Traditional Halloween foods & customs -The Halloween Americans celebrate today is a very modern twist on an ancient pa gan

ritual. The recurring themes of fall foods, mumming, and divination are the primary connectors. Our survey of historic cookbooks and newspapers confirms Ame ricans began celebrating Halloween in the early 20th century. This was a period when theme parties were trendy. Party suggestions for adults, teens and children grew as the century progressed. It was not until after World War II that Trickor-Treat, as we know it today, originated. "Halloween...is thought to have derived from a pre-Christian festival known as S amhain...celebrated among the Celtic peoples...Samhain was the principal feast d ay of a year that began on 1 November. Traditionally, bonfires were lit as part of the celebration. It was believed that the spirits of those who had died durin g the previous twelve months were granted access into the otherworld during Samh ain...Scholars know little about the actual practices and beliefs associated wit h Samhain. Most account were not written down until centuries after the conversi on of Ireland to Christianity...and then by Christian monks recording ancient sa gas. /****From the evidence****/, we know that Samhain was a focal point of the yearly cycle, and that traditions of leaving out offerings of food and drink to comfort the wandering spirits had joined the bonfire custom. Also, the tradition of mumming--dressing in disguise and performing from home to home in exchange f or food or drink, as well as pranking,/**** perhaps a customary activity of the wandering spirits,*****/ or simply as a customary activity found throughout Euro pe--had become part of the occasion...Halloween was brought to North America wit h Irish and British colonists, although it was not /****widely****/ observed unt il the large influx of European immigrants in the nineteenth century." ---Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Solomon H. Katz editor and chief [Thomson G ale:New York] 2003, Volume 2 (p. 167-9) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Traditional Halloween foods: United States "Halloween may be the only American holiday that is not associated with a partic ular feast of recipe. Nineteenth-century Irish immigrants bough the October 31 c elebration to the United States. On that night it was traditional to give soul c akes to visitors to their households in return for promises to say prayers on be half of dead relatives. They also put lanterns made from vegetables in the windo ws to welcome ghosts and wandering souls...Carved pumpkin jack-o'lanterns are an integral part of Halloween festivities/****, but they are seldom eaten****/ Smal ler species of cheese pumpkin, pie pumpkin, or sweet pumpkin, which have sweeter , less watery flesh, are used for making pies...Some people save the seeds to dr y, roast, and salt as a snack... /****American harvest festivals called play par ties were a precursor to the modern Halloween*****/. In the mid-nineteenth centu ry, Snap Apple Night or Nut Crack Night parties were celebrated in some regions of the United States with games, such as dunking for apples...In the late ninete enth century, middle-class Americans looking toward their Celtic heritage redisc overed (and reinvented) Halloween customs and made them respectable. Beginning i n the 1870s, articles on Halloween appeared in periodicals that encouraged a new , more uniformly celebrated Victorian fete. By the twentieth century, Halloween parties for both children and adults had become a common way to mark the day...C andies made in the shape of corn kernels and pumpkins commemorated the harvest s eason. The Wunderle Candy Company of Philadelphia was the first to commercially produce candy corn in the 1880s." ---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxf ord University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 585-6) Recommended reading for history of boxty, colcannon, cabbage, etc.: Oxford Companion to Food/Alan Davidson (1999)

Pumpkins & turnips: Jack-O'-Lanterns "There are a host of stories to explain the origin of the Halloween Jack-o-lante rn. The Irish claim it first, and tell the tale of Jack, a man so miserly that h e once tricked the Devil into turning himself into a sixpence, then snapped the money into his pocket and made the Devil promise not to come for him for a whole year. Jack lived another stingy and spiteful year, and when the Devil came back for him, Jack tricked him into climbing up a tree to pick a big, beautiful appl e from a high branch. Jack quickly carved the sign of the cross in the trunk of the tree so the Devil couldn't climb down, and made him promise not to come for Jack for 10 years. When Jack died soon after, he went up to Heaven, but Saint Pe ter denied him entrance because of his stingy nature. Jack tried Hell, but was s urprised to find that the Devil wouldn't let him in. The Devil had to keep his p romise, and besides, he wasn't very fond of Jack anyway. For punishment, the nas ty old man was sentenced to walk the earth forever with only a lantern made from a carved turnip and one coal for Hell to guide him. When the Irish immigrants a rrived in America, they delighted in the size and carving potential of the nativ e pumpkin. The fat orange harvest vegetable was quickly substituted for the turn ip, and the carved-out snaggle-toothed Halloween jack-o'lantern was born." ---Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History, Lesley Pratt Bannantyne [Pelican Publishing:Gretna LA] 1998 (p. 78) /****"The vegetable most associated with Halloweenthe jack-o'-lantern, which also had its roots in British folklore. Jack was a perennial trickster of folktales, who offended not only God but also the devil with his many pranks and transgres sions. Upon his death, he was denied entrance into both heaven and hell, though the devil grudgingly tossed him a fiery coal, which Jack caught in a hollowed tu rnip and which would light his night-walk on hearth until Judgement Day...The Ox ford English Dictionary gives a date of 1663 for its first printed record of the phrase "jack-with-the-lantern," and 1704 , "Jack of lanthorns," both referring to a night watchman...the jack-o-lantern is definately associated by 1817 with s pooky pranks--but not explicity with Halloween or hollowed turnips. Although eve r modern chronicle of the holiday repeats the claim that vegetable lanterns were a time-honored component of Halloween celebrations in the British Isles, none g ives any primary documentation. In fact, none of the major nineteenth-century ch roniclers of British holidays and folk customs makes any mention whatsoever of c arved lanterns in connection with Halloween....The Oxford English Dictionary pro vides no clue as to when the Halloween association began; it credits the United States as the primary source of the modern definition of the jack-o'lantern, fol lowed by England and Ireland, but without dates or citations." ---Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween, David J. Skal [Blooms bury:New York] 2002 (p. 31-2)****/ Apples "In old England, apples and nuts were seen as powerful prognosticators. Celtic f olk used them in their Halloween divination games for centuries, and there were some Scottish, Irish and British men and women--people from the northern parts o f England--still celebrating All Hallows with apples and nuts throughout the hey day of Guy Fawkes...The night of October 31 was known in parts of the British Is les ad "Snap Apple Night"...the name came from an old game played by tying the p layer's hands behind his back and having him try to bite an apple suspended from a string...Like their English ancestors before them, Americans used apple dunki ng to find who will marry first. Whoever could snag an apple from a big bucket f illed with water, hands tied behind the back, would be wed soonest." ---Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History, Lesley Pratt Bannantyne [Pelican Publishing:Gretna LA] 1998 (p. 56) "The Romans brought their own pagan mythology and celebration to Britain, includ ing the November 1 harvest festival of Pomona, goddess of the orchards, and the masked revels of Saturnalia, the winter solstice. Pomona's association with the apple no doubt fostered the fruit's later prominence in Halloween games and fest

ivities." ---Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween, David J. Skal [Blooms bury:New York] 2002 (p. 21-2) Cake "People often made cake offerings to dieties to remove their evil influence. The y also offered cake to spirits of the dead, believing that the cakes would nouri sh them during their long journey to the otherworld. One of the best-known examp les of cakes for the dead are soul cakes, made on 28 October, in connection with All Souls' Day. For many pagan peoples/****--the early Celts, for instance--*** */this was the day the dead got up and walked around on earth, and unless they w ere fed, people believed, the spirits might harm the living. In some areas of Ge rmany, soul cakes are black in color, suggesting death. The Ainu people of Germa ny and Austria left cakes on graves, ad the ancient Egyptians placed them inside tombs. Throughout Europe, people offered soul cakes to the dead to nourish them on their journey to the otherworld, or used cakes as offerings during funeral r ights and feasts. Eating cakes on All Souls' Day became common practice. In Belg ium, people believed that on this day, one soul was released from purgatory for every cake consumed." ---Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World M ythology, Tamra Andrews [ABC-CLIO:Santa Barbara CA] 2000 (p. 53-4) Nuts "Nuts have been used for magic since Roman times. Some Scottish and northern Eng lish people believed nuts were such powerful sorcerers that they called their Oc tober 31st celebration "Nut Crack Night"...Chestnuts and walnuts, both plentiful at harvest time, were popular in early divination games. The most well-known ga me got as follows: two nuts are named, each for a potential lover, and put on a grate in the fire. She who wants to know the future watches and waits. If a nut burns true and steady, it indicates the lover will have a faithful nature; if it pops in the heat, it indicates the man is not to be trusted." ---Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History, Lesley Pratt Bannantyne [Pelican Publishing:Gretna LA] 1998 (p. 56-7) /****Kale "In Scotland, young people went blindfolded into the garden to pull kale stalks; later, before the crackling fireplace, the plants would be "read" for revealing signs of the future wife or husband--short and stunted, tall and healthy, withe red and old, and so on. The amount of earth clinging to the root was believed to indicate the amount of dowry or fortune the player could expect from a mate. Th e stlaks were then hung above the door in a row, and each subsequent Halloween v isitor was assigned the identity of a vegetable-spouse in turn. Cabbages and lee ks were similarly used." ---Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween, David J. Skal [Blooms bury:New York] 2002 (p. 29)****/ Trick-or-treat After World War II, the American practice of Trick-or-Treat began in earnest. Sp rawing suburban neighborhoods delighted in watching costumed boomer children "be g" from door to door. Traditional Halloween party foods (candied/toffee apples, popcorn balls, nuts) were profered along with pre-wrapped commercial candies. Sa vvy candy companies capitalized on this lucrative opportunity by selling seasona l packages containing smaller sized products. "Back in the Day" (your editor tri ck-or-treated on Long Island in the 1960s) it was fairly usual to get little dec orative halloween bags containing all sorts of things. These were assembled at h ome, usually composed of loose candies (candy corn, Hershey Kisses, marsmallows, MaryJanes or Tootsie Rolls, etc.), some pennies and maybe a small toy. We also carried little milk-carton shaped boxes distributed in school and said "Trick or Treat for Unicef." Beginning in 1952, UNICEF's halloween program thrives today. /****Times have changed. In the 1980s newspaper accounts of (possibly) tampered

apples and candy first surface. In the 21st century in our northern NJ suburban community, Halloween trick-or-treating is rare. Cautious parents and social orga nizations are back to hosting invitation-only theme parties. "The custom of begging for food from house to house on Halloween came for the ol d Catholic soul-sale custom. Once charitable in nature, "souling" took a popular turn as it evolved over the years. Irish Halloween begging always involved a ma squerade... but who did the begging and what they were after varied from region to region. In Ireland's County Cork, a mummers' procession marked All Hallows... Prosperity was promised to those who gave food, drink or money to the revelers.. .This custom of taking a masquerade from house to house and asking for food or m oney was one practiced in America on Guy Fawkes Day, and for some years even on Thanksgiving. The Irish Halloween masquerade proved so popular it eventually evo lved into 20th-century American trick-or-treating." ---Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History, Lesley Pratt Bannantyne [Pelican Publishing:Gretna LA] 1998 (p. 67, 71)****/ "Trick or treating grew popular between 1920 and 1950, probably finding its firs t practices in the wealthier areas of the East and slowly spreading to remote ar eas of the West and South. Reports of trick-or-treaters exist in Wellesley, Mass achusetts, as early as the late 1920s, but not until the 40s in North Carolina, Florida and Texas. By the 1950s, every child in America had heard about the cust om...The origins of Halloween trick or treating are very old indeed. A early Ame rican antecedent was Guy Fawkes Day. The celebration, popular in parts of the ea st during the 17th and 18th centuries, died out in most communities around the A merican Revolution. Thanksgiving, however, was being celebrating with some regul arity at that time, and it became a Thanksgiving custom for children to dress up and beg from house to house on the last Thursday in November. At first the poor er children would dress in cast-off ragged clothes and beg "something for Thanks giving" from their wealthier neighbors. Soon all kinds of children got involved, and the custom grew more popular and costumes more elaborate. The Thanksgiving masquerade existed as late as the 1930s, then suddenly vanished, and Halloween c ostumes and parades began to gain national popularity...As for begging, the noti on of receiving gifts of candy on Halloween owed something to the public parties of the previous decades." ---Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History, Lesley Pratt Bannantyne [Pelican Publishing:Gretna LA] 1998 (p. 142-3) /****"Sometime in the middle of the 1930s, enterprising householders, fed up wit h soaped windows and worse, began experimenting with a home-based variation on t he old protection racket practiced between shopkeepers and Thanksgiving ragamuff ins. Doris Hudson Moss, writing for American Home in 1939, told of her success, begun several years earlier, of hosting a Halloween open house for neighborhood children...The American Home article is significant because it is apparently the first time the expression "trick or treat" is used in a mass-circulation period ical in the United States...It is probably that trick-or-treating had its immedi ate origins in thy myriad of organized celebrations mounted by schools and civic groups across the country specifically to curb vandalism...It is the postwar ye ars that are generally regarded as the glorious heyday of trick-or-treating. Lik e the consumer economy, Halloween itself grew by leaps and bounds. Major candy c ompanies like Curtiss and Brach, no longer constrained by sugar rationing, launc hed national advertising campaigns specifically aimed at Halloween. If trick-ortreating had previously been a localized, hit-or-miss phenomenon, it was now a n ational duty." ---Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween, David J. Skal [Blooms bury:New York] 2002 (p. 52-5)****/ /****Halloween candies of the 1900s "Candies for Hallowe'en. Every ounce just as good as it tastes! We make these ca ndies in our own spotless candy kitchen and when we tell you that they are pure,

wholesome, and good to eat, we know what we are talking about. A few of to-day' s specials: Nut Kisses-- Meixan, vanilla and strawberry,/**** lb...25 cents****/ ; Buttercups--all flavors, nut and cream centers,/**** lb...25 cents****/; Meado wbrook Caramels-- our famious full cream caramels, vanilla, vanilla English waln ut, vanilla filbert, maple.../****lb25 cents****/; Wladorf Chocolates and Bonbon or all Chocolates, /****lb25 cents****/; Hallowe'en Favords--/****each 5 cents to 50 cents [no description]****/." ---display ad, Siegle Cooper Company NYC, New York Times, October 31, 1906 (p. 5 )****/ /****Halloween candies of the 1920s "There was a profusion, even a confusion, of candies in orange and black. There were orange gumdrops, orange jelly beans, orange buttercups, and chips and hard candies. And there were black (licorice) gumdrops and jelly beans and buttons an d all possible devices that were ever seen in black candies...There were lovely and dainty opera sticks in both orange and black, tied often with ribbon and for the center of some of the endless arrangement of these things in Halloween cand y boxes--witch and black cat decorations on them--and ultimately tied with wonde rful pompons of black...ribbon." ---"Halloween Fal-Lalls and Fare," Jane Eddingon, Chicago Daily Tribune, October 23, 1921 (p. E6) & the 1950s An an placed in the Washington Post October 28, 1951 (p. M7) lists these items u nder the heading "Trick or Treat Candies": Goeltiz Candy Corn, Brachs Harvest Jelly Beans, Brach's Harvest Panned Mix, Hers hey's Kisses, Hershey's Miniatures, Butter Cream Pumpkins (pound bulk), Fleers D ouble Bubble Gum, Pure Sugar Apples, Jordan Almonds, Goetzes Caramel Creams, Ree d's Buterscotch Squares, Midgee Tootsie Rolls, Starlight Kisses, Roasted Peanuts in Shell, Tootsie Roll Handi Pak, Chocolate Bridge Mixture, Spiced Jelly Drops, Chocolate Nonpareils, and Fireside Marshmallows. Where does candy corn fit in? The earliest references we find to candy corn (aka chicken feed) credit Goelitz (now the Jelly Belly company) for introducing this confection the American publi c. No particular connection with Halloween or fall season: /****"1898. Goelitz Confectionery Company begins making candy corn or "chicken f eed." They continue to make this Halloween favorite longer than any other compan y." ---Candy: The Sweet History, Beth Kimmerle [Collectors Press:Portland OR] 2003 ( p. 32) Certainly there is a connection between corn and fall and harvest time. Some peo ple decorated their houses with cornstalks around Halloween time. Our survey of historic American newspapers confirms candy corn was special to many folks, but not necessarily connected with Halloween. We found ads published throughout the year. For example: "Pre Holiday Sale...Goelitz Candy Corn, pound cello bag, 25 cents. Butter cream candy in three colors and shaped like a real corn kernel. Worth crowing about." ---advertisement, Washington Post, July 1, 1951 (p. M7) [NOTE: This holiday promotion targets Independence Day!] "When a person starts talking about the good old days, it is said to be sure sig n of age creeping up. Maybe I am already reverting to my second childhood becaus e the other day I had a sudden longing for chicken-feed corn and jelly beans and when I looked into my corner store none was to be found..." ---"Childhood Memories of Good Old Home-Made Fudge, Penny Candies," Langston Hug hes, The Chicago Defender, December 18, 1948 (p. 6)****/

Candy corn, like many other candies we enjoy at Halloween, was promoted as treat s for Halloween by candy companies after WWII. Candy corn might have been especi ally popular because it was also a seasonal (fall) confection. Popcorn balls and candied apples are other seasonal (fall) treats conventinetly transitioned to H alloween. Additional notes here. Historic American Halloween party menus If you would like recipes for any of items listed below, let us know. Happy to s upply!****/ /**** [1901] "Halloween Party While the dictionary definition of Halloween is rather different than the mo dern small boy's interpretation of it would indicate, yet we say with all earnes tness, give the boys a good time occasionally, and why not on Halloween?...Boys will be far less apt to carry off the clothes-posts, unhinge the gates, and make night hideous, if you give them a part in keeping with the occasion--a party wh ere tin horns from the first course at the dinner-table--where colored paper, na pkins, folded to represent the "jack-be-nimble" and "jack-be-quicks," "toads," " monkeys," and "parrots"; where paper caps adorn the head and where jack-lanterns adorn the room... Refreshments Bouillon, de Jolly Boys, Celery, Kindergarten Crackers, Turtle Sandwiches, Little Pigs in Blankets, Orange Jelly, Olives a la Natural History, Sugar Off, with maple syrup, Nut Cartoons, lemonade." ---The Blue Ribbon Cook Book, Annie R. Gregory [Monarch Book Company:Chicago IL] 1901 (p. 31) [1905] "Hallowe'en Box Cake The newest fashion in Hallowe'en supper-table decoration is a cake made of w hite pasteboard boxes, in shape like pieces of pie, which fit together and give the appearance of a large cake. Each one of the boxes is covered with a white pa per which resembles frosting. At the close of the feast the pieces are distribut ed, each box containing some little souvenier sutiable to Hallowe'en. One box, o f course, contains a ring, another a thimble, a third a piece of silver, a fourt h a mitten, a fifth a fool's cap, and so on. Much fun is created as the boxes ar e opened, and the person who secures the ring is heartily congratulated. The unl ucky individual who gets the fool's cap must wear it for the evening." (P. 86)** **/ "Hallowe'en Party All formality must be dispensed with on Hallowe'en. Not only will quaint cus toms and mythic tricks be in order, but the decorations and refreshments, and ev en the place of meeting, must be as strange and mystifying as possible. For the country or suburban home a roomy barn is decidedly the best accomodation that ca n be provided. If this is not practicable, a large attic, running the entire len gth of the house, is the next choice; but if this also is denied the ambitious h ostess, let the kitchen be the place of meeting and of mystery, with the diningroom, cleared of its usual furniture and decorated suitably for the occasion, re served for the refreshments. The light should be supplied only by Jack-o'-lanter ns hung here and there about the kitchen, with candles in the dining-room.The de corations need not be expensive to be charming, no matter how large the room. La rge vases of ferns and chrysanthemums and umbrella stands of fluffy grasses will be desirable; but if these cannot be readily obtained, quantities of gayly tint ed autumn leaves will be quite as appropriate. Festoons of nuts, bunches of whea t or oats, and strings of cranberries may also help to brighten the wall decorat ions, and the nuts and cranberries will be useful in many odd arrangements for o rnamenting the refreshment table. Have the table long enough (even if it must be

extended with boards the whole length of the barn or attic) to accommodated all the guests at once. Arrange huge platters of gingerbread at each corner, with d ishes of plain candies and nuts here and there, and pyramids of fruit that will be quickly demolished when the guests are grouped about the table. No formal wai ting will be desirable. (p. 88-9) Hallowe'en Suggestions "Browning nuts, popping corn, roasting apples, and toasting marshmallows wil l add a great deal to the pleasure of the evening. The dining table should be dr aped in pale green crepe paper, the lights above being shrouded in gorgeous oran ge. Pumpkins of various sizes should be scooped and scraped to a hollow shell an d, lined with wax paper and filled with good things to eat, should be placed in the centre of the table. Lighted candles and quaint oriental lanterns will add g reatly to the decorations." (P. 90) ---Bright Ideas for Entertaining, Mrs. Herbert Linscott [George W. Jacobs:Ph iladelphia] 9th edition, 1905 /**** [1911] "Hallowe'en Spreads Menu No. I: Ganser Salad, Brown Bread Sandwiches, Raised Loaf Cake, Pricilla Popped Corn, Hot Coffee. Menu No. II: Rob's Rarebit, Zephyrettes, Sultana Fudge, German Punch Menu No. III: Hamlin Ham Timbales, Ribbon Sandwiches, Nut Ginger Cookies, Pe neuche, Cider" ---Catering for Special Occasions with Menus & Recipes, Fannie Me rritt Farmer [David McKay:Philadelphia] 1911 (p. 129-141) [1914] "Never were Halloween Decorations so Gay as This Year--Some Delicious Candy Recipes for the Festival Each year there are so many new decorations for Halloween and so many good o ld ones revived that the only shame is that Halloween doesn't last for a week. A nd surely never before were there such attractive Halloween decorations as there are this year...For a centrepiece on the table on which the refreshments are pl aced at a children's Halloween party are set forth, nothing is more interesting than a huge paper pumpkin, with green leaves and a greed stem. After the pumpkin and leaves are made, they can be varnished to make them stiff. A little doll, d ressed in yellow crepe paper, is seated on the top of the pumpkin and it is draw n by half a dozen little gray mice, that can be bought at any toy or favor store . Each piece has a piece of yellow ribbon tied about its neck, with the other en d in the hand of the doll Cinderella...Another Halloween idea that is good is a big Japanese paper parasol covered with yellow crepe paper, with two eyes, a nos e and a mouth cut out of black paper, and touched up with white paint. These are fastened on the outside of the parasol, the nose over the tip, and the effect i s delightful. Small gummed seals that can be used for decorative purposes come c ut out and sold in packages. There are owls and witches, pumpkins, imps, and cat s. An effective but easily made place card is a small white card with a seal pas ted in one corner or at one end." ---"What Every Woman Wants to Know," The New York Times, October 25, 1914 (p . X5) [1932] "Hallowe'en Parties The colors of Harvest time make Hallowe'en party decorations the gayest of a ll the year. Color and the mystery of benevolent witchcraft are a great help to the gayety of such a party and should set the pace. Once of the most successful decorations for a Hallowe'en party I ever used was a large copper tray loaded wi th fruit. The tray was oval. In the center was a small pumpkin surrounded with a pples, oranges, pears and clusters of green and purple grapes. The grapes traile d gracefully over the sides. A decoration of this sort arranged ona table or sid eboard and flanked by 8 or 10 candles of orange color suggests the opulence of h

arvest. Candle light is so appropriate for Hallowe'en it is a good idea to have the rooms lighted entirely this way with orange candles in sticks everywhere. An other attractive lighting arrangement is orange colored paper lantersn. Paint Ja ck O'Lantern faces on the lanterns with black India Ink. A large pumpkin with ey es, nose and mouth cut out and burning candle should occupy a prominent place in the room. Of course, witches, black cats and skeletons should b purchased and h ung about the room. A successful table decoration is made from oranges. Cut the tops from the oranges, scoop out the pulp with a teaspoon. Cut Jack O'Lantern fa ces in them. Place a tiny candle holder and candle in the lanterns. The holders and tapers used form birthday cakes are excellent. Marigolds or orange and yello w button chyrsanthemums are the flowers to use for the supper table. Sprays of o range Japanese Lantern flowers are beautiful and just the color for a Hallowe'en party. Now for the menus. There is as much orange in the mens as possible, so t hat the Hallowe'en color scheme may be carried out. Menu No. 1 Glorfied Club Sandwiches, Spiced Pears, Olives. Mince or Pumpkin Pie, Coffee, Sugared Nuts, Hallowee'en Candies Menu No. 2 Shrimp Wiggle, Celery Curls, Mixed Sweet Pickles, Orange Cream in Orange Baskets< Assprted Frosted Cakes, Coffee, Nuts and Cluster Raisins, Hallo wee'en Candies Menu No. 3 Chicken or Oyster Patties, Sweet Pickled Gherkins, Cranberry Jell y, Ice Cream, Hallowe'en Orange Cake, Salted Almonds, Candied Ginger, Candies, C offee Menu No. 4 Chicken Bouillon with Whipped Cream, Cheese Crackers, Crab Salad, Hot Buttered Rolls, Dill Pickles, Orange Sherbet, Assorted Frosted Cakes, Candy , Coffee, Nuts." ---Bamberger's Cook For the Busy Woman, Mabel Claire [Greenberg:New York] 19 32 (p. 244-249) [NOTES: (1) This book was published under several names in partnership with department stores (Macy's, etc.) (2) Mabel Claire was an accomplished artist, he nce her attention to color schemes in her menus.] "A Halloween Ghost Party Everyone loves a ghost party, whether he is fourteen or ninety. The invitati ons may be decorated with skull and crossbones and instruct the guests to come i n ghostly garb. Have the room darkened, and as they enter the guests should be g reeted with a ghostly handclasp; a wet glove filled with sand gives the desired effect. On the hearth bubbles a witch's cauldron (made from a cooking pot), stir red by a crone who sings the incantation from Macbeth as she tosses in toy snake s, frogs, and so forth. She also draws out fortunes for the curious. The bugget supper table for a ghost party may be covered with a black paper cloth on which white ghosts are pasted. The center peice might be a witch's cauldron (a black p ot with a grinning face chalked on one side), filled with tiny dangling ghosts m ade from pipe cleaners, which act as favors. White tapers stuck in black bottles furnish the only light. A Hallowe'en Midnight Supper: Hot Ham Shortcakes with Cheese Sauce, Dill Pic kle Sticks, Celery Curls, Radishes, Pumpkin-face Tarts, Ice-cold Coca-Cola, Chic ken Corn (candy), Nuts, Apples on a Stick." ---When You Entertain: What To Do, And How, Ida Bailey Allen [Coca-Cola Comp any:Atlanta GA] 1932 (p. 94-5) [1937] "Hallowe'en Suppers Hallowee'en Salad Cream Cheese Sanwiches Nuts, Apples, Taffy Orange-filled Cup Cakes, Sweet Cider Goblin-faced Meat Pies (faced slashed in crust) Julienne Carrots

Orange Ice in Orange Cups Chocolate Cookies, Ginger Ale." ---America's Cook Book, The Home Institute of the New York Herald Tribune [C harles Scribner's Sons:New York] 1937 (p. 861) [1942] "Hallowe'en Party Write your Hallowe'en invitations on cutouts of black cats, cauldrons, scare crows, pumpkins or witches. Use black or orange paper and write the invitation i n the form of a jingle or just a note. Room decorations are a simple matter for they can be as casual as you like. Spread a few sheaves of corn around the room or stand up some stalks of corn amid a profusion of gay autumn leaves. Orange or black candles or orange bulbs--just a few to create an eerie effect--can be use d to provide the light. Large cutouts of black cats, witches, or pumpkins pinned to the walls around the room, brilliant orange, yellow, or red tablecloths of c otton or old sheets dyed in any of those colors enhance the them of the party. P laying games that originate from the character of the occasion, like pulling for tunes form the witches' cauldron or spirit rapping, are times fo interest for th is type of party. And don't forget that traditional cider and doughnuts, orange and black candies, ice cream molds with a pumpkin, or made-with-honey pumpkin pi e contribute much in a decorative way." ---Wartime Entertaining, Ethel X. Pator [Consolidated Book Publishers:Chicag o] 1942 (p. 49) [1949] "Witches and hobgoblins have come to town, ready to appear at the children's Halloween parties. Never since before the war have the stores been so well stoc ked with paper masks, favors and other festive decorations in orange and black. bakeries ofer ginger-cookie owls and frosted cakes atop which the old lady rides her broom. She's also to be found molded in milk chocolate at some candy stores and, most wondrous of all, modeled in ice cream. Halloween means pumpkins with eyes, ears and noses cut out and a candle burning in the hollowed center...In th e eyes of children, "homemade" surprises are just as enchanting as those bought at the store. They'll be delighted to find a marshmallow face floating in their cup of hot chocolate. Two dots of melted chocolate or frosting squeezed through a pastry tube make the eyes, one dot the nose and a line the mouth. Or, again, w ith a pastry tube, sketch a whiskered cat's face on an orange-frosted cake. Make popcorn balls, top them with crepe paper hats and give them frosting faces." ---"News of Food: Parties," New York Times, October 26, 1949 (p. 31) [1952] "Parties on Halloween are an old, old custom and one we especially like to o bserve. Children and grown-ups alike love the party-giving spirit of this old fa teful night so let's plan a Halloween party today. Refreshments that emphasize t he eerie atmosphere of the old traditions will delight the merrymakers. Witches Candle Cakes, flavored with mint chocolate wafers, are sure to triumph whether y ou serve them with ice cream, fruit or hot cocoa...Popcorn too should be in appe arance at a Halloween party, as should apples." ---"Apples, Popcorn Still Liked by Halloween Party-Goers," Marian Manners, L os Angeles Times, October 28, 1952 (p. B4) [1956] "Halloween Refreshments (1) Cider and Doughnuts (2) Pigs in Blankets, Carrot Straws, Ripe Olives, Orange Sherbet, Chocolate Cupcakes with Orange Butter Icing (Jack O'Lantern faces traced on icing with mel ted chocolate)." ---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, revised and enlarged second edition [M cGraw-Hill Book Company:New York] 1956 (p. 51)

[1957] "Halloween night is an all-important knight for the small fry. Whether you'r e planning a large-scale party or merely treating the visiting spooks, a table o f clever edibles, with decorations to fit the occasion, will make you a popular hostess. The eerie atmosphere can be created simply and inexpensively with impis h orange candles. Take bright-colored oranges and draw faces, using crayon, soft pencil or black enamel...Another great for the pigtail crowd are Halloween Cand y Apples....Of course, Halloween parties are not limited to the youngsters. it's the perfect time to start the fall entertaining season." ---"How to be popular on Halloween night," Marian Manners, Los Angeles Times , October 27, 1957 (p. M36) [1963] "Halloween Party No other time of year provides a better opportunity fo rthe colorful decorat ions children love so well...Use Halloween paper plates and napkins. Fill small paper cups with assorted Halloween candy; set at each place. Let your child help make the invitations--orange jack-o-lanterns or round black cats, cut out of co nstruction paper. Make costumes mandatory. Have a prizes for the best. Menu: Slo ppy Joes, Halloween Cake (Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting, Decorated with Can dy Corn, Ice Cream, Hot Cocoa." ---McCall's Cook Book [Random House:New York] 1963 (p. 634-5) [1964] "Halloween Party****/ Bob for apples, carve a pumpkin, play spooky games...Menu: Witches' Cauldron Soup, Goblin Franks, Vegetable Relishes, Ice Cream Jack-O'-Lanterns, Milk Hallo ween Cookies." ---Betty Crocker's Parties for Children, zlois M. Freeman [Golden Press:New York] 1964 (p. 161) Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) [Mexico] Historians generally agree that modern Day of the Dead festivities are Christian ized versions of ancient pagan celebrations. There appears to be some conflictin g reports regarding exactly which festivity was morphed. The Aztecs recognized t wo gods of death. Mictecacihuatl was the darker of the two. His celebration was traditionally held in the Ninth month (August in our calendar). The other god wa s kinder and gentler; his celebration coincided more with today's dates. Ancient Aztec perspective on death "To the Aztec, cosmic balance and therefore life would not be possible without o ffering sacrificial blood to forces of life and fertility, such as the sun, rain , and the earth. Thus in Aztec myth, the gods sacrificed themselves for the newl y created sun to move on its path...The sixteenth-century accounts written in Sp anish and Nahuatl provide detailed descriptions of Aztec concepts of death and t he afterlife...People who eventually succumbed to illness and old age went to Mi ctlan, the dark underworld presided by the skeletal god of death, Mictlantecuhtl i, and his consort Mictlancihuatl. In preparation for this journey, the corpse w as dressed in paper vestments, wrapped and tied in a cloth bundle, and then crem ated, along with a dog to serve as a guide through the underworld. The path to M ictlan traversed a landscape fraught with dangers... With no exits, Mictlan was a place of no return. /****Aside from the dreary...realm of Mictlan, there was t he afterworld of Tlalocan, the paradise of Tlaloc, the god of rain and water. A region of eternal spring, abundance, and wealth, this place was for those who di ed by lightning, drowning, or were afflicted by particular disease...Rather than being cremated, these individuals were buried whole with images of the mountain gods, being closely related to Tlaloc...For the Aztec, yearly ceremonies pertai ning to the dead were performed during two consecutive twenty-day months, the fi rst month for children, and the second for adults, with special focus on the cul t of warrior souls.****/ Although then occurring in the late summertime of Augus

t, many aspects of these ceremonies have continued in the fall Catholic celebrat ions of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. Along with the ritual offering of fo od for the visiting dead, marigolds frequently play a major part in the contempo rary celebrations, a flower specifically related to the dead in Aztec ritual." ---"Aztec Religion," MacMillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, Robert Kastenbau m editor [McMillan Reference:New York] 2003 (p. 52-53) /****Ancient Aztec celebrations of death "It was on the eighth month of August by our calendar that these [Ancient Aztec] people observed the ninth month of the year of twenty days, like all th rest. T he festival celebrated at the beginning of this month was performed with great r ejoicing. It was called Micialhuitontli, which is a diminutive and means Feast o f the Little Dead. According to my information, it was the commemoration of inno cent dead children, and that is why the diminutive was used. In the solemn cerem onies of this day offerings and sacrifices were made to honor and venerate these children. The second reason this feast was named in the diminutive is the same [as that] used for the previous feast. That is to say, it was a preparation or a nticipation of the coming festivity, called the Great Feast of the Dead, when ad ults were to be remembered. There was another reason (and this is the main one), founded on omens and superstition. This feast fell on the eighth of August...an d so these people feared the loss of their crops owing to frost at the beginning of August. Thus the natives prepared their offerings, oblations, and sacrifices for this feast and for that of the following month. I have already mentioned th at the first reason for the name Feast of the Little Dead was due to the offerin gs made for deceased children. I wish to refer to something I have seen taken pl ace on the Day of Allhallows and on the Day of the Faithful Departed. When I ask ed why offerings were made on the day of Allhallows, I was told that this was in honor of the children, it being an ancient custom which had survived. I inquire d whether offerings were also made on the Day of the Faithful Departed, and the answer was, 'yes, in honor of adults.' I was sorry to hear these things because I saw clearly that the Feast of the Little Dead and [the feast] of the Adults we re still being celebrated. On the first I saw people offering chocolate, candles , fowl, fruit, great quantities of seed, and food. On the next day I saw the sam e being done. Though this feast fell in August, I suspect that if it is an evil simulation (which I do not dare affirm) the pagan festival has been passed to th e Feast of Allhallows in order to cover up the ancient ceremony...This main fest ivity of theirs lasted the entire month, until the beginning of the Great Feast of the Dead. On this day an enormous thick tree trunk was cut--the largest that the woods could produce. The bark was stripped off and smoothed. Once this had b een done, it was brought and set up at the entrance of the city or town. Upon it s arrival the priests came out of the temples with trumpets, singing and dancing . The common men appeared with conch shells, offerings, food, incense burners fi lled with copal, and other types of incense." ---"The Ninth Month of the Year," Book of the Gods and Rites and The Ancient Cal endar, Fray Diego Duran [University of Oklahoma Press:Norman OK] 1971 (p. 441-44 3) [NOTE: Preh-Hispanic Cooking, Ana M. de Benitez offers that modern Day of the De ad was similar to the ancient Twelfth month celebration of Teotelco (p. 26).]*** */ The Catholic Church Connection "Early Spanish observers...remarked on the fabrication of idols from edible grai ns and their distribution as talismans or articles of communion...pre-Columbian practices were simply annexed to the festival of All Souls'; sometimes with a co nvivance of Franciscan friars who wished to encourage the rapid conversion of th e indigenous population to Christianity...Writing in 1580, Father Diego de Duran was troubled by the way in which indigenous cults of the dead were transposed t o All Saints' and All Souls'. He was particularly concerned that All Saints' had become a festival devoted to little children who had died, thereby emulating th e pre-Christian feast of Miccailhiotontli...which had traditionally take place t

wo months earlier. Mexican scholars disagree over the influence of these ancient festivals on the popular practice of Todos Santos...as the Day of the Dead is s ometimes called. But an overemphasis on the continuities with the pre-Columbian past can easily elide the fact that there are also striking similarities between the rituals of the Day of the Dead and the early modern observance of All Souls ' Day in Europe. Yellow flowers of mourning were common to both sixteenth-centur y Spain and Mexico...In the old Castilian province of Zamora...ofrendas and banq uets were a customary aspect of funeral rites. IN Barcelona, food stands routine ly sold seasonal sweets called panellets del morts or All Saints Day. A variety of other cakes and sweets also formed part of the festive fare in Catalonia, Sar dinia, Portugal, the Azores, and Haute-Saone in France, just as soul cakes were widely distributed in pre-Reformation Britain. What seems unique to the Mexican Todos Santos...was the widespread consumption of anthorpomorphic foods, or foods in the shape of humans. These included sugared skulls and figurines in the shap e of humans. These included the sugared skulls and figurines that now attract in ternational attention, and the pan de muertos, ' bread figures in the style of a ngels and human beings,' which took on 'a ritual character'...These kinds of foo ds---breads in human or animal form, in particular---were also made throughout t he Iberian peninsula, though rarely for this holiday. There are grounds...for su ggesting that the Mexican Day of the Dead was a complex mix of Mesoamerican and European influences, rather than a holiday onto which Christian observances were superficially imposed. In this respect, the Day of the Dead was not so very dif ferent from Halloween. Both shared a common European legacy as well as a dynamic fusion of pre-Christian and Christian belief. If this is the case, then their d ifferences may be grounded not only in the peculiarities of that syntretism, but also in the ways in which the two holidays subsequently developed in the New Wo rlds." ---Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, Nicholas Rogers [Oxford Universi ty Press:New York] 2002(p. 143-146) Modern observance "In Mexico, the festival of Dia de los Muertos embodies the greatest expression of both popular Catholicism and national cuisine. People construct alters in hom es and graveyards throughout the country in order to feed the souls of the dead. Church officials recognize two holy days, November 1 (All Saints' Day)...and No vember 2 (All Souls' Day), in memory of the faithful departed. According to popu lar belief, the angelitos (deceased children) return on the evening of October 3 1 and the adults on the following night, although the dates in local celebration s vary all the way from October 28 to November 4. The feast for the dead origina ted as a form of ancestor worship, and the clergy were long reluctant to incorpo rate such pagan practices into the liturgical calendar. The festival held partic ularly strong associations with pre-Hispanic agrarian cults because it coincided with the maize harvest. Celebrations begin with the cleaning of the graves and the construction of the altar. At home this consist of a table or platform hung from the ceiling, covered with a white cloth and supporting an arch of palm fron ds. The ofrenda are decorated with flowers, particularly the cempasuhil (marigol d), the 'flower of the dead,'...The foods offered to the dead vary according to age and taste, but bread, water, and salt are always included. The bread is made from a special egg dough forming bones, and a skull in the center. Sugar candie s with similar skull and calavera (skeleton) designs are also popular. In some a reas of Oaxa and Michoacan, bakers shape the bread to resemble humans or animals . Offerings for children are miniature in size and relatively simple: breads, ca ndies, fruits, and milk or soft drinks. The adult dead receive the finest foods, grown-up breads and sugar figures, as well as candied pumpkin and other sweets. More elaborate preparations include mole (turkey in a rich chili sauce) and tam ales (corn dumplings stuffed with meat and chili and steamed in husks or banana leaves). The spirits also drink their favorite beverages, whether soft drinks, c offee, chocolate, beer or tequila...The Day of the Dead has recently become an i mportant tourist attraction for the towns such as Mixquic, near Mexico City, and in the state of Oacaca."

---"Day of the Dead," Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Solomon H. Katz, editor in chief [Charles Scribner:New YOrk] 2003, Volume 1 (p. 505-506) Food notes & recipes Pan de Muerto (literally, bread of the dead) is universal. Sugar skulls are also offered. Other foods depend upon what the person liked when he/she was alive. N otes here: "Every year the people of Mexico celebrate El Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dea d). The holiday begins the evening of October 31 and continues throughout the da y of November 2. It is a time when Mexican families remember the dead by mixing ancient beliefs and ritual of the early peoples of Mexico with the customs intro duced by the Spanish Christians.Much preparation leads up to the holiday, which is actually a pleasant commemoration, rather than a solemn occasion, as one migh t think. It is a very social event, which begins by cleaning the gravesite and d ecorating with flowers and well as preparing special foods such as pan de muerto s (bread of the dead), for their departed. Family members gather at the cemetery to picnic and remember the dead by telling stories about them." Food for the Ancestors (lesson plan) [NOTE: this site includes selected modernized recipes] "In our day throughout the country, but principally in the states of Puebla, Mex ico, Oaxaca and Michoacan...the Day of the Dead is celebrated with catholic-paga n ceremonies...people, in happy contradiction with the sad day, place offerings of sweets, fruits and tasty dishes of all kinds to their dead relations...The Ch ristian part is represented with figures and pictures placed on a kind of altar. The pagan part is prepared on a table or sideboard below the altar covered with a beautifully embroidered tablecloth...The dishes, jubs and pans are made of bl ack glazed clay, as if for a special rite, because this ceramic ware is only use d at this time. The glazed dishes are filled with turkey mole, pork or chicken, a dessert made of pumpkin, choke-cherries and guavas; tasted sesame seed is spri nkled over the dishes; a dessert called punche, which is a kind of pudding of gr ound maize of different colors, blue, purple and red; fruits of the season organ ves, limes, choke-cherries, jicamas and others; skulls made with sugar with the eye sockets stuffed with brightly coloured paper and decorated with sugar filigr ee with the name of the dead person on its forehead, bread in the shape of skull s and bones, colored with red and white sugar; bread made with eggs which is cal led hojaldras or bread of the dead, a kind of scone decorated with figures made of the same dough in the shape of tears of bones. Tamales and the dead person's favourite delicacies...are alos placed with the other offerings...It seems that both the ritual and the offerings are similar to those of the Aztec ceremonies w hich took place in the twelfth month of the Aztec calendar, called Teotelco. Teo telco was at about the same line of the year as our last days in Octover. On the eighteenth day the priests washed the feed of the god called Tlamatizicatl Titl acauan or Tezcatlipoca, and it was a day of great rejoicing." ---Pre-Hispanic Cooking, Ana M. de Benitez [Ediciones Euroamericanas:Mexico] 197 4 (p. 24-29) [NOTE: Book includes recipe for Bread of the Dead.] About these notes: Food history can be a complicated topic. These notes are not meant to be a comprehensive treatment of the subject, but a summary of salient p oints supported with culinary evidence. If you need more information we suggest you start by asking your librarian to help you find the books and articles cited in these notes. Article databases are good for locating current recipes, consum er trends, and new products.