When people think of gingerbread they think of people and houses made of decorated cookies. However, nobody ever considers why we have these traditions or the history and culture behind them. Every holiday season people either buy or bake gingerbread and make spiced molasses cookies and turn them into people and houses, but no one ever pauses to give thought to the reason why. Historically gingerbread was used for religious practices, the ancient Greeks and Egyptians carved them to be used for ceremonies. Around 992 an Armenian monk named Gregoire brought gingerbread making to Europe – specifically french christians– where it spread some, but it was introduced more towards the 11th century in the far west of Europe. Gingerbreads association with christianity is what led to it being known as a christmas staple. The specific tradition of houses and people stem from two different countries. The gingerbread man originated in England, when Queen Elizabeth the I had them made in her party goers likenesses as favors. In 1857 the St. Nicholas magazine published a short story called The Gingerbread Man, the tale in which the freshly baked gingerbread man runs away screaming “you can’t catch me i’m the gingerbread man” which popularized the traditions in America.
As for the houses, they were popularized in Germany after the brothers Grimm produced Hansel and Gretel. The idea of a house made of candy and sweets appealing to most. Those two examples are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to gingerbread. Nuremberg, Germany was once considered the gingerbread capital of the world. Nuremberg earned the title by employing master bakers of gingerbread to be a facet of bakers guilds to bake gingerbread masterpieces of all kinds. These bakers turned the art of making gingerbread into an actually respected position. Anyone who was not one of these master bakers was not allowed to make gingerbread with the exception of Christmas and Easter. There were a few major centers of gingerbread but Nuremberg was the biggest.
So while families in their houses making gingerbread house kits may not realize it, gingerbread has a fascinating and very long history. It was and is a staple of the baking world even if not as renowned in modern times. Next time you bake some little gingerbread men or assemble a gingerbread house, take a second to think about how wondrous it is that you are actually doing something so ancient and revered.
