Gingerbread Decorating Day – December 12, 2026

History of Gingerbread Decorating Day

The origins of Gingerbread Decorating Day are unknown. Thankfully the history of gingerbread is well-documented. Gingerbread was brought to Europe by the Armenian monk, Gregory of Nicopolis, in the 10th century. He brought the necessary spices from the Middle East and then demonstrated gingerbread making, using spices and molasses, to French Christians. By the 13th century, gingerbread had become popular and nuns in Sweden would bake it as an antidote to indigestion.

It was in Sweden that painting and decorating gingerbread became popular. These decorated gingerbreads were in fact used as window decorations! The 13th century also saw gingerbread make its way to the city of Toruń in Poland, where the honey made in the nearby villages made the cookies especially delicious. To this day ‘Pierniki Toruńskie’, as they are known in Poland, is iconic in Poland’s national cuisine. From the 17th century onwards, gingerbread was sold in monasteries and pharmacies in England, where it was popularly believed to have medicinal properties. It was also in this century that you could only make gingerbread if you were a professional gingerbread baker — unless it was Easter or Christmas when everyone was allowed to make gingerbread at home.

In the play, “Love’s Labor’s Lost”, Shakespeare wrote, “And I had but one penny in the world, thou should’ st have it to buy gingerbread” — such was its popularity! In 1875, the gingerbread man was introduced to holiday traditions through a fairy tale published in St. Nicholas Magazine, where he was depicted as a holiday treat that was eaten by a hungry fox.