I am originally from New Jersey, so Philadelphia soft pretzels were a common snack both at home and at school when I was growing up. Soft pretzels, however, are a rare commodity up here in Canada.
This is an ideal project to do with children and teens. Twisting the dough just right is a bit of a challenge, but no matter what they look like, they always taste great!
According to some sources, the shape of pretzels was meant to illustrate arms crossed in prayer.
Years ago, during Lent, the faithful were called to abstain from meat, eggs, milk and butter. Pretzels were an ideal food to eat because it was free of these ingredients. We use a recipe similar to this recipe, except we do not use butter.
This link has more information about the history of the pretzel.
Plot Line and Sinker (Ellen Gable, Author) 
Looks lovely!