Halloween

Halloween may be the only American holiday that is not associated with a particular feast or recipe. Nineteenth-century Irish immigrants brought the October 31 celebration to the United States. On that night it was traditional to give soul cakes to visitors to their households in return for promises to say prayers on behalf of dead relatives. They also put lanterns made from vegetables in the windows to welcome ghosts and wandering souls. In Ireland and Scotland, these candlelit lanterns were carved from large turnips or potatoes, and in England from beets, but in the United States immigrants used the larger native pumpkins.