses Double X) is a female fighting video game that was developed by YUKEs Future Media Creators and Konami for the Xbox 360. ... House at Cúcuta, Colombia A house is a building typically lived in by one or more people. ...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 211th day of the year (212th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 360th day of the year (361st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Look up Candy cane in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• About.com: History of the candy cane
• The Tradition of the Candy Cane