What is Gingerbread House Day?
Gingerbread House Day is on December 12! Whether you’re a cookie building expert or your baked house falls apart as soon as you get the third wall glued on with icing, we can all agree the best part of building a gingerbread house is eating the sweet treat when we‘re done!
History of Gingerbread House Day
“Run, run, run as fast as you can,
You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!”
Nothing brings in the holidays like the smell of fresh baked gingerbread. But before the decorative cookie led the popularity contest on the holiday dessert table, baking gingerbread was acknowledged as a specific profession. In the 17th century, only professional gingerbread bakers were allowed to make gingerbread, except at Christmas and Easter, when anyone was allowed to bake it.
In Europe, gingerbread was sold in special shops and at seasonal markets that sold sweets and gingerbread shaped as hearts, stars, soldiers, babies, trumpets, swords, pistols, and animals. Gingerbread was especially sold outside churches on Sundays. Religious gingerbread reliefs were purchased for particular religious events such as Christmas and Lent. Decorated gingerbread was given as presents to adults and children or as a love token bought specifically for weddings.
Gingerbread was also considered a form of popular art in Europe. Molds often displayed actual happenings by portraying new rulers, their children, spouses, and parties. Substantial mold collections are held at the Ethnographic Museum in Toruń, Poland and the Bread Museum in Ulm, Germany. According to some food historians, the tradition of making gingerbread houses started in Germany in the early 1800s. The first gingerbread houses were the result of the well-known Grimm’s fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel.” After this story was published, German bakers began baking ornamented fairy-tale houses made from gingerbread. They were brought over to America by German immigrants and became popular during the Christmas season.
Gingerbread houses are a favorite holiday pastime with families, be it with parents, grandparents, or even both! But these delicious, decorative bread houses have always been a staple of the holiday season for as long as people can remember. Where did they come from? Who came up with the idea? To answer those questions, we must follow the ghost of holiday’s past into the history of Gingerbread House Day!
Learn about Gingerbread House Day
Whether you consider yourself an expert at building gingerbread houses or you are the type of person that starts eating your creation half-way through, you’re going to love Gingerbread House Day. After all, we can all agree that the best part of the process is eating the delicious gingerbread and decorations, no matter whether you managed to turn it into a work of art beforehand or not. Gingerbread House Day is a great way to bring the family together, have some fun, and most importantly, eat some tasty and festive gingerbread.
Gingerbread is a broad category of baked goods. It relates to goods that tend to be baked and flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and gingers. Molasses, sugar, and honey are also used to sweeten the gingerbread. Gingerbread foods can range from something resembling a ginger snap to a very moist and soft loaf cake.
Of course, when it comes to gingerbread for gingerbread houses, you need a good, strong biscuit. The last thing you want is for your gingerbread house to crumble to the ground. Of course, don’t bake it until it becomes a brick either unless you don’t intend on eating it afterwards!
History of Gingerbread House Day
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 a French legend, gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 A.D. by the Armenian monk and later saint, Gregory of Nicopolis (Gregory Makar). Gingerbread figurines date back to the 15th century and baking human-shaped biscuits was practiced in the 16th century.
The gingerbread bakers were gathered into professional baker guilds. In many European countries, gingerbread bakers were a distinct component of the bakers’ guild. Gingerbread baking developed into an acknowledged profession. In the 17th century, only professional gingerbread bakers were permitted to bake gingerbread except at Christmas and Easter. In Europe, gingerbreads shaped like hearts, stars, soldiers, trumpets, swords, pistols and animals were sold in special shops and seasonal markets.
The tradition of making decorated gingerbread houses started in Germany in the early 1800’s. According to certain researchers, the first gingerbread houses were the result of the well-known Grimm’s fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. In modern times the tradition has continued in certain places in Europe. In Germany, the Christmas markets still sell decorated gingerbread before Christmas. (Lebkuchenhaus or Pfefferkuchenhaus are the German terms for a gingerbread house.)
There have been some pretty significant dates in the world of gingerbread over the years. We’re sure you’re familiar with The Gingerbread Man fairytale, the one that goes “Run, run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!” Well, this was released in 1875. It was part of the St. Nicholas Magazine’s May issue at the time.
One of the most significant dates when it comes to gingerbread houses, though, was in 2015. This is when the biggest gingerbread house in the world was created. The gingerbread house covered an area of a monumental 2,520 square-feet. To put this into perspective, this is roughly half of the size of a typical tennis court. It reached 21-feet in height. It also amassed to 35.8 million calories, but let’s not think about those pesky things! Crowned as the biggest gingerbread house in the Guinness World Records, this feat occurred in Bryan, Texas.
How to celebrate Gingerbread House Day
To celebrate Gingerbread House Day, take the family out for a shopping trip and pick up the supplies necessary to make a gingerbread house. Then let the younger members of the family pick out the decorations that they want to add to the gingerbread house. Finally, pick out the decorations that you want and add them to the house.
A lot of people have gingerbread house competitions on this date. If you can be sure that the competition won’t turn nasty, this is definitely a fun way to spend the occasion. You can have a station that is filled with gingerbread pieces and plenty of different decorations. Have fun creating your own gingerbread houses and then you can all secretly vote for your winner. You can then have a prize lined up for the person that comes in the first place. Some more gingerbread, perhaps?
You should also make sure that you have plenty of festive-inspired drinks and snacks on hand! If you don’t, someone may be tempted to eat all of the gingerbread. There are lots of great recipes online for gingerbread lattes and even gingerbread cocktails for the adults too. You can’t go wrong with a gingerbread martini, right?
