It was too cold for me to go walking and drawing outside today so I walked a mall instead. After my walk I couldn’t resist getting a pretzel, the aroma had been tempting me every time I made a lap by the shop. I gave in and sacrificed myself so I could draw the yummy morsel for Lent.
Did you know the pretzel has a history entwined with the Church? Legends say that around AD 600 Italian monks would give their students treats for saying their prayers correctly. The treats were baked dough that was twisted to resemble crossed arms, the common posture for prayer during that time period. Pretzels became popular in Europe and symbolism became associated with them. Pretzels became symbols of good luck and spiritual fulfillment. Eventually, the three spaces in a pretzel came to symbolize the Holy Trinity. Pretzels were also a common food for Lent. The Church had stricter dietary rules in the past with meat, dairy and eggs forbidden during Lent. Pretzels are made from only water, flour and salt so they were safe to consume by the faithful.
Remember, faith works!
I think mall walking is a good alternative if it is cold or rainy. Nice pretzel drawing. Hope it tasted good. You know, I have never had one of these kinds of pretzels! I’ve seen them and even been with others who bought them but I never have. I don’t know why not – the stores must be selling something that draws me even more. People love symbolism and we’ve had over 2000 years to develop a good supply haven’t we. I love the story. I didn’t know until this year that people couldn’t have dairy. I knew about meat – I grew up where we couldn’t have meat on Fridays until the rules changed in the 1970s. I think they could eat fish though or they would have been the first large group of sometimes vegans!
It was yummy! I rarely eat anything like this as it’s too hard to justify the junk calories.
My fresman year I worked at McDonald’s in a small, mainly Catholic college town. During Lent we would crank out ten times as many Fillet 0 Fish sandwiches as normal and would have to plan ahead so as not to run out. Odd how things ripple out and impact even huge chain businesses.