what is the meaning of a gingerbread house

Gingerbread houses in Germany originated from bakers interpreting the description of a house from the story Hansel and Gretel. The story is about two siblings who encounter a witch living in a gingerbread, cake, and candy house. Bakers would apply and try to craft their versions of this house.
what is the meaning of a gingerbread house

Records of honey cakes can be traced to ancient Rome. Food historians ratify that ginger has been seasoning foodstuffs and drinks since antiquity. It is believed gingerbread was first baked in Europe at the end of the 11th century, when returning crusaders brought back the custom of spicy bread from the Middle East. Ginger was not only tasty it had properties that helped preserve the bread. According to the French legend, gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 by the Armenian monk, later saint, Gregory of Nicopolis (Gregory Makar). He lived for seven years in Bondaroy, France, near the town of Pithiviers, where he taught gingerbread cooking to priests and other Christians. He died in 999. Gingerbread, as we know it today, descends from Medieval European culinary traditions. Gingerbread was also shaped into different forms by monks in Franconia, Germany in the 13th century. Lebkuchen bakers are recorded as early as 1296 in Ulm and 1395 in Nuremberg. Nuremberg was recognized as the “Gingerbread Capital of the World” when in the 1600s the guild started to employ master bakers and skilled workers to create complicated works of art from gingerbread. Medieval bakers used carved boards to create elaborate designs. During the 13th century, the custom spread across Europe. It was taken to Sweden in the 13th century by German immigrants; there are references from Vadstena Abbey of Swedish nuns baking gingerbread to ease indigestion in 1444. The traditional sweetener is honey, used by the guild in Nuremberg. Spices used are ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom. Gingerbread figurines date back to the 15th century, and figural biscuit-making was practised in the 16th century. The first documented instance of figure-shaped gingerbread biscuits is from the court of Elizabeth I of England: she had gingerbread figures made in the likeness of some of her important guests.

A gingerbread house is a model house made of gingerbread. The usual material is crisp ginger biscuit made of gingerbread – the ginger nut. Another type of model-making with gingerbread uses a boiled dough that can be molded like clay to form edible statuettes or other decorations. These houses, covered with a variety of candies and icing, are popular Christmas decorations, often built by children with the help of their parents.

The tradition of decorated gingerbread houses began in Germany in the early 1800s, supposedly popularised after the not-so-Christmassy fairytale of Hansel and Gretel was published in 1812. The Grimms’ original fairy tale includes the line: “When they came nearer they saw that the house was built of bread, and roofed with cakes, and the window was of transparent sugar.” (In later versions it became gingerbread, rather than just bread.) Inspired by the story, German bakers began to craft small decorated houses from lebkuchen, spiced honey biscuits.

Trying once more to break his own record, Lovich has created a 2018 Gingerbread Lane, on display at the New York Hall of Science again this year ($16 museum entrance, until 31 January). There are also gingerbread house workshops until the end of December ($15). The New York Adventure Club is running a workshop with Lovitch himself tomorrow, with a step-by-step demo on how to make the perfect gingerbread house ($60).

The modern tradition of making gingerbread houses has become a family event at Christmas markets around the world.

The walled medieval town of Dinkelsbühl, southern Germany, is often thought of as a real-life town of gingerbread houses. Its picturesque and well-preserved historic centre has gabled half-timbered buildings in yellow and peach, a church, a little town square and cobbled streets.

The witch’s house in the two-centuries-old tale of Hansel and Gretel is today inspiring ever more extravagant gingerbread creations and constructions across Europe and the US

Beyond the Headline: History behind gingerbread houses

FAQ

What does the gingerbread house symbolize?

One family tradition that many Americans do during Christmas is build gingerbread houses together, a symbol of family and of home. Although not a religious tradition, it does remind us that being together as a family is God-given and something to be thankful for.

What is the story behind gingerbread house?

According to certain researchers, the first gingerbread houses were the result of the well-known Grimm’s fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel” in which the two children abandoned in the forest found an edible house made of bread with sugar decorations.

What is the significance of gingerbread?

Medieval gingerbread was not just about showing off to your guests. It also served a practical purpose at feasts. Gingerbread was served as a sweetmeat at the end of a meal as part of the ‘void’ or ‘voidee’. Initially, the ‘void’ was the term used for the clearing of the table between courses.

What is the connection between gingerbread and Christmas?

In the late 17th century, gingerbread became associated with Christmas. Russian bakers prepared gingerbread men and women, usually as replicas of those people attending parties. Gingerbread houses were introduced about 200 years later, when the Grimm brothers wrote Hansel and Gretel. A new holiday tradition was born.

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