The town is identified by Christians as the town of Cana, where Jesus performed a miracle at the Marriage at Cana (John 2:1-12). According to the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1914, the identification of Kafr Kanna with Cana dates back to at least the 8th century. However, the general view starting from the 12th-century placed Cana at Khirbet Qana, a site 8.5 kilometers to the northwest of Kafr Kanna. Later, the traditional identification with Kafr Kanna was remerged strongly in the mid-14th-century and until the present day this view has not been supplanted.
Cana is also mentioned as the home town of the Apostle Bartholomew, as "Nathanael of Cana" in John 21:2.
On the outskirts of the town is the tomb of the Jewish sage, Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, the Nasi (prince) of the Sanhedrin (legislative body of Ancient Israel), who became president of the Sanhedrin in 50 AD. His tomb has remained an important site for Jewish pilgrims over the centuries
