SC - Alphabet pretzels

[Christina M. Krupp]

Greetings!

Pretzels are clearly illustrated in a Pieter Brueghel painting called The
Fight Between Carnival and Lent, painted in the earlier half of the
1500's. The pretzels are tied in that familiar knot-shape, but they look a
little more narrow. They're fairly large, more like the size of "soft
pretzels" and they're strung on the lance of the fellow who portrays the
incoming Lenten season. Also on the Lent side are various types of Fish.
On the carnival side are waffles (being made by an old woman crouched over
a fire with a bowl of batter, a waffle-iron, and a pile of waffles near
her). 

My father, who comes from Speyer in Germany, says that the coat of arms of
that town portrays several pretzels. The last time he went over, I asked
him to find out more, particularly with regard to the earliest known date
for that heraldic depiction. He returned with no usable documentation, but
he insists that it's "common knowledge" that pretzels were made in Speyer
throughout the Middle Ages, and that the yearly pretzel-and-radish
festival goes back to "ancient days". FWIW.  

- --Marieke

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