December 18, 2011
Symbol of Christmas:
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Gingerbread
Probably one of the most common holiday cookies is gingerbread, weather in the shape of a man, house, or basically anything else. What is the origin of gingerbread and how did it come to be associated with Christmas? This site explains how:
The origins of gingerbread are steeped in a flavorful tradition, and date back to the ancient world. Ginger root is Malaysian, and was once used to soothe an upset stomach and prevent a cold. Throughout pre-Christian Europe, the Winter Solstice was celebrated with the creation and ingestion of small gingerbread cakes adorned with symbols of the sun.Catholic monks began to bake gingerbread for special religious celebrations, constructing the cakes into specific designs. Often depicting saints and other religious motifs, these wonderful early carvings were made via large and elaborately carved "cookie boards" that impressed the pattern onto a stiff rolled dough.Gingerbread became so popular during medieval times that many festivities were actually known as "gingerbread fairs." Early bakers created certain shapes in association with the different seasons of the year. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, decorative themes expanded to include elaborate depictions of lords, ladies, soldiers, castles and occasionally floral and geometric designs.In Medieval England gingerbread meant simply "preserved ginger" and was actually a corruption of the Old French gingebras, derived from the Latin name of the spice, Zingebar. The term was not applied to a kind of cake made with treacle and flavored with ginger until the 15th century. It is probably no accident that recipes for cakes, cookies and flavored breads developed rapidly after it was discovered that ginger had a preservative effect when added to pastries and bread.Of all the countries in Europe, Germany has the most enduring tradition of flat, shaped gingerbreads. Even today, throughout Germany at every autumn fair, there are rows of stalls filled with hundreds of gingerbread hearts, decorated with white and colored icing and tied with ribbons. Of all the German cities, Nuremberg became known as the "gingerbread capital" of the world.
I had no idea that gingerbread was such a huge tradition in Europe! Those Germans, they just have so many great ideas. (I find it interesting that many of our Christmas traditions come from Germany.) Since gingerbread became associated with festivals and holidays, it makes sense that we see it a lot a Christmas. After the story of Hansel and Gretel became popular, gingerbread houses became popular at Christmas as well in America.
But is there a symbolic meaning for gingerbread? Historically, not really. But I found this site that offers a possible symbolic meaning, at least for the gingerbread man:
The gingerbread man does not create himself but rather is created. Gingerbread people remind us of God's creation of Adam in the Garden of Eden, and God's creation of each of us. Spices, reminiscent of those mentioned in the Old Testament, make the gingerbread man the color of earth (Adam was created from the dust of the earth). Like us, gingerbread people are not immortal. They are destined to be eaten and thus to unite with their creators. God does not eat us, but our mortal bodies, like that of the gingerbread man's, will not live forever. God created us for eternal union with Him after we die. Gingerbread people remind us to look beyond ourselves to our Creator with whom we will one day be united.
What I gain from this is that the gingerbread man is a reminder (even if it is somewhat stretched) that we have the opportunity to live with our Heavenly Father again in the eternities. Jesus Christ made it possible for us to be able to do this. Because of His atonement, we can be forgiven of our sins and become worthy to enter into the presence of our Heavenly Father again.
I also wanted to put in a little blurb of my own. I noticed while researching, that ginger was used as a preservative. I will now refer you to the following scripture in Alma 44:4 which says, "Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith."
Just like ginger preserves the bread, the gospel in our lives can be a spiritual and physical "preservative" for us. I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ which offers physical and spiritual protection. And I am grateful for the simple reminders of our Heavenly Father's love for us that we have all around us this time of year.
