Bottom Of The Barrel

Candy canes are just candy, so let it go

Fourth-grade student Jenna Baginski and her father, Tom, dressed up pillars at Charlotte Central School's entrance in red-and-white stripes this week just as a decoration for the holiday season. Charlotte Vermont is a sleepy town with 3,500 residents located approximately 12 miles south of Burlington on the shores of Lake Champlain. A resident of this small town took offence to the decorations calling them a religious symbol. William Gerson wrote a letter of protest to the School Board stating that candy canes are associated with Christmas and therefore a religious symbol unfit for public display.

Seriously? Candy Canes = Jesus? Really? I do understand that candy canes are more prevalent during the holiday season but I can't make the leap that they are a form of religion. Ironically, one theory of the origins of our modern day candy cane is that people decorated their Yule trees with food, the bent candy stick [which was first shown at the Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association in 1837] was invented as a functional solution. The Yule Yule or Yule-tide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic peoples as a pagan religious festival. So maybe Mr. Gerson is right but I would be willing to bet his objection was not because he felt candy canes were a pagan which can stir up a specific image in most people's mind.

Thankfully the school board agrees with me and agreed that candy canes are a secular symbol and don't represent an improper government endorsement of religion. Sometimes candy is just candy - red and white stripped or not.

Labels: Holiday

posted by TheWino @ 10:27 AM