What is Halloween? Origin, significance, and seven classic Halloween foods

In Western nations, Halloween is regarded as one of the most important holidays. Do you know where this festival came from or not?

1. What exactly is Halloween?

All Hallows’ Evening, commonly referred to as “evil festival,” is the full name of Halloween, a typical traditional holiday in the West. Every year on October 31 before the Christian holiday of All Saints, the feast is typically observed.

Halloween is a holiday that commemorates the end of the harvest and the onset of the chilly winter. Nowadays, Halloween is celebrated on both a huge and small scale, depending on the country. People frequently dress up as ghosts on Halloween, make public appearances together under the moonlight, and attend spooky parties with elaborate decorations.

2. The history of Halloween

Halloween’s origins can be traced back to the Celts, who inhabited the regions that are now England, Ireland, and northern France more than 2000 years ago.

The Celts frequently built a brilliant fire and donned costumes on the eve of the new year in the belief that the line separating the worlds of the living and the dead would blur and the spirits of the dead may return to earth. on this festival night, wear costumes to ward off evil spirits or welcome family members “home”.

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3. Halloween’s significance

Paying tribute to the deceased

On the night before All Saints Day (1-11), Halloween is first observed, and it concludes on All Souls Day (2-11). Three days in a row are observed with the intention of honoring saints who have gone to heaven or who have not.

Additionally, this day is a time to honor departed loved ones. The dead’s ghosts will be permitted to visit their family on Halloween. Roman Catholics believe that earthly prayers can assist souls in atoning for their sins and making a quick transition back to God.

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Drive away bad spirits

According to Celtic mythology, October 31 is the day when hell opens and the boundary between life and death can be readily crossed. In order to drive away spirits from the hereafter, they frequently switch off the fire so that the house is cold and gloomy as if there are no live people present. Then, dressed as ghosts or the dead, they walk around the living space together.

In addition, an Irish tradition mentions a lad by the name of Jack. He was incredibly ungrateful when he was living, frequently hiding money and not giving it to anyone, so when he passed away, his spirit was prohibited from entering heaven. Additionally, he is not eligible for hell because, when still alive, he played with the devil and was not caught by him.

Prior to that, a demon attempted to destroy a residential area, but the residents were worried and turned to the monks for assistance, asking them to bring holy things to “cover” and “lock the doors,” which allowed the demon to be captured. After that, Jack recognized that it was the demon he used to play with and devised strategies to get rid of the “bad” item, allowing the demon to flee. The devil made a vow to Jack that he would save his soul from going to hell in order to give Jack back the favor of sparing his life.

Later, Jack went to hell after dying in an accident but being turned down by heaven. However, the previous promise prevented the demon from entering. The devil noticed Jack’s loneliness and misery at the moment, so he grabbed some embers, placed them in the pumpkin gut, and gave it to Jack to keep warm. Perhaps this explains how pumpkins came to represent Halloween.

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4. Halloween-themed cuisine

Pumpkin soup

The pumpkin is a common Halloween emblem. As a result, pumpkin recipes are essential for this celebration. One of them is soup with pumpkin.

There are a variety of ways to make pumpkin soup depending on the location, including boiling it with beef, lamb, or creating a vegetarian version. This soup is delicious and healthy for both adults and kids.

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Apple candy

One of the essential delicacies for Halloween is candy apples. Because Halloween must contain candy, people have developed apple candy because, as the ancients explained, October is the time of year when some parts of the United States harvest their apples.

To make this candy, choose fresh, recently harvested apples, coat them with a layer of sweet syrup, and then insert a short stick into the core of the apple for handling convenience. Apple candies have a magical, dark brown look and a sweet, delectable taste. They are also quite appealing.

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Corn candy

American consumers still like candy corn, which was first sold under the name “Chicken Feed” in 1880.

Possibly the most divisive Halloween candy is this one. Due of its unique taste, people either passionately adore it or utterly detest it, and it is a frequent topic of conversation during Halloween and the end of the year.

The major ingredients used to make candy are corn syrup, sugar, honey, and synthetic colors. Each candy has a triangular shape like a corn kernel after being detached from the core using the colors white, orange, and yellow, as the name would imply.

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Potato mash with colcannon

The classic Colcannon is a mashed potato dish composed with four key ingredients: potatoes, butter, milk, and kale. This Colcannon recipe also comes from Ireland.

Today, this mashed potato meal can also be made in a few other ways to make it more enticing, such as by adding bacon, milk, butter, leeks, green onions, pepper, etc. Due to its wonderful taste and simplicity of preparation, this meal is a need for Halloween gatherings in Western nations.

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Soul cake

This cross-decorated circular cookie with raisins is especially popular during the Halloween season. According to legend, if the lost souls consume this type of cake on the night of October 31, they will not hurt anyone when they return.

That notion is also the source of the term “soul cake.” People frequently bake soul cakes in the form of skulls or ghosts today to add to the horror factor for Halloween, which increases the richness of the cake.

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Barmbracks bread

Irish-born barmbrack bread, also known as brack, swiftly gained popularity around Halloween across all of Europe before being introduced to other continents. There is no set method to follow while making this bread, which is often baked in an oven. The dough has a similar texture to conventional bread, and it is filled with dried fruits like grapes and raspberries.

On Halloween night, there will customarily be an item placed within this cake, and some interpret this as a fortune-telling to foretell the future.

A coin, a cloth, and a ring are three objects with the Barmbrack filling that are mixed at random. Coins represent good financial fortune. The fabric, however, represents financial difficulty. The ring, on the other hand, foretells the recipient’s romantic future.

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