The un-Christmassy origin of

gingerbread houses
By Kat Eschner, Smithsonian.com, adapted by Newsela staff on 12.19.17
Word Count 420
Level MAX

Image 1: The tradition of decorating gingerbread dates back to the Middle Ages. Photo from: Carrie Stephens via Flickr.

Like most Christmas traditions, gingerbread houses are big business. Wilton, a popular
confectionery-making company, reports that it created over 2 million gingerbread house kits in
2011. Some people are more inclined to DIY; for them, domestic gurus like Martha Stewart offer
recipes and plans for making your own sugary abode. But in spite of gingerbread house-
decorating’s cozy holiday connotations, the roots of this tradition may lie in the folktale "Hansel
and Gretel."

Now, gingerbread houses didn’t start with the Brothers Grimm. They date back to the 1600s. This
was a few centuries after the emergence of gingerbread itself, writes food historian Tori Avey.
The tale of Hansel and Gretel may be even older than that, some historians say. It may date to a
14th century famine. During that period, parents turned children out to fend for themselves.

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Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm composed and published a version of the tale in the early 19th
century. By this time, gingerbread houses were a long-standing tradition. Somewhere along the
way, gingerbread — and gingerbread houses — had become associated with Christmas. This
was possibly due to historical connections between gingerbread and religious ceremonies.

The Grimms’ widely read stories helped to popularize gingerbread houses. This left many with the
belief that gingerbread houses started with the Grimms’ version of the tale.

The gruesome fairy tale involves two children almost getting cooked and eaten by a witch who
lives in a gingerbread house. Just in time, they turn the tables — and cook her. Given its
association with this dark story, it might seem surprising that the gingerbread house is still
connected to Christmas. But today’s family-friendly holiday has numerous roots in the grimmer
festivities of earlier times.

“Early German settlers brought this lebkuchenhaeusle — gingerbread house — tradition to the
Americas,” writes Barbara Rolek for The Spruce. Today, gingerbread house-building
competitions are an annual holiday tradition. They take place both nationally and in different parts
of the country. Landmarks like the Washington Monument have been recreated using the spicy
dough.

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The gingerbread-house-building contests in the United States today do bear some resemblance
to medieval “gingerbread fairs.” These were hosted by some cities in England and France during
the Middle Ages and later, writes Amanda Fiegl for Smithsonian.com. The origin of these fairs
was simply that gingerbread was a tasty and ubiquitous medieval dessert. However, they did offer
an opportunity to get together and enjoy a delicious treat. What could be more Christmassy than
that?

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