The History of the Candy Cane

What makes a Candy Cane a Candy Cane?
Why is a Candy Cane different from a peppermint stick candy?
There is a sketchy history of the Candy Cane which I recently saw on AOL.  Here goes...
The Candy Cane did not enter into the history of the world until 1670 when the Choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany asked a local candy maker to prepare "sweet sticks" to keep the noisy children busy and quiet at the Christmas Eve service.
In order to allow children to eat candy at the service, the Choirmaster asked the candy maker to put on "hook" on the candy stick to remind the children of the shepherds who tended to the baby Jesus.
The popularity of the Candy Cane spread across Europe and became a treat passed out at Nativity plays.
The Candy Cane made its way to America, so the story goes, when a German immigrant in Wooster, Ohio decorated his Christmas Tree with Candy Canes.
No one really knows how the Candy Cane got its stripes.  Initially it was a white stick, but sometime in the early 1900's the Candy Cane became red and white.
For a number of years at Sweet Tooth we have ordered Candy Canes in a variety of colors and flavors.  Nonetheless, the peppermint flavor is still the favorite of our customers, followed by the red and white cherry flavor.
That, friends, is the history of the Candy Cane.