It's a cult closely tied to the Anglo-Saxon world: the gingerbread house. These "constructions" are always covered in various types of candy and icing, which in America are used as Christmas decorations and built by children with the help of their parents. The tradition actually has roots in the heart of Europe, but it has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ or Christmas. The connection occurred purely by chance and spread during the 19th century. Let's look at the most important legends surrounding the birth of gingerbread houses.
The Legend That Links Gingerbread House to The Birth of Jesus
According to legend, ginger arrived in Europe in 992 thanks to Gregory of Narek, an Armenian monk who later became a saint. He spent the last seven years of his life in Bondaroy, a tiny village in the heart of the Loire Valley, France, where he taught all the inhabitants how to make gingerbread. Castle after castle, the French spread this art throughout the Old Continent, eventually reaching the United States.
The most important legend regarding these sweets, however, has deep roots in Christian culture and even harks back to the Gospel of Matthew, linking it to the very birth of Jesus Christ. According to this story, in addition to the gold, incense, and myrrh offered by the Three Wise Men, Jesus also received a chest containing ginger roots from a "wise man" who, however, died in Syria, entrusting this gift to a rabbi he met along the way, from whom he learned the prophecy concerning the king of the Jews. The wise man understood God's message and his mission: the chest was meant to reach Bethlehem, or even better, Beth-Lehem, which in Hebrew means "the house of bread." The rabbi, who with his disciples enjoyed building houses with bread to "keep alive their hope of the Messiah's arrival," added the ginger roots to improve the aroma and flavor, at the suggestion of one of the Three Wise Men. From then on, gingerbread houses would always accompany the believers in the story.
The True History of the Gingerbread House
In reality, the tradition of decorated gingerbread houses is quite recent, and the legend of Matthew has no scientific value. We have to take a big step forward in history from the aforementioned legends, arriving at 1800. During this period, in Germany, we find the first houses inspired by another great book: not the Gospel of Matthew, but Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm. After the publication of the volume in 1812, German bakers modified the gingerbread constructions, decorating them as we know them today, that is, inspired by the one in the story. There is therefore no real connection with Christmas in the "real story": by pure chance, they became popular during the Christmas period and, once they reached the United States thanks to German emigrants in Pennsylvania, they became popular throughout the East Coast. It is likely, however, that the Brothers Grimm themselves were inspired by something real, considering that gingerbread makers had been gathering in professional guilds separate from those of bakers since the 17th century. It is, however, an incontrovertible fact that thanks to them, the little houses have become important for pastry chefs all over the world, entering the homes of millions of people.
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