A pretzel (/ˈprɛtsəl/ ⓘ PRET-səl; from German: Breze(l) or Bretzel, pronounced [ˈbʁeːtsl̩] ⓘ or [ˈbʁɛtsl̩]) is a type of baked pastry made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot.

[2] According to some scholars and various sources, the most popular story is that the pretzel was made in 610 AD by an Italian monk when he decided to make a special treat to help motivate his students to keep on learning.

[11] The German name "Brezel" may derive also from Latin bracellus (a medieval term for 'bracelet'),[12] or bracchiola ('little arms').

[11] A 12th-century illustration of the banquet of Queen Esther and King Ahasuerus in the Hortus deliciarum from the Alsace region (today France) may contain the earliest depiction of a pretzel.

Pretzels made with a simple recipe using only flour and water could be eaten during Lent when Christians were forbidden to eat eggs, lard, or dairy products such as milk and butter (cf.

[14] Like the holes in the hubs of round Finnish flatbread, ruisreikäleipä, which let them be hung on poles suspended just below the kitchen ceiling, the loops in pretzels may have served a practical purpose: bakers could hang them on sticks, for instance, projecting upwards from a central column, as shown in a painting by Job Berckheyde (1630–1693) from around 1681.

Examples for pretzel names in various Upper-German dialects are Breze, Brezn, Bretzel, Brezzl, Brezgen, Bretzga, Bretzet, Bretschl, Kringel, Silserli, and Sülzerli.

Sesame, poppy, sunflower, pumpkin, or caraway seeds, melted cheese, and bacon bits are other popular toppings.

In southern Germany and adjoining German-speaking areas, pretzels have retained their original religious meanings and are still used in various traditions and festivals.

[19][20] An old tradition on Palm Sunday dating back to 1533 is the outdoor pretzel market (Brezgenmarkt) in the Hungerbrunnen Valley near Heldenfingen.

[23] On the same occasion in Rhenish Hesse and the Palatinate, people have parades carrying big pretzels mounted on colourful decorated poles.

A local story says that the recipe came from a grateful Napoleonic soldier in 1795, whose wounds were treated by a baker's family in the little town of Burg.

In the city of Lübeck, the 500-year-old guild of boatmen on the Stecknitz Canal call their annual meetings in January Kringelhöge (Pretzelfun).

The elaborate affair, with about 200 participants, is celebrated as a breakfast with beer and includes Mass in the Lübeck Cathedral and a presentation of songs by a children's choir.

[26] The city of Osnabrück celebrates the anniversary of the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and organizes an annual hobby horse race for grade-four children.

[27] In heraldry, the city seal of Nörten dates from around 1550 and depicts two facing lions holding a pretzel at the center.

The festival includes a parade with over 100 bands, floats, and clubs participating from the whole region, and 22,000 pretzels are thrown among the crowds.

The pretzel booths on the main street are permanently installed and were specially designed when the whole downtown area was redone for the 100th anniversary.

[37][38] The key to success was the introduction of the new mass production methods of the industrialized age, which increased the availability and quantity, and the opening up of multiple points of distribution at schools, convenience and grocery stores, and entertainment venues such as movie theaters, arenas, concert halls, and sport stadiums.

Soft pretzels are frequently sold in shopping malls, with notable chains including Auntie Anne's and Wetzel's Pretzels/Pretzel Time.

A prime example was in 1949, when highly innovative American Machine and Foundry Co., of New York City, developed the "pretzel bender": a new automatic crispy-styled baked pretzel-twisting machine that rolled and tied them at the rate of 50 a minute—more than twice as fast as skilled hand twisters could make them—and conveyed them through the baking and salting process.

[47] In Altoona, Pennsylvania, the Benzel's pretzel company calls them "bretzels", both for the alliteration and as a nod to their German heritage.

In Hungary it is called perec, a softer variant of the German pastry, usually eaten with cheese or salt-syrup baked on it.

The pretzel has become an element in popular culture, both as a food staple, and its unique knotted twist shape which has inspired ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes,[55] images, and other phenomena.

[56] The re-designed park includes pretzel-like looped pathways and a public art statue in the shape of a pretzel sculpted by Warren C.

[60] The "pretzel" bikini bathing suit design, a variant of the sling swimsuit, emerged in the early 1990s, produced by Spandex.

Made from Lycra, these bikinis became most popular on the beaches of Europe, including Saint-Tropez, Marbella, Mykonos, and Ibiza.