Joanne Seelig: Welcome back, my name is Joanne Seelig and I am the Family Programs
Coordinator at the National Building Museum in Washington DC. You are
here to make a gingerbread house. Well, before we get ready to build, it
might help to know a little bit of a history in gingerbread. Did you know
that gingerbread dates back all the way to the 11th century? It goes back
that far. By the 17th century in Europe, many gingerbread bakers
recognized as professionals and in fact only professional gingerbread
bakers were recognized to make gingerbread. In Nuremberg, Germany, it
became the self-proclaimed capital of gingerbread.
You might be familiar with the story of Hansel and Gretel where the
brother and the sister come upon a gingerbread house in the wood. Well,
that house is the witch s home; it is no big surprise that the Germans chose
to make this house, a gingerbread house. Hansel and Gretel is a grimes
fairy tale and it happens to be German. It is not just because of this story
that gingerbread became popular in the United States, many Europeans
immigrated to the United States and by the 19th century gingerbread had
become very popular in the US.
Here at the National Building Museum, we like to celebrate the holidays
by making gingerbread houses. We find that this activity is fun for
families and it teaches onto work together and also think about
architectural design. What makes a building strong, just it just depends on
its material? That also the shape and I encourage you to think about
rectangles and triangles as you build this house.
Well now that you know a little bit about the history, I think you are ready
to build.