GINGERBREAD HOUSE DAY
Gingerbread House Day on December 12th recognizes a family tradition for many around the country.
#GingerbreadHouseDay
A favorite food of an Armenian monk, Gregory of Nicopolis, brought gingerbread to Europe around 992 AD and taught French Christians to bake it. Since gingerbread was often used in religious ceremonies, monks baked to be sturdy to molded into images of saints.
We can thank the Brothers’ Grimm for a gingerbread house, though. Through their tale of Hansel and Gretel, they introduce an evil witch who lives in a house made of gingerbread. It didn’t take long for the German gingerbread guilds to pick up the idea. Soon, they put gingerbread houses to a more festive use making snowy cottages made from the spicy-sweet treat.
Today, we can spend the day baking, cutting, and building to our heart’s delight. Kits take some steps out of the process so we can get right down to constructing our winter wonderlands.
HOW TO OBSERVE GINGERBREAD HOUSE DAY
Gather the family together, bake up some gingerbread, and start building and decorating your very own gingerbread house. Give the recipe below a try.
Other ways to celebrate include:
- Reading Hansel and Gretel.
- Hosting a house-building party.
- Touring gingerbread displays.
Use #GingerbreadHouseDay to post on social media.
GINGERBREAD HOUSE DAY HISTORY
National Day Calendar® continues researching the origins of this cookie engineering day.
Gingerbread FAQ
Q. How do I glue the walls of the house together?
A. Use Royal Icing for the best results. This type of icing will dry and become hard ensuring your creation stands for the entire holiday season. (That is, if everyone in your household doesn’t gobble it up first.)
Q. What is the world’s largest gingerbread house?
A. According to Guinness World Records, the Texas A&M Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas built the world’s largest gingerbread house in 2013. The team raised money for charity by charging admission fees to tour the life-size house with working gingerbread doors. Another record-breaker in the category of gingerbread is Jon Lovitch of New York. Each year he builds a gingerbread village which is displayed at the New York Hall of Science. In 2017, Guinness World Records certified his village as the largest with 1,251 buildings.