[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 54 (Thursday, April 26, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H1607-H1608]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          NATIONAL PRETZEL DAY

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, though many people do not know it, today has 
been designated by the industry as National Pretzel Day. This is a 
multimillion-dollar industry, and I have a

[[Page H1608]]

number of large pretzel producers in my district, including Auntie 
Anne's, which you see in the shopping malls, Herr's, Anderson, Sturgis, 
Hammond and others. Everybody, it seems, eats pretzels today; but few 
of us know about the history of the pretzel and that they are one of 
the world's oldest snack foods.
  Pretzels go back as far as 610 A.D., when young students in North 
Italian monasteries received them as rewards for correctly reciting 
their prayers.
  A monk designed the pretzel to resemble the way students cross their 
arms across their chest in prayer, and that is also where the pretzel 
gets its name. Pretzel comes from ``pretiola,'' the Latin word for 
``little reward.''
  Pretzels have come a long way in the last 1,400 years and they are 
now a multimillion dollar industry in the U.S., and they are very 
popular. I am very proud to say that many of America's most popular 
pretzels come from Lancaster and Chester Counties in Pennsylvania.

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