This is the
other blog idea from my family, but it is not only about Christmas, so I will
place it here.
As early as
610 A.D. in southern France and northern Italy they were making pretzels. They were made from the left over dough from
the bread that monks were making. The
monks would take the dough and make little strips and then fold it in a
special shape. The shape was to
represent arms of a child in prayer. The
three holes represent the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
The monks
used these little treats to give to good little children who memorized their
Bible verses. The monks called them Pretiola, which in Latin means little
reward. In Italy the called them
Brachoila, which means little arms. The
little treats made their way all over Europe and finally to Germany where they
were called Bretzels, or modern day Pretzels.
In the 1600’s
in Germany, the pretzels were traditionally eaten during the Good Friday supper. The Catholic Church had a lot to do with this
because they said the pretzel was religiously significant because of its shape
and ingredients. The shape we already
talked about, as for the ingredients, pretzels are made with simple ingredients
of just flour and water. During that time
in Europe, Catholic people were not allowed to eat eggs, lard, or dairy
products during the Lenten season. As
time passed, on Easter morning they would hide pretzels to be found by
children, some say this is the precursor to the modern day practice of hiding
eggs.
Because of
the shape and the holes representing the Holy Trinity, pretzels were thought to
bring luck to people. Later, pretzels at
weddings become a tradition for their good luck and the phrase “tying the knot”
came from this. The idea was that the
marriage was tying the two prominent families together. In this idea, the two large loops were to
represent everlasting love because of the resemblance to a heart.
Now when you
eat a pretzel, you can have a reminder of the Holy Trinity and thank God for
your food.
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