I found this very interesting

Pretzel History Everyone has a pedigree – even the pretzel, the world's oldest snack food. In fact, you can follow the twists and turns as early as 610 AD at monasteries in Southern France and Northern Italy. Monks used scraps of dough and formed them into strips to represent a child's arms folded in prayer. The three holes represented the Christian Trinity. The monks baked the soft pretzels and offered the warm, doughy bribe to children who had memorized their Bible verses and prayers. The monks called it a pretiola, Latin for "little reward". From there, the pretzel transformed into the Italian word, brachiola, which means "little arms". The pretiola journeyed beyond the French and Italian wine regions, hiked the Alps, wandered through Austria, and crossed into Germany, where it became known as the Bretzel or Pretzel. In medieval times, merchants traveling to the Frankfurt Fair risked being robbed by bandits. In order to guard the tradesmen, the towns’ people would ride out, greet the vendors and offer them pewter pitchers of wine and loads of crisp dough on their spears, called Geleit-pretzels. Judging from historical accounts, one can only assume that medieval Europe was a particularly gruesome and barbaric era. People were sent to the gallows and guillotines for the most minor offenses. Legend says fate was kind to a young baker who fell asleep and left his turn of soft pretzels in the oven too long. When the fire died down, the pretzels toasted to a chestnut, golden crispness. Fortunately, the employer liked the nutty flavor of the hard pretzel and spared the young man's head. In 1440, a page in the prayer book used by Catharine of Cleves depicted St. Bartholomew surrounded by pretzels. They were thought to bring good luck, prosperity and spiritual wholeness. A decade later, Germans ate pretzels and hard-boiled eggs for dinner on Good Friday – the day of fasting. The large, puffy pretzel symbolized everlasting life, and the two hard-boiled eggs, nestled in each of the large round curves of the pretzel, represented Easter's rebirth. The pretzel gave birth to the Easter Egg Hunt. German children would look for hidden pretzels throughout their parents’ farms. Pretzels hiding places such as the straw lofts and barns eventually gave way to the modern tradition of egg hunts. It appears that the pretzel took part in many traditions and festivities throughout time. In 1480, folks in the Swabian city of Sigmaringen practiced the tradition of Brautelin, or "ducking", on Shrove Tuesday – the day before Ash Wednesday. Newlywed husbands, along with husbands celebrating silver and golden wedding anniversaries, paraded through streets and threw pretzels, oranges and candy to the crowd. Today, the men are spared the ducking, but the parades continue with fife-and-drum music and lots of good-natured teasing. There's evidence of the first street vendor in approximately 1483. Portable ovens on wheels allowed bakers to peddle pretzels from door-to-door. Pretzels were not only a part of history, but it probably changed history. Certainly you recall The Battle of 1510 – the Bakers take on the Turks. One night while the citizens of Vienna slept and dreamed of pretzels, the Turks tunneled under the city walls. The pretzel bakers were busy at work and detected the invasion. They gathered make-shift weapons and annihilated the Turks. In return for shielding all of Europe, the Austrian Emperor honored the pretzel bakers with their own shield – a coat of arms. The pretzel even showed up at Royal weddings. It's speculated that the term “Tying the Knot” originated in Switzerland in 1614 when Royal couples wished for happiness with a pretzel forming the nuptial knot – much like we use a wishbone today. Bon Voyage! The well-traveled pretzel made its culinary delight known throughout Europe and in 1620 rumor has it that it made its international debut when it landed with the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock on the Mayflower. And where there are Pilgrims, there are Indians!!! Pretzels made great wampum. In 1652 an Albany, New York man and his wife offered these treats to the Indians. The natives loved the pretzels so much; they'd barter practically anything. Ironically, the town arrested the couple, because they were using “good” flour for the “heathen” while Christians were eating the bran flour. I wonder if the towns’ people knew of the pretzel's religious origin? The Palantine Germans, later known as the Pennsylvania Dutch, brought pretzels to America in 1710. German children wore the pretzels around their necks on New Year's for good luck.