Cookies have existed for about a very long time, but it got linked with the festival of Christmas in the fifteenth century in the country of Europe. Gingerbread was about the same kind of food, but its baking was legally restricted to guildsman. However, during the holiday the laws were not so stringent and people could bake it in their homes, thus making it a special annual treat. Gingerbread has been originated in Crusades. It was basically made out of bread crumbs, which were boiled, with honey and were garnished heavily with various spices. It was then pressed on the boards and then dried. It gradually evolved and began being related with the festival when it was started to be made into shapes of people as well as animals.
Christmas cookie cutters are nowadays in widely available and are linked with the festival. Cut out cookies can be traced back to the Christmas tradition of mumming during the colonial times. In mumming, stories were enacted by using food to spread the Christmas spirit. In this ritual, cut outs were made out of Yule dows usually in the form of baby Jesus. In the nineteenth century Dutch children used to create big cut outs to decorate the windows. During the same time Yule dows got famous and were known as Yule dollies. They were created by using tin cutters and appeared like people and were even properly garnished with icing. The face was usually made by using scrap paper from magazine, which was required to be taken off before eating the cookie.
In around 1840’s, Santa Claus became linked with Christmas and cookie cutter recipes were made to represent him. Some cookies used to be decorated so beautifully that were not meant for consumption just like the gingerbread houses in present times. Another association to Santa Claus has Dutch origin as they believed that Black Peter who was Saint Nicholas’s associate used to distribute pepernoten cookies at the time of Christmas. Moravians, a Protestant section used to make pyramidal structures out of cookies as decorations for Christmas Eve service. Nowadays, Moravian cookies which have a spicy flavor are a Christmas tradition for various people. Check this website if you are looking for more types of cookie cutter.
Cookies are left for Santa to help him during his journey throughout the night from one house to another. It is believed by historians that this tradition started at the time of the Great Depression so that parents could encourage their children to be generous, humble as well as kind. The tradition happened to stay and continue till date with great joy and splendor and Santa would not be in need of a suit of smaller size in the near future.