So Where did the Candy Cane come from?

I had heard a little about the candy cane history on a Christmas movie I was watching the other night and found it very interesting. I had heard something about this before but had never looked it up. Here is one version of the story. It started way back in 1670, when a choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany, bent the sugar-sticks into canes to represent a shepherd's staff and then passed out the candy canes to the children. At the time they were all white. The tradition spread and sometimes rose designs were added to it. The first historical reference to the candy cane being in America was in 1847, when a German immigrant called August Imgard decorated the Christmas tree in his Wooster, Ohio home with candy canes. Around 50 years later the red and white candy canes came out and no one knows exactly where that came from because on Christmas cards prior 1900 they showed only all-white candy canes. Christmas cards after 1900 showed illustrations of striped candy canes. There is also a Christian history behind it that some say represent Jesus,and it does make sense even though it has never been proven that is why it was made like it is. It was said that the cane was shaped like a "J" for Jesus. The red-and-white stripes represented Christ's blood and purity. The three red stripes symbolized the Holy Trinity. The hardness of the candy represented the Church's foundation on solid rock and the peppermint flavor represented the use of hyssop, an herb referred to in the Old Testament. I think it's awesome to believe that because it you think about it that would be a good thing:) I have even heard of people putting what the candy cane means and attaching it to the candy cane and using them to pass out to people to witness to others. It would be a neat idea to make to pass around to people at Christmas:)