Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "椒鹽卷餅" in Chinese language version.
The pretzel's origins actually predate Christianity by hundreds of years. Their twisty shape is a symbol of Sirona, the Gaulish goddess of spring and the sacrificial rites associated with the harvest. While the PFG [Pretzels for God] saw the Holy Trinity in the holes of the pretzel, [food historian William Woys] Weaver says the pretzel's form is "a votive symbol of a triplicate noose, the type used to hang three people at once, since three deaths were considered more potent than one."
The pretzel's origins actually predate Christianity by hundreds of years. Their twisty shape is a symbol of Sirona, the Gaulish goddess of spring and the sacrificial rites associated with the harvest. While the PFG [Pretzels for God] saw the Holy Trinity in the holes of the pretzel, [food historian William Woys] Weaver says the pretzel's form is "a votive symbol of a triplicate noose, the type used to hang three people at once, since three deaths were considered more potent than one."
