Sunday, April 5, 2009

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday and we were surprised when our pastor at church said that meant pretzels.

Pretzels?

Each person at church went home with a pretzel, complete with a packet of salt and mustard. We are pretzel connoisseurs, but didn't know about the connection between Palm Sunday and pretzels.


Have you ever heard the story behind the pretzel? Here's what they told us:

The pretzel was invented by a German monk in 610 AD from scraps of dough. The monk used the pretzels as treats for children who learned their prayers and scripture lessons. The pretzel is shaped in the form of arms folded in prayer - in those days people did not pray by bowing their heads and folding their hands, but by crossing arms with each hand resting on the opposite shoulder. Later the pretzel was used as a convenient way to hand food to the poor, and it became a favorite form of alms for the hungry. The church adopted the practice of handing out pretzels in the streets on Palm Sunday as a commemoration of Christ entering the city of Jerusalem as King in order to bring gifts and blessings to the people of God. It is in this sense that we use the pretzel as a holiday food - Christ our King has come to bring us gifts and blessings - He is the answer to our prayers and the bread that fills and strengthens us.

Believe it or not, Sam's Club sells really good pretzels in their little cafe, but the best pretzels I've ever had are the pretzel sticks from Auntie Anne's. Yum-o!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

So does that mean you've settled on NSP????!

Kasey said...

Most likely. We started the new member's class there!

Gloria Furman said...

anne is here in the uae! isn't that awesome?