Retro Riddles: Can You Guess These Outdated Gizmos?

3. Candy or Decoration?

You will know this bowl right away if you are over thirty years old. During the holidays, it always came out of the kitchen cabinets from the cupboards, and it was always loaded with vibrantly coloured hard candies to complement the festive season. We all know, though, there was a catch. Though the candy was fantastic, nobody could ever eat this crap! It was always fixed together in one rock-hard clump and unbreakable. Still, what kept all of it together? Either the dog licked it, the humidity was excessively high, or a toddler licked it! This made avoidance of it completely simply safer.

Many homes started using inedible candy as a strange kind of decoration for this festival. Often crystal or cut glass, the bowl would shine with the vivid hues of the fused candy mass, producing a joyful visual treat if not a savory one. Families would faithfully present the same bowl of candy year after year, occasionally adding fresh bits to the current cluster to create geological layers of sugary history. The phenomena became a common experience across generations and spurred many family jokes. While adults thought back on their own early tries, children would dare each other to try and separate a piece. Looking back, this custom reflects the eccentric, perhaps illogical character of holiday celebrations in which the symbolic often dominates the practical.