DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

   Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos ) is a Mexican holiday. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality of a National Holiday. The celebration takes place on November 1st and 2nd, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts.    Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl. In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday that many Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. I...

    In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. The origin and history of Thanksgiving Day in Canada is different from the American Thanksgiving. Whereas the American tradition talks about remembering Pilgrims and settling in the New World, Canadians give thanks for a successful harvest. The geographical location of Canada is further north as compared to the United States therefore the harvest season falls earlier in Canada.    In Canada Thanksgiving 2009 will be celebrated on second Monday in October - 12th October 2009 . History and Origin of Canadian Thanksgiving There are three traditions behind Canadian Thanksgiving Day: 1 . The farmers in Europe held celebrations at the time of harvesting to give thanks for their good fortune of a bountiful harvest and abundance of food. The farmers would fill a goat's curved horn with fruits and grains. This curved horn was known as a cornucopia or the ho...

On Thanksgiving, more than any other day of the year, Americans sit down and eat the same meal as their neighbors and countrymen. It’s tradition, after all! But we know our  history: most of the Thanksgiving dishes we enjoy today weren’t at the original Pilgrims’ feast in 1621, or at least not in the way we enjoy them. How did we come up with the modern menu on so many tables? 1. Candied Sweet Potatoes     Sweet potatoes are native to the Americas and their consumption goes back about 5,000 years, so it is no wonder they are associated with the American holiday, even though the Pilgrims didn’t have them in Massachusetts. But when did we start adding sugar to make them even sweeter than they are? T he earliest recipe found is from 1889, in which sweet potatoes are made into candy. “ The candied sweet potato is a Philadelphia confectionery. It is nothing but sweet potatoes carefully boiled and quartered, then candied in boiling syrup, but it is said t...