December 12th:
HAPPY GINGERBREAD HOUSE DAY!
Illustration:
Kay Nielsen (18886-1957) from Hansel and Gretel and Other Stories by
the Brothers Grimm (1925)
The tradition of making decorated edible houses from gingerbread began in Germany in the early 1800s, allegedly popularised following the publication, in 1812, the dark fairy-tale of Hansel and Gretel as told by the Brothers Grimm. In the tale, the abandoned children, lost in a wood, discover original the house "built of bread, and roofed with cakes, and the window was of transparent sugar.” In later tellings, the bread became gingerbread inspiring German bakers to craft small decorated edible houses from lebkuchen, the popular spiced honey biscuits.
"...It was now three mornings since Hansel and Gretel had left their father's house. They began to walk again, but they always came deeper into the forest, and if help did not come soon, they must die of hunger and weariness. When it was mid-day, they saw a beautiful snow-white bird sitting on a bough, which sang so delightfully that they stood still and listened to it. And when its song was over, it spread its wings and flew away before them, and they followed it until they reached a little house, on the roof of which it alighted; and when they approached the little house they saw that it was built of bread and covered with cakes, but that the windows were of clear sugar. 'We will set to work on that,' said Hansel, 'and have a good meal. I will eat a bit of the roof, and you Gretel, can eat some of the window, it will taste sweet.' Hansel reached up above, and broke off a little of the roof to try how it tasted, and Gretel leant against the window and nibbled at the panes. Then a soft voice cried from the parlour:
'Nibble, nibble, gnaw,
Who is nibbling at my little house?'
The children answered:
'The wind, the wind,
The heaven-born wind,'
and went on eating without disturbing themselves. Hansel, who liked the taste of the roof, tore down a great piece of it, and Gretel pushed out the whole of one round window-pane, sat down, and enjoyed herself with it. Suddenly the door opened, and a woman as old as the hills, who supported herself on crutches, came creeping out. Hansel and Gretel were so terribly frightened that they let fall what they had in their hands. The old woman, however, nodded her head, and said: 'Oh, you dear children, who has brought you here? do come in, and stay with me. No harm shall happen to you.' She took them both by the hand, and led them into her little house. Then good food was set before them, milk and pancakes, with sugar, apples, and nuts. Afterwards two pretty little beds were covered with clean white linen, and Hansel and Gretel lay down in them, and thought they were in heaven."
[Read more about the artist here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Nielsen ]
