What Are Pretzels?

Living in San Francisco teaches me a lot about world cultures. Known for its liberated views on life and lifestyle in general, San Francisco strikes me as a unique city surrounded by Catholic churches that remind me so much of my Catholic faith, upbringing and way of life. Also, am discovering day by day, about a multitude of things about Catholicism. By attending mass and reading information from my church bulletin do enable me to learn new information about my faith~ things that I never learned during my high school and college days many years ago. But hey, it's never too late to learn them now!

From Sts Peter and Paul Church Bulletin:

PRETZELS made of dough with no fat (forbidden during Lent) were made by Christians as early as the 5th century. The Pretzels's unique shape reminded them of ARMS FOLDED IN PRAYER.

Background information from Catholic Culture (Catholic Culture)

In the old Roman Empire, the faithful kept a very strict fast all through Lent: no milk, no butter, no cheese, no eggs, no cream and no meat. They made small breads of water, flour and salt, to remind themselves that Lent was a time of prayer. They shaped these breads in the form of crossed arms for in those days they crossed their arms over the breast while praying. Therefore they called the breads "little arms" (bracellae). From this Latin word, the Germanic people later coined the term "pretzel."

Thus the pretzel is the most appropriate food symbol in Lent. It still shows the form of arms crossed in prayer, reminding us that Lent is a time of prayer. It consists only of water and flour, thus proclaiming Lent as a time of fasting. The earliest picture and description of a pretzel (from the fifth century) may be found in the manuscript-codex No. 3867, Vatican Library.

There seems to be no reason why our Christian families should not return to this beautiful custom of our ancient Roman fellow- Christian, especially since we still have these breads everywhere. The children will be delighted and greatly impressed when they hear the true story of the pretzel.