| Festival
Foods United States
The
United States is truly the “melting pot” of all holiday
traditions and foods. We see an example of this
in the similar Christmas tamales and New Year’s menudo
shared by American Hispanics and Mexican Hispanics.
The United States is among the most diverse culture
in the world as a result of the open immigration policy
that this country has embraced during most of its history.
This is why holiday traditions from around the
world have proliferated and are accessible in most of
the United States.
North
America is predominately Christian in religion and Christian
holidays are widely celebrated. While Rio is the
South American center of Mardi Gras, New Orleans is
Mardi Gras Central in the United States, focusing on
a week long wild party of excessive drinking and eating
before the fasting of Lent. It is noteworthy that
Mardi Gras is not considered a religious holiday, but
in a sense anti-religious or just an excuse to party.
Like the Goa Carnival of India, most people participating
in the Mardi Gras do not practice religious fasting
or rituals of the Lenten season, although the last and
wildest day of feasting ends on Shew or Fat Tuesday.
Ash Wednesday signals the beginning of the six-week
fasting period before Easter and a time of sober repentance
similar to Yom Kippur.
Lent
is characterized by fasting, abstinence from animal
products, and fish on Friday, culminating in the major
fast and repentance of Good Friday, the day Christ died
for the sins of the people. These prohibitions
have given rise to a subculture of meatless Friday foods
like pierogie, Polish pasta filled with potatoes and
onions, ravioli, Italian pasta filled with cheese, clam
chowder and fish-fries. Although this began as
a Catholic tradition in the United States, the practice
of fish or clam chowder on Fridays has become so entrenched
in the culture that even restaurant chains observe it
throughout the nation.
Easter
Sunday breaks somber Lent with the feast of Christ’s
rising from the dead. Traditionally served is
a family dinner of glazed ham or leg of lamb, new potatoes,
spring vegetables like peas and pearl onions, and
lemon meringue pie. After Christianity was made
the religion of Rome by Constantinople, pagan spring
festivals like May Day were conveniently merged into
Easter celebrations. Pagan fertility symbols still
persevere, however, in the shape of hard-boiled
colored Easter Eggs, candy shaped like eggs, baby animals
and flowers, as well as, the Easter Bunny bringing colorful
candy filled baskets for children. Again, we see
European influence upon American holidays.
Like
other nations, the United States has its Independence
Day or the Fourth of July which is vigorously celebrated
with barbeque and picnics, hot dogs, hamburgers, potato
or egg salad, baked beans, ribs and watermelon. Labor
Day and Memorial Day are remembered with these same
foods and customs.
European
settlers, also, bequeathed Americans the popular dead
ancestor day of Halloween or All Hallows Eve.
In the United States, ancient meanings are obscured
and it is generally considered a children’s day
to dress up and beg candy from house to house.
Those of the pagan or satanic religion regard
this holiday as a High Holy Day, however, and it may
involve sacrificing an animal and drinking its blood.
It’s origins are from the Celtic New Year‘s Day,
November 1, and pays tribute to Samhain, the Lord
of the Dead.
This
holiday was rooted in the culture of the “barbarian
hordes” or Celts, or the early Europeans (excluding
the Mediterranean). When they were christianized,
the European church made All Saints Day a religious
holiday. Its proximity to harvest festivals fostered
Halloween traditional foods like pumpkins, apples, apple
cider, candy apples and corn candy. The Lord of
the Dead still shows up today in candy or foods shaped
like jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, witches, skulls with
worms and other scary or death oriented food. (Halloween
Fabulous Foods 2002).
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Outside
of national type holidays, like Independence Day and
President’s Day, Thanksgiving is the only uniquely American
holiday. The first Thanksgiving feast was celebrated
by Christian pilgrim settlers, thankful to God for escaping
starvation by the food knowledge and friendship of Native
Americans. Traditional Thanksgiving foods show
a distinct Native American influence due to this and
feature foods of New England where the first colonies
flourished. A concerned American, Sarah Hale,
wrote letters for 40 years to any official with
an address, fearing the Industrial Revolution would
bring an end to hearth and family, so thus Thanksgiving
was officially declared an American holiday.
The
holiday table normally consists of a big feast of harvest
or game foods like turkey, bread or corn bread stuffing,
giblet gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, yams,
sweet potatoes, vegetables, pickles, pumpkin, sweet
potato or apple pie.
Traditional
Christmas celebrations in North America are derived
from European traditions. Christmas Day would
be marked with a big family feast of roast beef or goose,
mincemeat pie, candies and sweets, Christmas cookies
and, perhaps, roasted chestnuts. American holiday
foods like plum pudding, yule log, warm spiced liqueurs
and the proverbial Christmas fruit cake, also, find
their origins in Europe. Kwanza is a non-religious
winter festival celebrated after Christmas and ending
on New Year’s Day. The only African-American holiday,
Kwanza was created in California in 1966 to revive forgotten
African traditions and traditional foods of all
of Africa. (Kittler 2000).
New
Year’s Eve festivities in the United States are commonly
celebrated with a large buffet party with expensive
canapes, bite-sized crackers or bread topped with delicacies,
like seafood and caviar. Excessive drinking of
alcohol to toast the New Year, particularly champagne,
is reminiscent of Mardi Gras drunken galas and Goa Carnival.
Similar to Asian and European New Year’s
Day practices, symbolism abounds in United States regional
cooking on that first day. The Southern region
makes lucky red beans and rice. Cajuns serve cabbage,
to attract green folding money, and black-eyed peas
for luck. In the Southwest, Hispanics prepare
menudo, a tripe and hominy stew, good for hangovers
and health for the coming year.
Holiday
foods and practices such as these were brought to this
country by immigrants from around the globe. The
melding of these into American holiday food traditions
characterizes the spirit of a land welcoming those
of different cultures to contribute to this “melting
pot” of foods and traditions. Those who live in
the United States are fortunate to have the opportunity
to experience such a wide range of foods, particularly
the shared meanings, family ties and fun surrounding
festival foods from every culture.
-
Elizabeth D'iAmico
Copyright© 2003-2006 DrewMCA, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Related
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Foods - Introduction
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Foods - Religious
Influences, Middle East
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Foods - India
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Foods - Africa
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Foods - Europe
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Foods - Europe
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Foods - South America
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Foods - United States
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