Even something as simple and glorious as a candy cane has become embroiled in the great controversies of Christmas. It has even landed in court.

A student group in Massachusetts was barred from handing out candy canes on the grounds that it was proselyting their Christian faith. It didn’t help that the group was falsely promoting the symbolism they tied to the candy cane: the shape of the candy cane, they said, signified the letter “J” in Christ’s name. The red represent his blood and the white represented, they said, his purity. Their actions in distributing the candy canes and promoting their unique message with them led to eventual court action.

Fortunately, the court sided with the group stating that it was perfectly alright for an independent group to spread their message with something a simple as a candy cane.