PUMPKIN SALT AND PEPPER SHAKER SET Halloween Thanksgiving gourd autumn fall RARE

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Seller: sidewaysstairsco ✉️ (1,180) 100%, Location: Santa Ana, California, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 195735689974 PUMPKIN SALT AND PEPPER SHAKER SET Halloween Thanksgiving gourd autumn fall RARE. Check out my other new & used items>>>>>>HERE! (click me) FOR SALE: A lovely set of holiday(s)-themed condiment dispensers ESSENTIAL HOME PUMPKIN SALT AND PEPPER SET DETAILS: A salt and pepper shaker set that's perfect for Autumn holidays!!! This lovely salt and pepper shaker set features beautifully designed ceramic gorgeous gourds. Perfect for bringing some seasonal whimsy to your home decor. Ideal for Halloween time and Thanksgiving - display/use all October and November. This pumpkin-themed set of salt and pepper shakers includes two styles of squash (one traditional, round pumpkin and one with a wider bottom and some height) and the original mold artist even included the leaves and tendrils in each sculpt. Each shaker includes a PVC stopper/plug. Fill with your choice of seasonings and find the reason for some season! Hand Painted Finish! Retired Kmart exclusive product! That's right, this lovely set of realistic pumpkin salt and pepper shakers was made exclusively for sale at Kmart stores. As many know, Kmart was at one time a department store leader but as of 2022 only 3 stores remain in the United States. Kmart and it's products made exclusively for sale at their retail locations have become more and more rare, especially their seasonal products. Dimensions: Round Pumpkin: 2.95 x 2.95 x 2.95 in (7.5 x 7.5 x 7.5 cm) Taller Pumpkin: 2.55 x 2,55 3.34 in (6.5 x 6.5 x 8.5 cm) CONDITION: New with defect; like-new and unused. The shorter, rounder pumpkin has 2 thin lines of crazing radiating from the plug hole rim (see photo #13). Packaging has storage wear. Please see photos. To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out. THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK. *ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.* "Halloween (less commonly known as Allhalloween,[5] All Hallows' Eve,[6] or All Saints' Eve)[7] is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observance of Allhallowtide,[8] the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.[9][10][11][12] One theory holds that many Halloween traditions were influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, which are believed to have pagan roots.[13][14][15][16] Some go further and suggest that Samhain may have been Christianized as All Hallow's Day, along with its eve, by the early Church.[17] Other academics believe Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, being the vigil of All Hallow's Day.[18][19][20][21] Celebrated in Ireland and Scotland for centuries, Irish and Scottish immigrants took many Halloween customs to North America in the 19th century,[22][23] and then through American influence Halloween had spread to other countries by the late 20th and early 21st century.[24][25] Popular Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising and souling), attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins or turnips into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, and watching horror or Halloween-themed films.[26] Some people practice the Christian religious observances of All Hallows' Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead,[27][28][29] although it is a secular celebration for others.[30][31][32] Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes.[33][34][35][36] Etymology "Halloween" (1785) by Scottish poet Robert Burns, recounts various legends of the holiday. The word Halloween or Hallowe'en ("Saints' evening"[37]) is of Christian origin;[38][39] a term equivalent to "All Hallows Eve" is attested in Old English.[40] The word hallowe[']en comes from the Scottish form of All Hallows' Eve (the evening before All Hallows' Day):[41] even is the Scots term for "eve" or "evening",[42] and is contracted to e'en or een;[43] (All) Hallow(s) E(v)en became Hallowe'en. History Christian origins and historic customs Halloween is thought to have influences from Christian beliefs and practices.[44][45] The English word 'Halloween' comes from "All Hallows' Eve", being the evening before the Christian holy days of All Hallows' Day (All Saints' Day) on 1 November and All Souls' Day on 2 November.[46] Since the time of the early Church,[47] major feasts in Christianity (such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost) had vigils that began the night before, as did the feast of All Hallows'.[48][44] These three days are collectively called Allhallowtide and are a time when Western Christians honour all saints and pray for recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven. Commemorations of all saints and martyrs were held by several churches on various dates, mostly in springtime.[49] In 4th-century Roman Edessa it was held on 13 May, and on 13 May 609, Pope Boniface IV re-dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to "St Mary and all martyrs".[50] This was the date of Lemuria, an ancient Roman festival of the dead.[51] In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III (731–741) founded an oratory in St Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors".[44][52] Some sources say it was dedicated on 1 November,[53] while others say it was on Palm Sunday in April 732.[54][55] By 800, there is evidence that churches in Ireland[56] and Northumbria were holding a feast commemorating all saints on 1 November.[57] Alcuin of Northumbria, a member of Charlemagne's court, may then have introduced this 1 November date in the Frankish Empire.[58] In 835, it became the official date in the Frankish Empire.[57] Some suggest this was due to Celtic influence, while others suggest it was a Germanic idea,[57] although it is claimed that both Germanic and Celtic-speaking peoples commemorated the dead at the beginning of winter.[59] They may have seen it as the most fitting time to do so, as it is a time of 'dying' in nature.[57][59] It is also suggested the change was made on the "practical grounds that Rome in summer could not accommodate the great number of pilgrims who flocked to it", and perhaps because of public health concerns over Roman Fever, which claimed a number of lives during Rome's sultry summers.[60][44] On All Hallows' Eve, Christians in some parts of the world visit cemeteries to pray and place flowers and candles on the graves of their loved ones.[61] Top: Christians in Bangladesh lighting candles on the headstone of a relative. Bottom: Lutheran Christians praying and lighting candles in front of the central crucifix of a graveyard. By the end of the 12th century, the celebration had become known as the holy days of obligation in Western Christianity and involved such traditions as ringing church bells for souls in purgatory. It was also "customary for criers dressed in black to parade the streets, ringing a bell of mournful sound and calling on all good Christians to remember the poor souls".[62] The Allhallowtide custom of baking and sharing soul cakes for all christened souls,[63] has been suggested as the origin of trick-or-treating.[64] The custom dates back at least as far as the 15th century[65] and was found in parts of England, Wales, Flanders, Bavaria and Austria.[66] Groups of poor people, often children, would go door-to-door during Allhallowtide, collecting soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the dead, especially the souls of the givers' friends and relatives. This was called "souling".[65][67][68] Soul cakes were also offered for the souls themselves to eat,[66] or the 'soulers' would act as their representatives.[69] As with the Lenten tradition of hot cross buns, soul cakes were often marked with a cross, indicating they were baked as alms.[70] Shakespeare mentions souling in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593).[71] While souling, Christians would carry "lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips", which could have originally represented souls of the dead;[72][73] jack-o'-lanterns were used to ward off evil spirits.[74][75] On All Saints' and All Souls' Day during the 19th century, candles were lit in homes in Ireland,[76] Flanders, Bavaria, and in Tyrol, where they were called "soul lights",[77] that served "to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes".[78] In many of these places, candles were also lit at graves on All Souls' Day.[77] In Brittany, libations of milk were poured on the graves of kinfolk,[66] or food would be left overnight on the dinner table for the returning souls;[77] a custom also found in Tyrol and parts of Italy.[79][77] Christian minister Prince Sorie Conteh linked the wearing of costumes to the belief in vengeful ghosts: "It was traditionally believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, and All Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes".[80] In the Middle Ages, churches in Europe that were too poor to display relics of martyred saints at Allhallowtide let parishioners dress up as saints instead.[81][82] Some Christians observe this custom at Halloween today.[83] Lesley Bannatyne believes this could have been a Christianization of an earlier pagan custom.[84] Many Christians in mainland Europe, especially in France, believed "that once a year, on Hallowe'en, the dead of the churchyards rose for one wild, hideous carnival" known as the danse macabre, which was often depicted in church decoration.[85] Christopher Allmand and Rosamond McKitterick write in The New Cambridge Medieval History that the danse macabre urged Christians "not to forget the end of all earthly things".[86] The danse macabre was sometimes enacted in European village pageants and court masques, with people "dressing up as corpses from various strata of society", and this may be the origin of Halloween costume parties.[87][88][89][72] In Britain, these customs came under attack during the Reformation, as Protestants berated purgatory as a "popish" doctrine incompatible with the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. State-sanctioned ceremonies associated with the intercession of saints and prayer for souls in purgatory were abolished during the Elizabethan reform, though All Hallow's Day remained in the English liturgical calendar to "commemorate saints as godly human beings".[90] For some Nonconformist Protestants, the theology of All Hallows' Eve was redefined; "souls cannot be journeying from Purgatory on their way to Heaven, as Catholics frequently believe and assert. Instead, the so-called ghosts are thought to be in actuality evil spirits".[91] Other Protestants believed in an intermediate state known as Hades (Bosom of Abraham).[92] In some localities, Catholics and Protestants continued souling, candlelit processions, or ringing church bells for the dead;[46][93] the Anglican church eventually suppressed this bell-ringing.[94] Mark Donnelly, a professor of medieval archaeology, and historian Daniel Diehl write that "barns and homes were blessed to protect people and livestock from the effect of witches, who were believed to accompany the malignant spirits as they traveled the earth".[95] After 1605, Hallowtide was eclipsed in England by Guy Fawkes Night (5 November), which appropriated some of its customs.[96] In England, the ending of official ceremonies related to the intercession of saints led to the development of new, unofficial Hallowtide customs. In 18th–19th century rural Lancashire, Catholic families gathered on hills on the night of All Hallows' Eve. One held a bunch of burning straw on a pitchfork while the rest knelt around him, praying for the souls of relatives and friends until the flames went out. This was known as teen'lay.[97] There was a similar custom in Hertfordshire, and the lighting of 'tindle' fires in Derbyshire.[98] Some suggested these 'tindles' were originally lit to "guide the poor souls back to earth".[99] In Scotland and Ireland, old Allhallowtide customs that were at odds with Reformed teaching were not suppressed as they "were important to the life cycle and rites of passage of local communities" and curbing them would have been difficult.[22] In parts of Italy until the 15th century, families left a meal out for the ghosts of relatives, before leaving for church services.[79] In 19th-century Italy, churches staged "theatrical re-enactments of scenes from the lives of the saints" on All Hallow's Day, with "participants represented by realistic wax figures".[79] In 1823, the graveyard of Holy Spirit Hospital in Rome presented a scene in which bodies of those who recently died were arrayed around a wax statue of an angel who pointed upward towards heaven.[79] In the same country, "parish priests went house-to-house, asking for small gifts of food which they shared among themselves throughout that night".[79] In Spain, they continue to bake special pastries called "bones of the holy" (Spanish: Huesos de Santo) and set them on graves.[100] At cemeteries in Spain and France, as well as in Latin America, priests lead Christian processions and services during Allhallowtide, after which people keep an all night vigil.[101] In 19th-century San Sebastián, there was a procession to the city cemetery at Allhallowtide, an event that drew beggars who "appeal[ed] to the tender recollectons of one's deceased relations and friends" for sympathy.[102] Gaelic folk influence An early 20th-century Irish Halloween mask displayed at the Museum of Country Life Today's Halloween customs are thought to have been influenced by folk customs and beliefs from the Celtic-speaking countries, some of which are believed to have pagan roots.[103] Jack Santino, a folklorist, writes that "there was throughout Ireland an uneasy truce existing between customs and beliefs associated with Christianity and those associated with religions that were Irish before Christianity arrived".[104] The origins of Halloween customs are typically linked to the Gaelic festival Samhain.[105] Samhain is one of the quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and has been celebrated on 31 October – 1 November[106] in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.[107][108] A kindred festival has been held by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall and Kalan Goañv in Brittany; a name meaning "first day of winter". For the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset; thus the festival begins the evening before 1 November by modern reckoning.[109] Samhain is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature. The names have been used by historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century,[110] and are still the Gaelic and Welsh names for Halloween. Snap-Apple Night, painted by Daniel Maclise in 1833, shows people feasting and playing divination games on Halloween in Ireland.[111] Samhain marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year.[112][113] It was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned. This meant the Aos Sí, the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into this world and were particularly active.[114][115] Most scholars see them as "degraded versions of ancient gods [...] whose power remained active in the people's minds even after they had been officially replaced by later religious beliefs".[116] They were both respected and feared, with individuals often invoking the protection of God when approaching their dwellings.[117][118] At Samhain, the Aos Sí were appeased to ensure the people and livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left outside for them.[119][120][121] The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality.[122] Places were set at the dinner table and by the fire to welcome them.[123] The belief that the souls of the dead return home on one night of the year and must be appeased seems to have ancient origins and is found in many cultures.[66] In 19th century Ireland, "candles would be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the eating, drinking, and games would begin".[124] Throughout Ireland and Britain, especially in the Celtic-speaking regions, the household festivities included divination rituals and games intended to foretell one's future, especially regarding death and marriage.[125] Apples and nuts were often used, and customs included apple bobbing, nut roasting, scrying or mirror-gazing, pouring molten lead or egg whites into water, dream interpretation, and others.[126] Special bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them. Their flames, smoke, and ashes were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers.[112] In some places, torches lit from the bonfire were carried sunwise around homes and fields to protect them.[110] It is suggested the fires were a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic – they mimicked the Sun and held back the decay and darkness of winter.[123][127][128] They were also used for divination and to ward off evil spirits.[74] In Scotland, these bonfires and divination games were banned by the church elders in some parishes.[129] In Wales, bonfires were also lit to "prevent the souls of the dead from falling to earth".[130] Later, these bonfires "kept away the devil".[131] photograph A plaster cast of a traditional Irish Halloween turnip (rutabaga) lantern on display in the Museum of Country Life, Ireland[132] From at least the 16th century,[133] the festival included mumming and guising in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales.[134] This involved people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the Aos Sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf, similar to 'souling'. Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also believed to protect oneself from them.[135] In parts of southern Ireland, the guisers included a hobby horse. A man dressed as a Láir Bhán (white mare) led youths house-to-house reciting verses – some of which had pagan overtones – in exchange for food. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune.[136] In Scotland, youths went house-to-house with masked, painted or blackened faces, often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed.[134] F. Marian McNeill suggests the ancient festival included people in costume representing the spirits, and that faces were marked or blackened with ashes from the sacred bonfire.[133] In parts of Wales, men went about dressed as fearsome beings called gwrachod.[134] In the late 19th and early 20th century, young people in Glamorgan and Orkney cross-dressed.[134] Elsewhere in Europe, mumming was part of other festivals, but in the Celtic-speaking regions, it was "particularly appropriate to a night upon which supernatural beings were said to be abroad and could be imitated or warded off by human wanderers".[134] From at least the 18th century, "imitating malignant spirits" led to playing pranks in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. Wearing costumes and playing pranks at Halloween did not spread to England until the 20th century.[134] Pranksters used hollowed-out turnips or mangel wurzels as lanterns, often carved with grotesque faces.[134] By those who made them, the lanterns were variously said to represent the spirits,[134] or used to ward off evil spirits.[137][138] They were common in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands in the 19th century,[134] as well as in Somerset (see Punkie Night). In the 20th century they spread to other parts of Britain and became generally known as jack-o'-lanterns.[134] Spread to North America The annual New York Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, is the world's largest Halloween parade, with millions of spectators annually, and has its roots in New York’s queer community.[139] Lesley Bannatyne and Cindy Ott write that Anglican colonists in the southern United States and Catholic colonists in Maryland "recognized All Hallow's Eve in their church calendars",[140][141] although the Puritans of New England strongly opposed the holiday, along with other traditional celebrations of the established Church, including Christmas.[142] Almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th century give no indication that Halloween was widely celebrated in North America.[22] It was not until after mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century that Halloween became a major holiday in America.[22] Most American Halloween traditions were inherited from the Irish and Scots,[23][143] though "In Cajun areas, a nocturnal Mass was said in cemeteries on Halloween night. Candles that had been blessed were placed on graves, and families sometimes spent the entire night at the graveside".[144] Originally confined to these immigrant communities, it was gradually assimilated into mainstream society and was celebrated coast to coast by people of all social, racial, and religious backgrounds by the early 20th century.[145] Then, through American influence, these Halloween traditions spread to many other countries by the late 20th and early 21st century, including to mainland Europe and some parts of the Far East.[24][25][146] Symbols At Halloween, yards, public spaces, and some houses may be decorated with traditionally macabre symbols including skeletons, ghosts, cobwebs, headstones, and scary looking witches. Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time. Jack-o'-lanterns are traditionally carried by guisers on All Hallows' Eve in order to frighten evil spirits.[73][147] There is a popular Irish Christian folktale associated with the jack-o'-lantern,[148] which in folklore is said to represent a "soul who has been denied entry into both heaven and hell":[149]     On route home after a night's drinking, Jack encounters the Devil and tricks him into climbing a tree. A quick-thinking Jack etches the sign of the cross into the bark, thus trapping the Devil. Jack strikes a bargain that Satan can never claim his soul. After a life of sin, drink, and mendacity, Jack is refused entry to heaven when he dies. Keeping his promise, the Devil refuses to let Jack into hell and throws a live coal straight from the fires of hell at him. It was a cold night, so Jack places the coal in a hollowed out turnip to stop it from going out, since which time Jack and his lantern have been roaming looking for a place to rest.[150] In Ireland and Scotland, the turnip has traditionally been carved during Halloween,[151][152] but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which is both much softer and much larger, making it easier to carve than a turnip.[151] The American tradition of carving pumpkins is recorded in 1837[153] and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.[154] Decorated house in Weatherly, Pennsylvania The modern imagery of Halloween comes from many sources, including Christian eschatology, national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature (such as the novels Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus and Dracula) and classic horror films such as Frankenstein (1931) and The Mummy (1932).[155][156] Imagery of the skull, a reference to Golgotha in the Christian tradition, serves as "a reminder of death and the transitory quality of human life" and is consequently found in memento mori and vanitas compositions;[157] skulls have therefore been commonplace in Halloween, which touches on this theme.[158] Traditionally, the back walls of churches are "decorated with a depiction of the Last Judgment, complete with graves opening and the dead rising, with a heaven filled with angels and a hell filled with devils", a motif that has permeated the observance of this triduum.[159] One of the earliest works on the subject of Halloween is from Scottish poet John Mayne, who, in 1780, made note of pranks at Halloween; "What fearfu' pranks ensue!", as well as the supernatural associated with the night, "bogles" (ghosts),[160] influencing Robert Burns' "Halloween" (1785).[161] Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween. Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, and mythical monsters.[162] Black cats, which have been long associated with witches, are also a common symbol of Halloween. Black, orange, and sometimes purple are Halloween's traditional colors.[163] Trick-or-treating and guising Main article: Trick-or-treating Trick-or-treaters in Sweden Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" implies a "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.[64] The practice is said to have roots in the medieval practice of mumming, which is closely related to souling.[164] John Pymm wrote that "many of the feast days associated with the presentation of mumming plays were celebrated by the Christian Church."[165] These feast days included All Hallows' Eve, Christmas, Twelfth Night and Shrove Tuesday.[166][167] Mumming practiced in Germany, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe,[168] involved masked persons in fancy dress who "paraded the streets and entered houses to dance or play dice in silence".[169] Girl in a Halloween costume in 1928, Ontario, Canada, the same province where the Scottish Halloween custom of guising was first recorded in North America In England, from the medieval period,[170] up until the 1930s,[171] people practiced the Christian custom of souling on Halloween, which involved groups of soulers, both Protestant and Catholic,[93] going from parish to parish, begging the rich for soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the souls of the givers and their friends.[67] In the Philippines, the practice of souling is called Pangangaluluwa and is practiced on All Hallow's Eve among children in rural areas.[26] People drape themselves in white cloths to represent souls and then visit houses, where they sing in return for prayers and sweets.[26] In Scotland and Ireland, guising – children disguised in costume going from door to door for food or coins – is a traditional Halloween custom.[172] It is recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895 where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit, and money.[152][173] In Ireland, the most popular phrase for kids to shout (until the 2000s) was "Help the Halloween Party".[172] The practice of guising at Halloween in North America was first recorded in 1911, where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, reported children going "guising" around the neighborhood.[174] American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts wrote the first book-length history of Halloween in the US; The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America".[175] In her book, Kelley touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic; "Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Halloween customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries".[176] While the first reference to "guising" in North America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920.[177] The earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" appears in 1927, in the Blackie Herald, of Alberta, Canada.[178] An automobile trunk at a trunk-or-treat event at St. John Lutheran Church and Early Learning Center in Darien, Illinois The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but not trick-or-treating.[179] Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice in North America until the 1930s, with the first US appearances of the term in 1934,[180] and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.[181] A popular variant of trick-or-treating, known as trunk-or-treating (or Halloween tailgating), occurs when "children are offered treats from the trunks of cars parked in a church parking lot", or sometimes, a school parking lot.[100][182] In a trunk-or-treat event, the trunk (boot) of each automobile is decorated with a certain theme,[183] such as those of children's literature, movies, scripture, and job roles.[184] Trunk-or-treating has grown in popularity due to its perception as being more safe than going door to door, a point that resonates well with parents, as well as the fact that it "solves the rural conundrum in which homes [are] built a half-mile apart".[185][186] Costumes Main article: Halloween costume Halloween costumes were traditionally modeled after figures such as vampires, ghosts, skeletons, scary looking witches, and devils.[64] Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses. Halloween shop in Derry, Northern Ireland, selling masks Dressing up in costumes and going "guising" was prevalent in Scotland and Ireland at Halloween by the late 19th century.[152] A Scottish term, the tradition is called "guising" because of the disguises or costumes worn by the children.[173] In Ireland and Scotland, the masks are known as 'false faces',[38][187] a term recorded in Ayr, Scotland in 1890 by a Scot describing guisers: "I had mind it was Halloween . . . the wee callans were at it already, rinning aboot wi’ their fause-faces (false faces) on and their bits o’ turnip lanthrons (lanterns) in their haun (hand)".[38] Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 20th century, as often for adults as for children, and when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in Canada and the US in the 1920s and 1930s.[178][188] Eddie J. Smith, in his book Halloween, Hallowed is Thy Name, offers a religious perspective to the wearing of costumes on All Hallows' Eve, suggesting that by dressing up as creatures "who at one time caused us to fear and tremble", people are able to poke fun at Satan "whose kingdom has been plundered by our Saviour". Images of skeletons and the dead are traditional decorations used as memento mori.[189][190] "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" is a fundraising program to support UNICEF,[64] a United Nations Programme that provides humanitarian aid to children in developing countries. Started as a local event in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood in 1950 and expanded nationally in 1952, the program involves the distribution of small boxes by schools (or in modern times, corporate sponsors like Hallmark, at their licensed stores) to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small-change donations from the houses they visit. It is estimated that children have collected more than $118 million for UNICEF since its inception. In Canada, in 2006, UNICEF decided to discontinue their Halloween collection boxes, citing safety and administrative concerns; after consultation with schools, they instead redesigned the program.[191][192] The yearly New York's Village Halloween Parade was begun in 1974; it is the world's largest Halloween parade and America's only major nighttime parade, attracting more than 60,000 costumed participants, two million spectators, and a worldwide television audience.[193] Since the late 2010s, ethnic stereotypes as costumes have increasingly come under scrutiny in the United States.[194] Such and other potentially offensive costumes have been met with increasing public disapproval.[195][196] Pet costumes According to a 2018 report from the National Retail Federation, 30 million Americans will spend an estimated $480 million on Halloween costumes for their pets in 2018. This is up from an estimated $200 million in 2010. The most popular costumes for pets are the pumpkin, followed by the hot dog, and the bumblebee in third place.[197] Games and other activities In this 1904 Halloween greeting card, divination is depicted: the young woman looking into a mirror in a darkened room hopes to catch a glimpse of her future husband. There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween. Some of these games originated as divination rituals or ways of foretelling one's future, especially regarding death, marriage and children. During the Middle Ages, these rituals were done by a "rare few" in rural communities as they were considered to be "deadly serious" practices.[198] In recent centuries, these divination games have been "a common feature of the household festivities" in Ireland and Britain.[125] They often involve apples and hazelnuts. In Celtic mythology, apples were strongly associated with the Otherworld and immortality, while hazelnuts were associated with divine wisdom.[199] Some also suggest that they derive from Roman practices in celebration of Pomona.[64] Children bobbing for apples at Hallowe'en The following activities were a common feature of Halloween in Ireland and Britain during the 17th–20th centuries. Some have become more widespread and continue to be popular today. One common game is apple bobbing or dunking (which may be called "dooking" in Scotland)[200] in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use only their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drive the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a sticky face. Another once-popular game involves hanging a small wooden rod from the ceiling at head height, with a lit candle on one end and an apple hanging from the other. The rod is spun round and everyone takes turns to try to catch the apple with their teeth.[201] Image from the Book of Hallowe'en (1919) showing several Halloween activities, such as nut roasting Several of the traditional activities from Ireland and Britain involve foretelling one's future partner or spouse. An apple would be peeled in one long strip, then the peel tossed over the shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name.[202][203] Two hazelnuts would be roasted near a fire; one named for the person roasting them and the other for the person they desire. If the nuts jump away from the heat, it is a bad sign, but if the nuts roast quietly it foretells a good match.[204][205] A salty oatmeal bannock would be baked; the person would eat it in three bites and then go to bed in silence without anything to drink. This is said to result in a dream in which their future spouse offers them a drink to quench their thirst.[206] Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror.[207] The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards[208] from the late 19th century and early 20th century. Another popular Irish game was known as púicíní ("blindfolds"); a person would be blindfolded and then would choose between several saucers. The item in the saucer would provide a hint as to their future: a ring would mean that they would marry soon; clay, that they would die soon, perhaps within the year; water, that they would emigrate; rosary beads, that they would take Holy Orders (become a nun, priest, monk, etc.); a coin, that they would become rich; a bean, that they would be poor.[209][210][211][212] The game features prominently in the James Joyce short story "Clay" (1914).[213][214][215] In Ireland and Scotland, items would be hidden in food – usually a cake, barmbrack, cranachan, champ or colcannon – and portions of it served out at random. A person's future would be foretold by the item they happened to find; for example, a ring meant marriage and a coin meant wealth.[216] Up until the 19th century, the Halloween bonfires were also used for divination in parts of Scotland, Wales and Brittany. When the fire died down, a ring of stones would be laid in the ashes, one for each person. In the morning, if any stone was mislaid it was said that the person it represented would not live out the year.[110] Telling ghost stories, listening to Halloween-themed songs and watching horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of television series and Halloween-themed specials (with the specials usually aimed at children) are commonly aired on or before Halloween, while new horror films are often released before Halloween to take advantage of the holiday. Haunted attractions Main article: Haunted attraction (simulated) Humorous tombstones in front of a house in California Humorous display window in Historic 25th Street, Ogden, Utah Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare patrons. Most attractions are seasonal Halloween businesses that may include haunted houses, corn mazes, and hayrides,[217] and the level of sophistication of the effects has risen as the industry has grown. The first recorded purpose-built haunted attraction was the Orton and Spooner Ghost House, which opened in 1915 in Liphook, England. This attraction actually most closely resembles a carnival fun house, powered by steam.[218][219] The House still exists, in the Hollycombe Steam Collection. It was during the 1930s, about the same time as trick-or-treating, that Halloween-themed haunted houses first began to appear in America. It was in the late 1950s that haunted houses as a major attraction began to appear, focusing first on California. Sponsored by the Children's Health Home Junior Auxiliary, the San Mateo Haunted House opened in 1957. The San Bernardino Assistance League Haunted House opened in 1958. Home haunts began appearing across the country during 1962 and 1963. In 1964, the San Manteo Haunted House opened, as well as the Children's Museum Haunted House in Indianapolis.[220] The haunted house as an American cultural icon can be attributed to the opening of The Haunted Mansion in Disneyland on 12 August 1969.[221] Knott's Berry Farm began hosting its own Halloween night attraction, Knott's Scary Farm, which opened in 1973.[222] Evangelical Christians adopted a form of these attractions by opening one of the first "hell houses" in 1972.[223] The first Halloween haunted house run by a nonprofit organization was produced in 1970 by the Sycamore-Deer Park Jaycees in Clifton, Ohio. It was cosponsored by WSAI, an AM radio station broadcasting out of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was last produced in 1982.[224] Other Jaycees followed suit with their own versions after the success of the Ohio house. The March of Dimes copyrighted a "Mini haunted house for the March of Dimes" in 1976 and began fundraising through their local chapters by conducting haunted houses soon after. Although they apparently quit supporting this type of event nationally sometime in the 1980s, some March of Dimes haunted houses have persisted until today.[225] On the evening of 11 May 1984, in Jackson Township, New Jersey, the Haunted Castle (Six Flags Great Adventure) caught fire. As a result of the fire, eight teenagers perished.[226] The backlash to the tragedy was a tightening of regulations relating to safety, building codes and the frequency of inspections of attractions nationwide. The smaller venues, especially the nonprofit attractions, were unable to compete financially, and the better funded commercial enterprises filled the vacuum.[227][228] Facilities that were once able to avoid regulation because they were considered to be temporary installations now had to adhere to the stricter codes required of permanent attractions.[229][230][231] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, theme parks entered the business seriously. Six Flags Fright Fest began in 1986 and Universal Studios Florida began Halloween Horror Nights in 1991. Knott's Scary Farm experienced a surge in attendance in the 1990s as a result of America's obsession with Halloween as a cultural event. Theme parks have played a major role in globalizing the holiday. Universal Studios Singapore and Universal Studios Japan both participate, while Disney now mounts Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party events at its parks in Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo, as well as in the United States.[232] The theme park haunts are by far the largest, both in scale and attendance.[233] Food Pumpkins for sale during Halloween On All Hallows' Eve, many Western Christian denominations encourage abstinence from meat, giving rise to a variety of vegetarian foods associated with this day.[234] A candy apple Because in the Northern Hemisphere Halloween comes in the wake of the yearly apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples outside North America), caramel apples or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts. At one time, candy apples were commonly given to trick-or-treating children, but the practice rapidly waned in the wake of widespread rumors that some individuals were embedding items like pins and razor blades in the apples in the United States.[235] While there is evidence of such incidents,[236] relative to the degree of reporting of such cases, actual cases involving malicious acts are extremely rare and have never resulted in serious injury. Nonetheless, many parents assumed that such heinous practices were rampant because of the mass media. At the peak of the hysteria, some hospitals offered free X-rays of children's Halloween hauls in order to find evidence of tampering. Virtually all of the few known candy poisoning incidents involved parents who poisoned their own children's candy.[237] One custom that persists in modern-day Ireland is the baking (or more often nowadays, the purchase) of a barmbrack (Irish: báirín breac), which is a light fruitcake, into which a plain ring, a coin, and other charms are placed before baking.[238] It is considered fortunate to be the lucky one who finds it.[238] It has also been said that those who get a ring will find their true love in the ensuing year. This is similar to the tradition of king cake at the festival of Epiphany. A jack-o'-lantern Halloween cake with a witches hat List of foods associated with Halloween:     Barmbrack (Ireland)     Bonfire toffee (Great Britain)     Candy apples/toffee apples (Great Britain and Ireland)     Candy apples, candy corn, candy pumpkins (North America)     Chocolate     Monkey nuts (peanuts in their shells) (Ireland and Scotland)     Caramel apples     Caramel corn     Colcannon (Ireland; see below)     Halloween cake     Sweets/candy     Novelty candy shaped like skulls, pumpkins, bats, worms, etc.     Roasted pumpkin seeds     Roasted sweet corn     Soul cakes     Pumpkin Pie Christian religious observances The Vigil of All Hallows' is being celebrated at an Episcopal Christian church on Hallowe'en On Hallowe'en (All Hallows' Eve), in Poland, believers were once taught to pray out loud as they walk through the forests in order that the souls of the dead might find comfort; in Spain, Christian priests in tiny villages toll their church bells in order to remind their congregants to remember the dead on All Hallows' Eve.[239] In Ireland, and among immigrants in Canada, a custom includes the Christian practice of abstinence, keeping All Hallows' Eve as a meat-free day and serving pancakes or colcannon instead.[240] In Mexico children make an altar to invite the return of the spirits of dead children (angelitos).[241] The Christian Church traditionally observed Hallowe'en through a vigil. Worshippers prepared themselves for feasting on the following All Saints' Day with prayers and fasting.[242] This church service is known as the Vigil of All Hallows or the Vigil of All Saints;[243][244] an initiative known as Night of Light seeks to further spread the Vigil of All Hallows throughout Christendom.[245][246] After the service, "suitable festivities and entertainments" often follow, as well as a visit to the graveyard or cemetery, where flowers and candles are often placed in preparation for All Hallows' Day.[247][248] In Finland, because so many people visit the cemeteries on All Hallows' Eve to light votive candles there, they "are known as valomeri, or seas of light".[249] Halloween Scripture Candy with gospel tract Today, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions associated with All Hallow's Eve.[250][251] Some of these practices include praying, fasting and attending worship services.[1][2][3]     O LORD our God, increase, we pray thee, and multiply upon us the gifts of thy grace: that we, who do prevent the glorious festival of all thy Saints, may of thee be enabled joyfully to follow them in all virtuous and godly living. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. —Collect of the Vigil of All Saints, The Anglican Breviary[252] Votive candles in the Halloween section of Walmart Other Protestant Christians also celebrate All Hallows' Eve as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation, alongside All Hallow's Eve or independently from it.[253] This is because Martin Luther is said to have nailed his Ninety-five Theses to All Saints' Church in Wittenberg on All Hallows' Eve.[254] Often, "Harvest Festivals" or "Reformation Festivals" are held on All Hallows' Eve, in which children dress up as Bible characters or Reformers.[255] In addition to distributing candy to children who are trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en, many Christians also provide gospel tracts to them. One organization, the American Tract Society, stated that around 3 million gospel tracts are ordered from them alone for Hallowe'en celebrations.[256] Others order Halloween-themed Scripture Candy to pass out to children on this day.[257][258] Belizean children dressed up as Biblical figures and Christian saints Some Christians feel concerned about the modern celebration of Halloween because they feel it trivializes – or celebrates – paganism, the occult, or other practices and cultural phenomena deemed incompatible with their beliefs.[259] Father Gabriele Amorth, an exorcist in Rome, has said, "if English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that."[260] In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a "Saint Fest" on Halloween.[261] Similarly, many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy for free. To these Christians, Halloween holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage.[262] Christian minister Sam Portaro wrote that Halloween is about using "humor and ridicule to confront the power of death".[263] In the Roman Catholic Church, Halloween's Christian connection is acknowledged, and Halloween celebrations are common in many Catholic parochial schools in the United States.[264][265] Many fundamentalist and evangelical churches use "Hell houses" and comic-style tracts in order to make use of Halloween's popularity as an opportunity for evangelism.[266] Others consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith due to its putative origins in the Festival of the Dead celebration.[267] Indeed, even though Eastern Orthodox Christians observe All Hallows' Day on the First Sunday after Pentecost, The Eastern Orthodox Church recommends the observance of Vespers or a Paraklesis on the Western observance of All Hallows' Eve, out of the pastoral need to provide an alternative to popular celebrations.[268] Analogous celebrations and perspectives Judaism According to Alfred J. Kolatch in the Second Jewish Book of Why, in Judaism, Halloween is not permitted by Jewish Halakha because it violates Leviticus 18:3, which forbids Jews from partaking in gentile customs. Many Jews observe Yizkor communally four times a year, which is vaguely similar to the observance of Allhallowtide in Christianity, in the sense that prayers are said for both "martyrs and for one's own family".[269] Nevertheless, many American Jews celebrate Halloween, disconnected from its Christian origins.[270] Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser has said that "There is no religious reason why contemporary Jews should not celebrate Halloween" while Orthodox Rabbi Michael Broyde has argued against Jews' observing the holiday.[271] Purim has sometimes been compared to Halloween, in part due to some observants wearing costumes, especially of Biblical figures described in the Purim narrative.[272] Islam Sheikh Idris Palmer, author of A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam, has ruled that Muslims should not participate in Halloween, stating that "participation in Halloween is worse than participation in Christmas, Easter, ... it is more sinful than congratulating the Christians for their prostration to the crucifix".[273] It has also been ruled to be haram by the National Fatwa Council of Malaysia because of its alleged pagan roots stating "Halloween is celebrated using a humorous theme mixed with horror to entertain and resist the spirit of death that influence humans".[274][275] Dar Al-Ifta Al-Missriyyah disagrees provided the celebration is not referred to as an 'eid' and that behaviour remains in line with Islamic principles.[276] Hinduism Hindus remember the dead during the festival of Pitru Paksha, during which Hindus pay homage to and perform a ceremony "to keep the souls of their ancestors at rest". It is celebrated in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada, usually in mid-September.[277] The celebration of the Hindu festival Diwali sometimes conflicts with the date of Halloween; but some Hindus choose to participate in the popular customs of Halloween.[278] Other Hindus, such as Soumya Dasgupta, have opposed the celebration on the grounds that Western holidays like Halloween have "begun to adversely affect our indigenous festivals".[279] Neopaganism There is no consistent rule or view on Halloween amongst those who describe themselves as Neopagans or Wiccans. Some Neopagans do not observe Halloween, but instead observe Samhain on 1 November,[280] some neopagans do enjoy Halloween festivities, stating that one can observe both "the solemnity of Samhain in addition to the fun of Halloween". Some neopagans are opposed to the celebration of Hallowe'en, stating that it "trivializes Samhain",[281] and "avoid Halloween, because of the interruptions from trick or treaters".[282] The Manitoban writes that "Wiccans don't officially celebrate Halloween, despite the fact that 31 Oct. will still have a star beside it in any good Wiccan's day planner. Starting at sundown, Wiccans celebrate a holiday known as Samhain. Samhain actually comes from old Celtic traditions and is not exclusive to Neopagan religions like Wicca. While the traditions of this holiday originate in Celtic countries, modern day Wiccans don't try to historically replicate Samhain celebrations. Some traditional Samhain rituals are still practised, but at its core, the period is treated as a time to celebrate darkness and the dead – a possible reason why Samhain can be confused with Halloween celebrations."[280] Geography Main article: Geography of Halloween Halloween display in Kobe, Japan The traditions and importance of Halloween vary greatly among countries that observe it. In Scotland and Ireland, traditional Halloween customs include children dressing up in costume going "guising", holding parties, while other practices in Ireland include lighting bonfires, and having firework displays.[172][283][284] In Brittany children would play practical jokes by setting candles inside skulls in graveyards to frighten visitors.[285] Mass transatlantic immigration in the 19th century popularized Halloween in North America, and celebration in the United States and Canada has had a significant impact on how the event is observed in other nations.[172] This larger North American influence, particularly in iconic and commercial elements, has extended to places such as Brazil, Ecuador, Chile,[286] Australia,[287] New Zealand,[288] (most) continental Europe, Finland,[289] Japan, and other parts of East Asia." (wikipedia.org) "Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Dutch town of Leiden and the Australian territory of Norfolk Island. It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessings of the harvest and of the preceding year. (Similarly named harvest festival holidays occur throughout the world during autumn, including in Germany and Japan). Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and around the same part of the year in other places. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well. History Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among most religions after harvests and at other times of the year.[1] The Thanksgiving holiday's history in North America is rooted in English traditions dating from the Protestant Reformation. It also has aspects of a harvest festival, even though the harvest in New England occurs well before the late-November date on which the modern Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated.[1][2] In the English tradition, days of thanksgiving and special thanksgiving religious services became important during the English Reformation in the reign of Henry VIII.[3] Before 1536 there were 95 Church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, when people were required to attend church and forego work. Though the 1536 reforms in the Church of England reduced the number of holidays in the liturgical calendar to 27, the Puritan party in the Anglican Church wished to eliminate all Church holidays apart from the weekly Lord's Day, including the evangelical feasts of Christmas and Easter (cf. Puritan Sabbatarianism).[3] The holidays were to be replaced by specially called Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving, in response to events that the Puritans viewed as acts of special providence. Unexpected disasters or threats of judgement from on high called for Days of Fasting.[4][3] Special blessings, viewed as coming from God, called for Days of Thanksgiving, which were observed through Christian church services and other gatherings.[3] For example, Days of thanksgiving were called following the victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 and following the deliverance of Queen Anne in 1605.[4] An unusual annual Day of Thanksgiving began in 1606 following the failure of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and developed into Guy Fawkes Day on November 5.[4] Days of Fasting were called on account of plagues in 1604 and 1622, drought in 1611, and floods in 1613. Annual Thanksgiving prayers were dictated by the charter of English settlers upon their safe landing in America in 1619 at Berkeley Hundred in Virginia.[5] In Canada Main article: Thanksgiving (Canada) According to some historians, the first celebration of Thanksgiving in North America occurred during the 1578 voyage of Martin Frobisher from England in search of the Northwest Passage.[6] Other researchers, however, state that "there is no compelling narrative of the origins of the Canadian Thanksgiving day."[7] Antecedents for Canadian Thanksgiving are also sometimes traced to the French settlers who came to New France in the 17th century, who celebrated their successful harvests. The French settlers in the area typically had feasts at the end of the harvest season. They continued throughout the winter season, even sharing food with the indigenous peoples of the area.[8] As settlers arrived in Nova Scotia from New England after 1700, late autumn Thanksgiving celebrations became commonplace. New immigrants into the country—such as the Irish, Scottish, and Germans—also added their own traditions to the harvest celebrations. Most of the U.S. aspects of Thanksgiving (such as the turkey) were incorporated when United Empire Loyalists began to flee from the United States during and after the American Revolution and settled in Canada.[8] In 1859, the government of the Provinces of Canada declared a Thanksgiving Day in which "all Canadians [were asked] to spend the holiday in 'public and solemn' recognition of God's mercies."[9] On 9 October 1879, Canada's Governor General, the Marquis of Lorne, declared November 6 as "a day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."[9] The Canadian Parliament on 31 January 1957 applied the same language in its proclamation for the modern holiday: "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed—to be observed on the second Monday in October."[10] In the United States Main article: Thanksgiving (United States) Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth, 1914, Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, Thanksgiving at Plymouth, 1925, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. The annual Thanksgiving holiday tradition in the United States is documented for the first time in 1619, in what is now called the Commonwealth of Virginia. Thirty-eight English settlers aboard the ship Margaret arrived by way of the James River at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia on December 4, 1619. The landing was immediately followed by a religious celebration, specifically dictated by the group's charter from the London Company. The charter declared, "that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantation in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God."[11][5] Since the mid 20th century, the original celebration has been commemorated there annually at present-day Berkeley Plantation, ancestral home of the Harrison family of Virginia.[12] The more familiar Thanksgiving precedent is traced to the Pilgrims and Puritans who emigrated from England in the 1620s and 1630s. They brought their previous tradition of Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving with them to New England. The 1621 Plymouth, Massachusetts thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. The Pilgrims celebrated this with the Wampanoags, a tribe of Native Americans who, along with the last surviving Patuxet, had helped them get through the previous winter by giving them food in that time of scarcity, in exchange for an alliance and protection against the rival Narragansett tribe.[13] Several days of Thanksgiving were held in early New England history that have been identified as the "First Thanksgiving", including Pilgrim holidays in Plymouth in 1621 and 1623, and a Puritan holiday in Boston in 1631.[14][15] According to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, the Pilgrims may have been influenced by watching the annual services of Thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574, while they were staying in Leiden.[16] Now called 3 Oktoberfeest, Leiden's autumn thanksgiving celebration in 1617 was the occasion for sectarian disturbance that appears to have accelerated the pilgrims' plans to emigrate to America.[17] Later in New England, religious thanksgiving services were declared by civil leaders such as Governor Bradford, who planned the Plymouth colony's thanksgiving celebration and feast in 1623.[18][19][20] Bradford issued a proclamation of Thanksgiving following victory in the Pequot War in the late 1630s to celebrate "the bloody victory, thanking God that the battle had been won."[21][22] The practice of holding an annual harvest festival did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s.[23] Thanksgiving proclamations were made mostly by church leaders in New England up until 1682, and then by both state and church leaders until after the American Revolution. During the revolutionary period, political influences affected the issuance of Thanksgiving proclamations. Various proclamations were made by royal governors, and conversely by patriot leaders, such as John Hancock, General George Washington, and the Continental Congress,[24] each giving thanks to God for events favorable to their causes.[25] As President of the United States, George Washington proclaimed the first nationwide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November 26, 1789, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God",[26] and calling on Americans to "unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions."[27] Debate over first celebrations Shrine of the first U.S. Thanksgiving in 1619 at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia Devotees in New England and Virginia and other places have maintained contradictory claims to having held the first Thanksgiving celebration in what became the United States. The question is complicated by the concept of Thanksgiving as either a holiday celebration or a religious service. James Baker maintains, "The American holiday's true origin was the New England Calvinist Thanksgiving. Never coupled with a Sabbath meeting, the Puritan observances were special days set aside during the week for thanksgiving and praise in response to God's providence."[14] Baker calls the debate a "tempest in a beanpot" and "marvelous nonsense" based on regional claims.[14] In 1963, President John F. Kennedy acknowledged both the Virginia and Massachusetts claims. Kennedy issued Proclamation 3560 on November 5, 1963, stating, "Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving. On the appointed day, they gave reverent thanks for their safety, for the health of their children, for the fertility of their fields, for the love which bound them together, and for the faith which united them with their God."[28] Other claims include an earlier religious service by Spanish explorers in Texas at San Elizario in 1598.[29] Historians Robyn Gioia and Michael Gannon of the University of Florida argue that the earliest Thanksgiving service in what is now the United States was celebrated by the Spanish community on September 8, 1565, in current Saint Augustine, Florida.[30][31] Fixing a date Canada The earlier Thanksgiving celebrations in Canada has been attributed to the earlier onset of winter in the North, thus ending the harvest season earlier.[32] Thanksgiving in Canada did not have a fixed date until the late 19th century. Prior to Canadian Confederation, many of the individual colonial governors of the Canadian provinces had declared their own days of Thanksgiving. The first official Canadian Thanksgiving occurred on April 15, 1872, when the nation was celebrating the Prince of Wales' recovery from a serious illness.[32] By the end of the 19th century, Thanksgiving Day was normally celebrated on November 6. In the late 19th century, the Militia staged "sham battles" for public entertainment on Thanksgiving Day. The Militia agitated for an earlier date for the holiday, so they could use the warmer weather to draw bigger crowds.[33] However, when the First World War ended, the Armistice Day holiday was usually held during the same week. To prevent the two holidays from clashing with one another, in 1957 the Canadian Parliament proclaimed Thanksgiving to be observed on its present date on the second Monday of October.[8] United States Thanksgiving in the United States has been observed on differing dates. From the time of the Founding Fathers until the time of Lincoln, the date of observance varied from state to state. The final Thursday in November had become the customary date in most U.S. states by the beginning of the 19th century, coinciding with, and eventually superseding the holiday of Evacuation Day (commemorating the day the British exited the United States after the Revolutionary War).[34] Modern Thanksgiving was proclaimed for all states in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. Influenced by Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote letters to politicians for approximately 40 years advocating an official holiday, Lincoln set national Thanksgiving by proclamation for the final Thursday in November in celebration of the bounties that had continued to fall on the Union and for the military successes in the war, also calling on the American people, "with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience .. fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation..."[35] Because of the ongoing Civil War, a nationwide Thanksgiving celebration was not realized until Reconstruction was completed in the 1870s. On October 31, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a presidential proclamation changing the holiday to the next to last Thursday in November in an effort to boost the economy.[36] The earlier date created an extra seven days for Christmas shopping since at that time retailers never began promoting the Christmas season until after Thanksgiving. But making the proclamation so close to the change wreaked havoc on the holiday schedules of many people, schools, and businesses, and most Americans were not in favor of the change. Some of those who opposed dubbed the holiday "Franksgiving" that year. Some state governors went along with the change while others stuck with the original November 30 date for the holiday, and three states — Colorado, Mississippi, and Texas — observed both dates.[37] The double Thanksgiving continued for two more years, and then on December 26, 1941, Roosevelt signed a joint resolution of Congress changing the official national Thanksgiving Day to the fourth Thursday in November starting in 1942.[38] Since 1971, when the American Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect, the American observance of Columbus Day has coincided with the Canadian observance of Thanksgiving.[39][40] Observance Australia In the Australian external territory of Norfolk Island, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the last Wednesday of November, similar to the pre–World War II American observance on the last Thursday of the month. This means the Norfolk Island observance is the day before or six days after the United States' observance. The holiday was brought to the island by visiting American whaling ships.[41] Brazil In Brazil, National Thanksgiving Day was instituted by President Gaspar Dutra, through Law 781 of August 17, 1949, at the suggestion of Ambassador Joaquim Nabuco, who was enthusiastic about the commemorations he saw in 1909 in St. Patrick's Cathedral as an ambassador in Washington. In 1966, Law 5110 established that the Thanksgiving celebration would take place on the fourth Thursday of November.[42] This date is celebrated by many families of American origin, by some Protestant Christian denominations, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (which is of American origin), the Presbyterian Church, the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church, and the Church of the Nazarene, and Methodist denominational universities. The day is also celebrated by evangelical churches such as the Foursquare Gospel Church in Brazil. Canada Main article: Thanksgiving (Canada) Pumpkin pie is commonly served on and around Thanksgiving in North America. Thanksgiving (French: l'Action de grâce), occurring on the second Monday in October, is an annual Canadian holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season. Although the original act of Parliament references God and the holiday is celebrated in churches, the holiday is mostly celebrated in a secular manner. Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in all provinces in Canada, except for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. While businesses may remain open in these provinces, the holiday is nonetheless recognized and celebrated regardless of its status.[43][44][45][46][47] Grenada In the West Indian island of Grenada, in the Caribbean, there is a national holiday known as Thanksgiving Day which is celebrated on October 25. Even though it bears the same name, and is celebrated at roughly the same time as the American and Canadian versions of Thanksgiving, this holiday is unrelated to either of those celebrations. Instead, the holiday marks the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of the island in 1983, in response to the deposition and execution of the socialist Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop[48] by a military government from within his own party. Liberia In the West African country of Liberia, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the first Thursday of November.[49] In 1883, the Legislature of Liberia enacted a statute declaring this day as a national holiday.[50] Thanksgiving is celebrated in the country in large part due to the nation's founding as a colony of the American Colonization Society in 1821 by former slaves and free people of color from the United States. However, the Liberian celebration of the holiday is notably different from the American celebration. While some Liberian families chose to celebrate with a feast or cook out, it is not considered a staple of the holiday and there is no specific food heavily associated with Thanksgiving. Some chose to celebrate the holiday by attending religious ceremonies, while others take it as a day for relaxation. Others view the holiday as an imposition from the American settlers of the country. In the years following the second civil war, some Liberians have taken the holiday as a time to be thankful for this new period peace and relative stability.[51][52] Netherlands Pieterskerk Many of the Pilgrims who migrated to the Plymouth Plantation resided in the city of Leiden from 1609 to 1620 and had recorded their births, marriages, and deaths at the Pieterskerk (St. Peter's church). In commemoration, a non-denominational Thanksgiving Day service is held each year on the morning of the American Thanksgiving Day in the Pieterskerk, a Gothic church in Leiden, noting the hospitality the Pilgrims received in Leiden on their way to the New World.[53] Thanksgiving is observed by orthodox Protestant churches in the Netherlands on the first Wednesday in November (Dankdag [nl]). It is not a public holiday. Those who observe the day either go to church in the evening or take the day off and go to church in the morning (and occasionally afternoon) too. Philippines The Philippines, while it was an American colony in the first half of the 20th century, celebrated Thanksgiving as a special public holiday on the same day as the Americans.[54] During the Japanese occupation during World War II, both the Americans and Filipinos celebrated Thanksgiving in secret. After Japanese withdrawal in 1945, the tradition continued until 1969. It was revived by President Ferdinand Marcos, but the date was changed to be on every September 21, when martial law was imposed in the country. After Marcos' ouster in 1986, the tradition was no longer continued, due to the controversial events that occurred during his long administration.[55] As of 2022, Thanksgiving has been revived as a commercial and cultural holiday, albeit stripped of its official status. SM Supermalls led the way in the slow revival of Thanksgiving Day on the same day as in the U.S., as in the old days. Many malls and hotels offer special sales on this day, which is part of the long celebration of Christmas in the Philippines, which begins in September (unlike on Black Friday in the United States). Rwanda Main article: Public holidays in Rwanda Called Umuganura Day, this is a Thanksgiving festival to mark the start of the harvest in Rwanda. It is celebrated on the first Friday of August.[56] Saint Lucia The nation of Saint Lucia celebrates Thanksgiving on the first Monday in October.[57] United States Family saying grace before Thanksgiving dinner in Neffsville, Pennsylvania, 1942 Main article: Thanksgiving (United States) Thanksgiving, celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November since 1941 due to federal legislation, has been an annual tradition in the United States by presidential proclamation since 1863 and by state legislation since the Founding Fathers of the United States. Traditionally, Thanksgiving has been a celebration of the blessings of the year, including the harvest.[58] On Thanksgiving Day, it is common for Americans to share a family meal, attend church services, and view special sporting events.[59] In addition, Thanksgiving is celebrated in public places with parades such as Macy's Thanksgiving Parade[60] in New York City, ABC Dunkin' Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade[61] in Philadelphia, America's Hometown Thanksgiving Parade in Plymouth, Massachusetts, McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago, and Bayou Classic Thanksgiving Parade[62] in New Orleans. What Americans call the "Holiday Season" generally begins with Thanksgiving.[63] The first day after Thanksgiving Day—Black Friday—marks the start of the Christmas shopping season.[64] Thanksgiving is usually celebrated with a family meal. Beginning in the 2010s, a new tradition has emerged to also celebrate Thanksgiving with a meal with friends, as a separate event on a different day or an alternate event on Thanksgiving day. This is referred to as Friendsgiving.[65] Similarly named holidays See also: List of harvest festivals Germany A food decoration for Erntedankfest, a Christian Thanksgiving harvest festival celebrated in Germany The Harvest Thanksgiving Festival, Erntedankfest, is a popular German Christian festival on the first Sunday of October. The festival has a significant religious component, and many churches are decorated with autumn crops. In some places, there are religious processions or parades. Many Bavarian beer festivals, like the Munich Oktoberfest, take place within the vicinity of Erntedankfest.[original research?] Japan Main article: Labor Thanksgiving Day Labor Thanksgiving Day (勤労感謝の日, Kinrō Kansha no Hi) is a national holiday in Japan. It takes place annually on November 23. The law establishing the holiday, which was adopted during the American occupation after World War II, cites it as an occasion for commemorating labor and production and giving each other thanks. It has roots in the ancient Shinto harvest ceremony (Niiname-sai (新嘗祭)). United Kingdom Harvest Festival flowers at a church in Shrewsbury, England The Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving does not have an official date in the United Kingdom; however, it is traditionally held on or near the Sunday of the harvest moon that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox. Harvest Thanksgiving in Britain also has pre-Christian roots when the Saxons would offer the first sheaf of barley, oats, or wheat to fertility gods. When the harvest was finally collected, communities would come together for a harvest supper.[66] When Christianity arrived in Britain many traditions remained, and today the Harvest Festival is marked by churches and schools in late September/early October (same as Canada) with singing, praying and decorating with baskets of food and fruit to celebrate a successful harvest and to give thanks.[67] Collections of food are usually held which are then given to local charities which help the homeless and those in need." (wikipedia.org) "Thanksgiving is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.[2] It is sometimes called American Thanksgiving (outside the United States) to distinguish it from the Canadian holiday of the same name and related celebrations in other regions. It originated as a day of thanksgiving and harvest festival, with the theme of the holiday revolving around giving thanks and the centerpiece of Thanksgiving celebrations remaining a Thanksgiving dinner.[3] The dinner traditionally consists of foods and dishes indigenous to the Americas, namely turkey, potatoes (usually mashed or sweet), stuffing, squash, corn (maize), green beans, cranberries (typically in sauce form), and pumpkin pie. Other Thanksgiving customs include charitable organizations offering Thanksgiving dinner for the poor, attending religious services, and watching television events such as Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and NFL football games.[1] Thanksgiving is regarded as the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season, with the day following it, Black Friday, being the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States. New England and Virginia colonists originally celebrated days of fasting, as well as days of thanksgiving, thanking God for blessings such as harvests, ship landings, military victories, or the end of a drought.[4] These were observed through church services, accompanied with feasts and other communal gatherings.[3][b] The event that Americans commonly call the "first Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621.[5] This feast lasted three days and was attended by 90 Native American Wampanoag people[6][c] and 53 survivors of the Mayflower (Pilgrims).[7] Less widely known is an earlier Thanksgiving celebration in Virginia in 1619 by English settlers who had just landed at Berkeley Hundred aboard the ship Margaret.[8] Thanksgiving has been celebrated nationally on and off since 1789, with a proclamation by President George Washington after a request by Congress.[9] President Thomas Jefferson chose not to observe the holiday, and its celebration was intermittent until President Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens", calling on the American people to also, "with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience ... fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation ...". Lincoln declared it for the last Thursday in November.[10][11] On June 28, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the Holidays Act that made Thanksgiving a yearly appointed federal holiday in Washington D.C.[12][13][14] On January 6, 1885, an act by Congress made Thanksgiving, and other federal holidays, a paid holiday for all federal workers throughout the United States.[15] Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the date was moved to one week earlier, observed between 1939 and 1941 amid significant controversy. From 1942 onwards, Thanksgiving, by an act of Congress received a permanent observation date, the fourth Thursday in November, no longer at the discretion of the President.[16][17] History Early thanksgiving observances Further information: Days of humiliation and thanksgiving Shrine of the first U.S. Thanksgiving in 1619 at Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia Setting aside time to give thanks for one's blessings, along with holding feasts to celebrate a harvest, are both practices that long predate the European settlement of North America. The Puritans observed days of fasting to pray for God's favour, as well as days of thanksgiving to thank God for a bountiful harvest, victory and other joyous occasions.[3] Documented thanksgiving services in territory currently belonging to the United States were conducted in the 16th century by Spaniards[18][19] and the French.[20] These days of thanksgiving were celebrated through church services and feasting.[3] Historian Michael Gannon claimed St. Augustine, Florida was founded with a shared thanksgiving meal on September 8, 1565.[21] Thanksgiving services were routine in what became the Commonwealth of Virginia as early as 1607;[22] the first permanent settlement of Jamestown, Virginia held a thanksgiving in 1610.[18] On December 4, 1619, 38 English settlers celebrated a thanksgiving immediately upon landing at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia. The group's London Company charter specifically required, "that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantation in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God."[8][23] This celebration has, since the mid 20th century, been commemorated there annually at present-day Berkeley Plantation, the ancestral home of the Harrison family of Virginia.[24] External video Wampanoag2.jpg video icon The true story of the first Thanksgiving, American Experience, PBS, November 24, 2015[25] Harvest festival observed by the Pilgrims at Plymouth The Plymouth settlers, known as Pilgrims, had settled in a land abandoned when all but one of the Patuxet Indians died in a disease outbreak. After a harsh winter killed half of the Plymouth settlers, the last surviving Patuxet, Tisquantum, more commonly known by the diminutive variant Squanto (who had learned English and avoided the plague as a slave in Europe), came in at the request of Samoset, the first Native American to encounter the Pilgrims. Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn and served as an interpreter for them until he too succumbed to the disease a year later. The Wampanoag leader Massasoit also gave food to the colonists during the first winter when supplies brought from England were insufficient. Massasoit had hoped to establish an alliance between the Wampanoag, themselves greatly weakened by the same plague that extirpated the Patuxet, and the better-armed English in their long-running rivalry with a Narragansett tribe that had largely been spared from the epidemic; the tribe reasoned that, given that the Pilgrims had brought women and children, they had not arrived to wage war against them.[26] The Pilgrims celebrated at Plymouth for three days after their first harvest in 1621. The exact time is unknown, but James Baker, the Plimoth Plantation vice president of research, stated in 1996, "The event occurred between Sept. 21 and Nov. 11, 1621, with the most likely time being around Michaelmas (Sept. 29), the traditional time."[27] Seventeenth-century accounts do not identify this as a Thanksgiving observance, rather it followed the harvest. It included 50 people who were on the Mayflower (all who remained of the 100 who had landed) and 90 Native Americans.[27] The feast was cooked by the four adult Pilgrim women who survived their first winter in the New World (Eleanor Billington, Elizabeth Hopkins, Mary Brewster, and Susanna White), along with young daughters and male and female servants.[27][28] According to accounts by Wampanoag descendants, the harvest was originally set up for the Pilgrims alone; the surviving natives, hearing celebratory gunfire and fearing war, arrived to see the feast and were warmly welcomed to join the celebration, contributing their own foods to the meal.[26] The Puritan by Augustus St. Gaudens, 1904. The "buckle hat" atop the sculpture's head, now associated with the Pilgrims in pop culture, was fictional; Pilgrims never wore such an item, nor has any such hat ever existed as a serious piece of apparel. Two colonists gave personal accounts of the 1621 feast in Plymouth. The Pilgrims, most of whom were Separatists (English Dissenters), are not to be confused with Puritans, who established their own Massachusetts Bay Colony on the Shawmut Peninsula (current day Boston) in 1630.[29][30] Both groups were strict Calvinists, but differed in their views regarding the Church of England. Puritans wished to remain in the Anglican Church and reform it, while the Pilgrims wanted complete separation from the church.[31] William Bradford, in Of Plymouth Plantation wrote:     They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they can be used (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl, there was a great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to the proportion. Which made many afterward write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.[32] The First Thanksgiving 1621, oil on canvas by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1899). The painting shows common misconceptions about the event which persist to modern times: Pilgrims did not wear such outfits, nor did they eat at a dinner table, and the Wampanoag are dressed in the style of Native Americans from the Great Plains.[33] Edward Winslow, in Mourt's Relation wrote:     Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which we brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you, partakers of our plenty.[34] The Pilgrims held a true Thanksgiving celebration in 1623[35][36] following a fast[37] and a refreshing 14 day rain,[38] which resulted in a larger harvest. William DeLoss Love calculates that this thanksgiving was made on Wednesday, July 30, 1623, a day before the arrival of a supply ship with more colonists,[37] but before the fall harvest. In Love's opinion, this 1623 thanksgiving was significant because the order to recognize the event was from civil authority[39] (Governor Bradford), and not from the church, making it likely the first civil recognition of Thanksgiving in New England.[37] Referring to the 1623 harvest after the nearly catastrophic drought, Bradford wrote:     And afterward, the Lord sent them such seasonable showers, with the interchange of fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing. For which mercy, in time convenient, they also set apart a day of thanksgiving ... By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine now God gave them plenty ... for which they blessed God. And the effect of their particular planting was well seen, for all had ... pretty well ... so as any general want or famine had not been amongst them since to this day.[40] These firsthand accounts do not appear to have contributed to the early development of the holiday. Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation" was not published until the 1850s. The booklet "Mourt's Relation" was summarized by other publications without the now-familiar thanksgiving story. By the eighteenth century, the original booklet appeared to be lost or forgotten; a copy was rediscovered in Philadelphia in 1820, with the first full reprinting in 1841. In a footnote the editor, Alexander Young, was the first person to identify the 1621 feast as the first Thanksgiving.[41] Debate over the first Thanksgiving According to historian James Baker, debates over where any "first Thanksgiving" took place on modern American territory are a "tempest in a beanpot".[41] Jeremy Bang opines that, "Local boosters in Virginia, Florida, and Texas promote their own colonists, who (like many people getting off a boat) gave thanks for setting foot again on dry land."[42] Baker claims, "the American holiday's true origin was the New England Calvinist Thanksgiving. Never coupled with a Sabbath meeting, the Puritan observances were special days set aside during the week for thanksgiving and praise in response to God's providence."[41] However, the 1619 codification and celebration of an annual thanksgiving according to the Berkeley Hundred charter in Virginia prompted President John F. Kennedy to acknowledge the claims of both Massachusetts and Virginia to America's earliest celebrations. He issued Proclamation 3560 on November 5, 1963, saying: "Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving. On the appointed day, they gave reverent thanks for their safety, for the health of their children, for the fertility of their fields, for the love which bound them together and for the faith which united them with their God."[43] The Revolutionary War The First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving was given by the Continental Congress in 1777 from its temporary location in York, Pennsylvania, while the British occupied the national capital at Philadelphia. Delegate Samuel Adams created the first draft. Congress then adopted the final version:     For as much as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it had pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary war, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success:     It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these United States to set apart Thursday, the eighteenth Day of December next, for Solemn Thanksgiving and Praise: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please God through the Merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty God, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, Independence and Peace: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth "in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost.     And it is further recommended, That servile Labor, and such Recreation, as, though at other Times innocent, may be unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so solemn an Occasion.[44] George Washington, leader of the revolutionary forces in the American Revolutionary War, proclaimed a Thanksgiving in December 1777 as a victory celebration honoring the defeat of the British at Saratoga.[45] Thanksgiving proclamations in the early Republic Main article: National Thanksgiving Proclamation Cursive document of George Washington's October 3, 1789, Thanksgiving Day Proclamation George Washington's 1795 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamations, 1789 (top) and 1795 The Continental Congress, the legislative body that governed the United States from 1774 to 1789, issued several "national days of prayer, humiliation, and thanksgiving",[46] a practice that was continued by presidents Washington and Adams under the Constitution, and has manifested itself in the established American observances of Thanksgiving and the National Day of Prayer today.[47] This proclamation was published in The Independent Gazetteer, or the Chronicle of Freedom, on November 5, 1782, the first being observed on November 28, 1782:     By the United States in Congress assembled, PROCLAMATION.     It being the indispensable duty of all nations, not only to offer up their supplications to Almighty God, the giver of all good, for His gracious assistance in a time of distress, but also in a solemn and public manner, to give Him praise for His goodness in general, and especially for great and signal interpositions of His Providence in their behalf; therefore, the United States in Congress assembled, taking into their consideration the many instances of Divine goodness to these States in the course of the important conflict, in which they have been so long engaged; the present happy and promising state of public affairs, and the events of the war in the course of the year now drawing to a close; particularly the harmony of the public Councils which is so necessary to the success of the public cause; the perfect union and good understanding which has hitherto subsisted between them and their allies, notwithstanding the artful and unwearied attempts of the common enemy to divide them; the success of the arms of the United States and those of their allies; and the acknowledgment of their Independence by another European power, whose friendship and commerce must be of great and lasting advantage to these States; Do hereby recommend it to the inhabitants of these States in general, to observe and request the several states to interpose their authority, in appointing and commanding the observation of THURSDAY the TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF NOVEMBER next as a day of SOLEMN THANKSGIVING to GOD for all His mercies; and they do further recommend to all ranks to testify their gratitude to God for His goodness by a cheerful obedience to His laws and by promoting, each in his station, and by his influence, the practice of true and undefiled religion, which is the great foundation of public prosperity and national happiness.     Done in Congress at Philadelphia, the eleventh day of October, in the year of our LORD, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, and of our Sovereignty and Independence, the seventh.     JOHN HANSON, President. CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.[46] On Thursday, September 24, 1789, the first House of Representatives voted to recommend the First Amendment of the newly drafted Constitution to the states for ratification. The next day, Congressman Elias Boudinot from New Jersey proposed that the House and Senate jointly request of President Washington to proclaim a day of thanksgiving for "the many signal favors of Almighty God". Boudinot said he "could not think of letting the session pass over without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining, with one voice, in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings he had poured down upon them."[48] Wikisource has original text related to this article: National Thanksgiving Proclamation As President, on October 3, 1789, George Washington made the following proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America:     Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."     Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.     And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.     Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.[49] On January 1, 1795, Washington proclaimed a Thanksgiving Day to be observed on Thursday, February 19. President John Adams declared Thanksgivings in 1798 and 1799. Wikisource has original text related to this article: Letter to the Danbury Baptists As Thomas Jefferson was a deist and a skeptic of the idea of divine intervention, he did not declare any thanksgiving days during his presidency, giving his reasons thus:     Gentlemen,     The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. My duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, & in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more & more pleasing.     Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.     I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection & blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves & your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem.     Th. Jefferson, Jan 1. 1802 [50][51] James Madison renewed the tradition in 1814, in response to resolutions of Congress, at the close of the War of 1812. Caleb Strong, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, declared the holiday in 1813, "for a day of public thanksgiving and prayer" for Thursday, November 25 of that year.[52] Madison also declared the holiday twice in 1815; however, neither of these was celebrated in autumn. In 1816, Governor Plumer of New Hampshire appointed Thursday, November 14 to be observed as a day of Public Thanksgiving and Governor Brooks of Massachusetts appointed Thursday, November 28 to be "observed throughout that State as a day of Thanksgiving".[53] A thanksgiving day was annually appointed by the governor of New York, De Witt Clinton, in 1817. In 1830, the New York State Legislature officially sanctioned thanksgiving as a holiday, making New York the first state outside of New England to do so.[54] In 1846, Sara Josepha Hale began a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, to be held on the last Thursday in November. She wrote to presidents, members of Congress, and every governor of every state and territory for the next seventeen years to promote the idea, as well as popularizing it in her books and editorials. Hale hoped that Thanksgiving, as a national holiday, would foster the “moral and social reunion of Americans”.[55] She also proposed that churches mark the holiday by collecting funds for the purchasing of slaves and their education and repatriation back to Africa.[55] By 1860 proclamations appointing a day of thanksgiving were issued by the governors of thirty states and three territories.[55] Lincoln and the Civil War After Winslow Homer, Thanksgiving in Camp, published 1862, National Gallery of Art Sketch by Alfred Waud of Thanksgiving in camp (of General Louis Blenker) during the U.S. Civil War in 1861 Home to Thanksgiving, lithograph by Currier and Ives (1867) In the middle of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale,[10] proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the 26th, the final Thursday of November 1863. The document, written by Secretary of State William H. Seward, reads as follows:     The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, the order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. The population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.     No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Highest God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.     It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.     In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.     Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.     Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863.[10][56] Since 1863, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States. The holiday superseded Evacuation Day, a de facto national holiday that had been held on November 25 each year prior to the Civil War and commemorated the British withdrawal from the United States after the American Revolution.[57] Post-Civil War era Servicemen eating a Thanksgiving dinner after the end of World War I (1918) On June 28, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the Holidays Act that made Thanksgiving a yearly "appointed or remembered" federal holiday in Washington D.C. Three other holidays included in the law were New Year, Christmas, and July 4. The law did not extend outside of Washington D.C., while the date assigned for Thanksgiving was left to the discretion of the President.[12][13][14] In January 1879, George Washington's Birthday, February 22, was added by Congress to the federal holidays list.[15] On January 6, 1885, a Congressional act expanded the Holidays Act to apply to all federal departments and employees throughout the nation. Federal workers received pay for all the holidays, including Thanksgiving.[15] During the second half of the 19th century, Thanksgiving traditions in America varied from region to region. A traditional New England Thanksgiving, for example, consisted of a raffle held on Thanksgiving Eve (in which the prizes were mainly geese or turkeys), a shooting match on Thanksgiving morning (in which turkeys and chickens were used as targets), church services — and then the traditional feast, which consisted of some familiar Thanksgiving staples such as turkey and pumpkin pie, and some not-so-familiar dishes such as pigeon pie. The earliest high school football rivalries took root in the late 19th century in Massachusetts, stemming from games played on Thanksgiving; professional football took root as a Thanksgiving staple during the sport's genesis in the 1890s, and the tradition of Thanksgiving football both at the high school and professional level continues to this day. The Southern United States had long resisted adopting the holiday before largely accepting it with the increased influence of football on the day.[58] In New York City, people would dress up in fanciful masks and costumes and roam the streets in merry-making mobs. By the beginning of the 20th century, these mobs had morphed[citation needed] into Ragamuffin parades consisting mostly of children dressed as "ragamuffins" in costumes of old and mismatched adult clothes and with deliberately smudged faces, but by the late 1950s the tradition had diminished enough to only exist in its original form in a few communities around New York, with many of its traditions subsumed into the Halloween custom of trick-or-treating.[59] Franksgiving (1939–1941) Main article: Franksgiving Abraham Lincoln's successors as president followed his example of annually declaring the final Thursday in November to be Thanksgiving. But in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt broke with this tradition.[16] November had five Thursdays that year (instead of the more-common four), Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving rather than the fifth one. Although many popular histories state otherwise, he made clear that his plan was to establish the holiday on the next-to-last Thursday in the month instead of the last one. With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought an earlier Thanksgiving would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would help bring the country out of the Depression. At the time, advertising goods for Christmas before Thanksgiving was considered inappropriate. Fred Lazarus, Jr., founder of the Federated Department Stores (later Macy's), is credited with convincing Roosevelt to push Thanksgiving to a week earlier to expand the shopping season, and within two years the change passed through Congress into law.[60][61] Republicans decried the change, calling it an affront to the memory of Lincoln. People began referring to November 30 as the "Republican Thanksgiving" and November 23 as the "Democratic Thanksgiving" or "Franksgiving".[62] 1942 to present Dr. Mordecai Johnson, president of Howard University, serving portions of Thanksgiving turkey to members of his family in 1942 Family saying grace before Thanksgiving dinner in Neffsville, Pennsylvania, 1942 On October 6, 1941, both houses of the United States Congress passed a joint resolution fixing the traditional last-Thursday date for the holiday beginning in 1942. However, in December of that year the Senate passed an amendment to the resolution that split the difference by requiring that Thanksgiving be observed annually on the fourth Thursday of November, in order to prevent confusion on the occasional years in which November has five Thursdays.[63][13] The amendment also passed the House, and on December 26, 1941, President Roosevelt signed this bill, for the first time making the date of Thanksgiving a matter of federal law and fixing the day as the fourth Thursday of November.[64] Traditional celebrations and solemnities Foods of the season Main article: Thanksgiving dinner The centerpiece of most Thanksgiving celebrations is the Thanksgiving dinner, consisting mainly of foods native to the Americas.[65] Turkey, usually roasted and stuffed (but sometimes deep-fried instead), is typically the featured item on most Thanksgiving feast tables. 40 million turkeys were consumed on Thanksgiving Day alone in 2019.[66] With 85 percent of Americans partaking in the meal, an estimated 276 million Americans dine on the festive poultry, spending an expected $1.05 billion on turkeys for Thanksgiving in 2016.[67][68] Mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, various fall vegetables, squash, and pumpkin pie are among the side dishes commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner.[69] All these are actually native to the Americas or were introduced as a new food source to the Europeans when they arrived. Turkey may be an exception.[citation needed] Philbrick (2006)[70] suggests that the Pilgrims might already have been familiar with turkey in England, even though the bird is native to the Americas. The Spaniards had brought domesticated turkeys back from Central America in the early 17th century, and the birds soon became popular fare all over Europe, including England, where turkey (as an alternative to the traditional goose) became a "fixture at English Christmases".[70] The Pilgrims did not observe Christmas,[71] as they could find no evidence in the scriptures as to when such a holiday should be celebrated and felt its December scheduling was a spurious Roman Catholic invention.[58] As a result of the size of Thanksgiving dinner, Americans eat more food on Thanksgiving than on any other day of the year.[72] Thanksgiving dinners tend to be shorter when the participants have political differences.[73] Giving thanks Thanksgiving Day service for members of the United States Army Air Corps, held in a church in Cransley, Northamptonshire, England, November 23, 1944 Thanksgiving was founded as a religious observance for all the members of the community for a common purpose to give thanks to God. A 1541 thanksgiving mass was held by the Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his expedition of 1,500 men at Palo Duro Canyon in what is today the Texas Panhandle.[18][19] A thanksgiving took place after the victory in the 1777 Battle of Saratoga during the Revolutionary War.[18] In his 1789 National Thanksgiving Proclamation, President Washington gave many noble reasons for a national Thanksgiving, including "for the civil and religious liberty", for "useful knowledge", and for God's "kind care" and "His Providence".[74] The tradition of giving thanks to God is continued today in many forms, most notably the attendance of religious services, as well as the saying of a mealtime prayer before Thanksgiving dinner. Many houses of worship offer worship services and events on Thanksgiving themes the weekend before, the day of, or the weekend after Thanksgiving.[75] At home, it is a holiday tradition in many families to begin the Thanksgiving dinner by saying grace (a prayer before or after a meal).[76] The custom is portrayed in the photograph "Family Holding Hands and Praying Before a Thanksgiving Meal". Before praying, it is a common practice at the dining table for "each person [to] tell one specific reason they're thankful to God that year".[77] While grace is said, some families hold hands until the prayer concludes, often indicated with an "Amen".[78][79] Joy Fisher, a Baptist writer, states that "this holiday takes on a spiritual emphasis and includes recognition of the source of the blessings they enjoy year round — a loving God."[80] In the same vein, Hesham A. Hassaballa, an American Muslim scholar and physician, has written that Thanksgiving "is wholly consistent with Islamic principles" and that "few things are more Islamic than thanking God for His blessings".[81] Similarly many Sikh Americans also celebrate the holiday by "giving thanks to Almighty".[82] Penitence and prayer [icon]    This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2021) Thanksgiving is included in the Revised Common Lectionary, which provides scriptures for Thanksgiving services. It is the last entry on the liturgical calendar before the start of Advent the following Sunday.[83] Charity Hungry diners line up outside a performing arts center for a free Thanksgiving meal in Eugene, Oregon, in 2013. The poor are often provided with food at Thanksgiving time. Most communities have annual food drives that collect non-perishable packaged and canned foods, and corporations sponsor charitable distributions of staple foods and Thanksgiving dinners.[84] The Salvation Army enlists volunteers to serve Thanksgiving dinners to hundreds of people in different locales.[85][86] Additionally, pegged to be five days after Thanksgiving is Giving Tuesday, a celebration of charitable giving.[citation needed] Parades For a more comprehensive list, see List of holiday parades. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, 1979 Since 1924, in New York City, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held annually every Thanksgiving Day from the Upper West Side of Manhattan to Macy's flagship store in Herald Square, and televised nationally by NBC. The parade features parade floats with specific themes, performances from Broadway musicals, large balloons of cartoon characters, TV personalities, and high school marching bands. The float that traditionally ends the Macy's Parade is the Santa Claus float, the arrival of which is an unofficial sign of the beginning of the Christmas season. It is billed as the world's largest parade.[87] The oldest Thanksgiving Day parade is Philadelphia's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which launched in 1920. Philadelphia's parade was long associated with Gimbels, a prominent Macy's rival, until that store closed in 1986.[88] Founded in 1924, the same year as the Macy's parade, America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit is one of the largest parades in the country.[89] The parade runs from Midtown to Downtown Detroit and precedes the annual Detroit Lions Thanksgiving football game.[90] The parade includes large balloons, marching bands, and various celebrity guests much like the Macy's parade and is nationally televised on various affiliate stations.[91] The Mayor of Detroit closes the parade by giving Santa Claus a key to the city.[91] There are Thanksgiving parades in many other cities, including:     Ameren Missouri Thanksgiving Day Parade[92] (St. Louis, Missouri)     America's Hometown Thanksgiving Parade (Plymouth, Massachusetts)     Belk Carolinas' Carrousel Parade (Charlotte, North Carolina)     Celebrate the Season Parade (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)     FirstLight Federal Credit Union Sun Bowl Parade[93] (El Paso, Texas)     H-E-B Holiday Parade[94] (Houston, Texas)     Chicago Thanksgiving Parade (Chicago, Illinois)     Santa Claus Parade (Peoria, Illinois), the nation's oldest, dating to 1887 and held the day after Thanksgiving[95]     Parada de los Cerros Thanksgiving Day Parade[96] (Fountain Hills, Arizona)     UBS Parade Spectacular[97] (Stamford, Connecticut) — held the Sunday before Thanksgiving so it doesn't directly compete with the Macy's parade 30 miles (48 km) away. Most of these parades are televised on a local station, and some have small, usually regional, syndication networks; most also carry the parades via Internet television on the TV stations' websites. Several other parades have a loose association with Thanksgiving, thanks to CBS's now-discontinued All-American Thanksgiving Day Parade coverage. Parades that were covered during this era were the Aloha Floral Parade held in Honolulu, Hawaii every September,[98] the Toronto Santa Claus Parade in Toronto, Ontario, Canada,[99] and the Opryland Aqua Parade (held from 1996 to 2001 by the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville);[100] the Opryland parade was discontinued and replaced by a taped parade in Miami Beach, Florida in 2002. For many years the Santa Claus Lane Parade (now Hollywood Christmas Parade) in Los Angeles was held on the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving. In 1978 this was switched to the Sunday following the holiday.[101] Sports American football Main articles: American football on Thanksgiving and NFL on Thanksgiving Day A typed letter An 1891 letter indicating that the Purdue Boilermakers football team intend to play a game in Indianapolis the following year American football is an important part of many Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States, a tradition that dates to the earliest era of the sport in the late 19th century.[102] Professional football games are often held on Thanksgiving Day; until recently, these were the only games played during the week apart from Sunday or Monday night. The National Football League has played games on Thanksgiving every year since its creation except during World War II. The Detroit Lions have hosted a game every Thanksgiving Day from 1934 to 1938 and again every year since 1945.[103] In 1966, the Dallas Cowboys, which were founded six years earlier, adopted the practice of hosting Thanksgiving games.[104] The league added a third game in primetime in 2006; unlike the traditional afternoon doubleheader, this game has no fixed host.[105] For college football teams that participate in the highest level (all teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, as well as three teams in the historically black Southwestern Athletic Conference of the Championship Subdivision), the regular season ends on Thanksgiving weekend, and a team's final game is often against a regional or historic rival, such as the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn, the rivalry formerly known as the Oregon Civil War between Oregon and Oregon State, the Apple Cup between Washington and Washington State, and Michigan and Ohio State playing in their rivalry game.[106] Some high school football games (which include some state championship games), and informal "Turkey Bowl" contests played by amateur groups and organizations, are frequently held on Thanksgiving weekend.[107] Games of football preceding or following the meal in the backyard or a nearby field are also common during many family gatherings. Amateur games typically follow less organized backyard-rules, two-hand touch or flag football styles.[108] Other sports College basketball holds several elimination tournaments on over Thanksgiving weekend, before the conference season. These include the Anaheim-based Wooden Legacy,[109] the Orlando-based AdvoCare Invitational,[110] and the Bahamas-based Battle 4 Atlantis,[111] all of which are televised on ESPN2 and ESPNU in marathon format. The NCAA owned-and-operated NIT Season Tip-Off has also since moved to Thanksgiving week.[112] A U.S. Army serviceman in a turkey costume leads the Kabul Satellite Turkey Chase 10K Run on Thanksgiving Day 2011. Though golf and auto racing are in their off-seasons on Thanksgiving, there are events in those sports that take place on Thanksgiving weekend. The Turkey Night Grand Prix is an annual automobile race that takes place at various venues in southern California on Thanksgiving night;[113] due in part to the fact that this is after the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and IndyCar Series have finished their seasons, it allows some of the top racers in the United States to participate. In golf, Thanksgiving weekend was the traditional time of the Skins Game from 1983 to 2008.[114] The world championship pumpkin chunking contest was held in early November in Delaware and televised each Thanksgiving on Science Channel, but the event was mired in liability disputes following injuries at the events in the 2010s; it has been held only once since 2016,[115] a 2019 contest in Illinois that had far fewer competitors and ran a financial loss.[116] In ice hockey, the National Hockey League announced, as part of its decade-long extension with NBC, that they would begin airing a game on the Friday afternoon following Thanksgiving beginning the 2011–12 NHL season; the game has since been branded as the "Thanksgiving Showdown". (The Boston Bruins have played matinees on Black Friday since at least 1990, but 2011 was the first time the game was nationally televised.)[117] Professional wrestling promotions have typically held premier pay-per-view events on or around the time of Thanksgiving. This trend began in 1983 when Jim Crockett Promotions, the largest promoter in the National Wrestling Alliance, introduced Starrcade. Starrcade, later incorporated into World Championship Wrestling, moved off Thanksgiving in 1988;[118] the year prior, the rival World Wrestling Federation had introduced Survivor Series, an event that continues to be hosted in November to the present day.[119] Many American cities hold road running events, known as "turkey trots", on Thanksgiving morning, so much so that as of 2018, Thanksgiving is the most popular race day in the U.S.[120] Depending on the organizations involved, these can range from one-mile (1.6 km) fun runs to full marathons (although no races currently use the latter; the Atlanta Marathon stopped running on Thanksgiving in 2010).[121] In soccer, Major League Soccer announced in 2021 that a MLS Cup Playoffs match will be held on Thanksgiving for the first time, with a Conference Semifinals match of the 2021 Playoffs between the Colorado Rapids and the Portland Timbers held on that day. While the MLS Cup playoffs were usually held from October to December, no MLS match was held on a Thanksgiving Day before 2021.[122] There will be no MLS Cup Playoff match expected to take place on Thanksgiving in 2022 to avoid conflicts with the 2022 FIFA World Cup which also begins days before Thanksgiving.[123] That MLS Cup match that would air on Fox will be determined by the year Fox has the early NFL game or late NFL game for their "Football-Futbol Doubleheader" format.[citation needed] Television For a more comprehensive list, see List of Thanksgiving television specials. While not as prolific as Christmas specials, which usually begin right after Thanksgiving, there are many special television programs transmitted on or around Thanksgiving, such as A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, in addition to the live parades and football games mentioned above. In some cases, television broadcasters begin programming Christmas films and specials to run on Thanksgiving Day, taking the day as a signal for the beginning of the Christmas season.[citation needed] Radio "Alice's Restaurant", an 18-minute monologue by Arlo Guthrie which is partially based on an incident that happened on Thanksgiving in 1965, was first released in 1967. It has since become a tradition on numerous classic rock and classic hits radio stations to play the full, uninterrupted recording to much fanfare each Thanksgiving Day, a tradition that appears to have originated with counterculture radio host Bob Fass, who introduced the song to the public on his radio show.[124] Another song that traditionally gets played on numerous radio stations (of many different formats) is "The Thanksgiving Song", a 1992 song by Adam Sandler.[125] In the beginning of the 21st century, Thanksgiving or the day after was the traditional start date when radio stations flipped to continuous Christmas music. Due to Christmas creep, this date has progressed to well before Thanksgiving for most stations that follow this strategy. Turkey pardoning Main article: National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation John F. Kennedy spares a turkey (1963). The practice of pardoning turkeys in this manner became a permanent tradition in 1989 during George H.W. Bush's term. The President of the United States has received a Thanksgiving turkey every year since 1873; for the first 41 years, the turkey was provided by Westerly, Rhode Island turkey kingpin Horace Vose. In 1947, in what began as a lobbying ploy to get President Harry Truman to stop rationing turkey for foreign aid, the National Turkey Federation has presented the President of the United States with one live turkey and two dressed turkeys in a ceremony known as the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation. John F. Kennedy was the first president reported to spare the turkey given to him (he said he did not plan to eat the bird); by the late 1970s, most of the turkeys were being sent to petting zoos, while the dressed turkeys are usually sent to a charity such as Martha's Table.[citation needed] Some legends date the origins of pardoning turkey to the Harry Truman administration or even to Abraham Lincoln pardoning his son's Christmas turkey;[126] both stories have been quoted in more recent presidential speeches, but neither has any evidence in the Presidential record.[127] In more recent years, two turkeys have been pardoned, in case the original turkey becomes unavailable for presidential pardoning.[128][129] George H. W. Bush made the turkey pardon a permanent annual tradition upon assuming the presidency in 1989, a tradition that was possibly inspired in part by a joke his predecessor Ronald Reagan had cracked during the 1987 presentation and has been carried on by every president each year since.[130][131] After stints at Frying Pan Farm Park in Herndon, Virginia (1989 to 2004),[132] the Disney Resorts (2005 to 2009),[131] Mount Vernon (the estate of George Washington, 2010 to 2012), and Morven Park (the estate of Westmoreland Davis, 2013 to 2015), turkeys have lived the remainder of their lives in the care of agricultural departments of major universities. The turkeys rarely lived to see the next Thanksgiving due to being bred for large size;[126] this gradually improved over the course of the 2010s as Morven Park and the universities have been more aggressive in maintaining the turkeys' health.[133] Vacation and travel U.S. President George W. Bush visits Iraq to have Thanksgiving dinner with soldiers in 2003. On Thanksgiving Day, families and friends usually gather for a large meal or dinner.[134] Consequently, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the busiest travel periods of the year.[135] Thanksgiving is a four-day or five-day weekend vacation for schools and colleges. Most business and government workers (78% as of 2007) are given Thanksgiving and the day after as paid holidays.[136] Thanksgiving Eve (also known as Blackout Wednesday), the night before Thanksgiving, is one of the busiest nights of the year for bars and clubs as many college students and others return to their hometowns to reunite with friends and family.[137] Criticism and controversy Much like Columbus Day, Thanksgiving is observed by some as a "National Day of Mourning", in acknowledgment of the genocide and conquest of Native Americans by colonists.[138][139][140] Thanksgiving has long carried a distinct resonance for Native Americans, who see the holiday as an embellished story of "Pilgrims and Natives looking past their differences" to break bread.[141] Professor R.W. Jensen of the University of Texas at Austin is somewhat harsher: "One indication of moral progress in the United States would be the replacement of Thanksgiving Day and its self-indulgent family feasting with a National Day of Atonement accompanied by a self-reflective collective fasting."[142] Some of the controversy regarding Thanksgiving has been used to justify the Christmas creep (the act of putting up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving). Those who sympathize with this view acknowledge it as a small minority view; author and humanist J.G. Rodwan, who does not celebrate Thanksgiving, noted     "If you put forth the interpretation ... that touches on the dishonorable treatment of the native population that lived in what became the United States, then you are likely to be dismissed as some sort of crank".[57] The autobiography of Mark Twain, first published in 1924, gives the satirical opinion of Mark Twain thus:[143]     Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for — annually, not oftener — if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months, instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Thanksgiving Day became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the white man's side, consequently on the Lord's side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and extend the usual compliments. Since 1970, the United American Indians of New England, a protest group led by Frank "Wamsutta" James has accused the United States and European settlers of fabricating the Thanksgiving story and of whitewashing a genocide and injustice against Native Americans, and it has led a National Day of Mourning protest on Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts in the name of social equality and in honor of political prisoners.[144] Frank "Wamsutta" James Some Native Americans hold "Unthanksgiving Day" celebrations in which they mourn the deaths of their ancestors, fast, dance, and pray.[145] This tradition has been taking place since 1975.[146] Seminoles having a Thanksgiving meal in the mid-1950s The perception of Thanksgiving among Native Americans is not, however, universally negative. Tim Giago, founder of the Native American Journalists Organization, seeks to reconcile Thanksgiving with Native American traditions. He compares Thanksgiving to "wopila", a thanks-giving celebration practiced by Native Americans of the Great Plains. He wrote in The Huffington Post: "The idea of a day of Thanksgiving has been a part of the Native American landscape for centuries. The fact that it is also a national holiday for all Americans blends in perfectly with Native American traditions." He also shares personal anecdotes of Native American families coming together to celebrate Thanksgiving.[147] Members of the Oneida Indian Nation marched in the 2010 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with a float called "The True Spirit of Thanksgiving" and have done so every year since.[148] In the early part of the twentieth century, the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism (4A) opposed the celebration of Thanksgiving Day, offering an alternative observance called Blamegiving Day, which was in their eyes, "a protest against Divine negligence, to be observed each year on Thanksgiving Day, on the assumption, for the day only, that God exists".[149] Citing their view of the separation of church and state, some atheists in recent times have particularly criticized the annual recitation of Thanksgiving proclamations by the President of the United States, because these proclamations often revolve around the theme of giving thanks to God.[150] The move by retailers to begin holiday sales during Thanksgiving Day (as opposed to the traditional day after) has been criticized as forcing (under threat of being fired) low-end retail workers, who compose an increasing share of the nation's workforce, to work odd hours and to handle atypical, unruly crowds on a day reserved for rest.[151] In response to this controversy, Macy's and Best Buy (both of which planned to open on Thanksgiving, even earlier than they had the year before) stated in 2014 that most of their Thanksgiving Day shifts were filled voluntarily by employees who would rather have the day after Thanksgiving off instead of Thanksgiving itself.[152][153] By 2021, retailers had largely abandoned efforts to hold Thanksgiving doorbusters and returned their focus to Black Friday proper.[154] Blue laws in several Northeastern states[which?] prevent retailers in those states from opening on Thanksgiving. Such retailers typically opened at midnight on the day after Thanksgiving.[153] Journalist Edward R. Murrow and producer David Lowe deliberately chose Thanksgiving weekend 1960 to release Murrow's final story for CBS News. Entitled Harvest of Shame, the hour-long documentary was designed "to shock Americans into action" in regard to the treatment of impoverished migrant workers in the country, hoping to contrast Thanksgiving dinner and its excesses with the poverty of those who picked the vegetables.[155] Murrow acknowledged the documentary portrayed the United States from a hostile perspective and, when he left CBS to join the United States Information Agency in 1961, unsuccessfully tried to stop the special from being aired in the United Kingdom.[156][157] Date Since being fixed on the fourth Thursday in November by law in 1941,[64] the holiday in the United States can occur on any date from November 22 to 28. When it falls on November 22 or 23, it is not the last Thursday, but the penultimate Thursday in November. Regardless, it is the Thursday preceding the last Saturday of November. Because Thanksgiving is a federal holiday, all United States government offices are closed and all employees are paid for that day. It is also a holiday for the New York Stock Exchange and most other financial markets and financial services companies.[158] Table of dates (1946–2057) The date of Thanksgiving Day follows a 28 year cycle, broken only by century years that are not a multiple of 400 (e.g. 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300, 2500 ...). The break in the regular cycle is an effect of the leap year algorithm, which dictates that such years are common years as an adjustment for the calendar / season alignment that leap years provide. Past and future dates of celebration include:[159] week 47     week 47 / week 48[i]     week 48 November 22     November 23     November 24     November 25     November 26     November 27     November 28 1951     1950     1949     1948         1947     1946 1956         1955     1954     1953     1952     1962     1961     1960         1959     1958     1957     1967     1966     1965     1964         1963 1973     1972         1971     1970     1969     1968 1979     1978     1977     1976         1975     1974 1984         1983     1982     1981     1980     1990     1989     1988         1987     1986     1985     1995     1994     1993     1992         1991 2001     2000[ii]         1999     1998     1997     1996 2007     2006     2005     2004         2003     2002 2012         2011     2010     2009     2008     2018     2017     2016         2015     2014     2013     2023     2022     2021     2020         2019 2029     2028         2027     2026     2025     2024 2035     2034     2033     2032         2031     2030 2040         2039     2038     2037     2036     2046     2045     2044         2043     2042     2041     2051     2050     2049     2048         2047 2057     2056         2055     2054     2053     2052 November 25 falls in week 47 of common years, and week 48 of leap years.     In most century years, the week / date pattern would break, but since 2000 was a 400 year century-year, the century-year exception does not apply. Days after Thanksgiving A broader period of Thanksgivingtide leads into and follows the holiday of Thanksgiving itself. The day after Thanksgiving is a holiday for some companies and most schools. In the last two decades of the 20th century, it became known as Black Friday, the beginning of the Christmas shopping season and a day for chaotic, early-morning sales at major retailers that were closed on Thanksgiving.[160] A contrasting movement known as Buy Nothing Day originated in Canada in 1992.[161] The day after Thanksgiving is also Native American Heritage Day, a day to pay tribute to Native Americans for their many contributions to the United States.[162] Small Business Saturday, a movement promoting shopping at smaller local establishments, takes place on the last Saturday in November, two days after Thanksgiving.[163] Cyber Monday is a nickname given to the Monday following Thanksgiving; the day evolved in the early days of the Internet, when consumers returning to work took advantage of their employers' broadband Internet connections to do online shopping and retailers began offering sales to meet the demand.[164] (Green Monday is a similar observance in Christmastide.) Giving Tuesday takes place on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.[165] Literature "A Hymn of Thanksgiving" sheet music cover — November 26, 1899 Poetry     "Thanksgiving" (1909), by Florence Earle Coates.     "Over the River and Through the Wood" (1844), by Lydia Maria Child     "Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1986", by William S. Burroughs in Tornado Alley. Music     "A Hymn of Thanksgiving" (1899), composed and written by Fanny J. Crosby and Ira D. Sankey.     "Alice's Restaurant", a song by Arlo Guthrie on his 1967 album Alice's Restaurant, based on a true incident in his life that began on Thanksgiving Day, 1965.     "Bless This House" (1927), a song composed and written by May Brahe and Helen Taylor.     "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" (1844), an English hymn written by Henry Alford.     "For the Beauty of the Earth" (1864), an English hymn written by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint.     "Hold My Mule" by Shirley Caesar (c.1980), later remixed as "You Name It" ("U Name It")[166]     "Now Thank We All Our God" (c.1636), a hymn of German origin written by Martin Rinkart.     "Simple Gifts" (1848), a Shaker hymn attributed to Joseph Brackett.     "Thanksgiving", a song by George Winston on his album December (1982).     "The Thanksgiving Song", a song by Adam Sandler on his album They're All Gonna Laugh at You! (1994).     "Thanksgiving Day Parade", a song by Dan Bern on his album New American Language (2001).     "Thanksgiving Day", a song by Ray Davies on his album Other People's Lives (2006).     "We Gather Together" (1597), a hymn of Dutch origin written by Adrianus Valerius.     "We Plough the Fields and Scatter" (1782), a hymn of German origin written by Matthias Claudius." (wikipedia.org) "A harvest festival is an annual celebration that occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times at different places. Harvest festivals typically feature feasting, both family and public, with foods that are drawn from crops. In Britain, thanks have been given for successful harvests since pagan times. Harvest festivals are held in September or October depending on local tradition. The modern Harvest Festival celebrations include singing hymns, praying, and decorating churches with baskets of fruit and food in the festival known as Harvest Festival, Harvest Home, Harvest Thanksgiving or Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving. In British and English-Caribbean churches, chapels and schools, and some Canadian churches, people bring in produce from the garden, the allotment or farm. The food is often distributed among the poor and senior citizens of the local community or used to raise funds for the church, or charity. Harvest festivals in Asia include the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節), one of the most widely spread harvest festivals in the world. In Iran Mehrgan was celebrated in an extravagant style at Persepolis. Not only was it the time for harvest, but it was also the time when the taxes were collected. Visitors from different parts of the Persian Empire brought gifts for the king, all contributing to a lively festival. In India, Makar Sankranti, Thai Pongal, Uttarayana, Lohri, and Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu in January, Holi in February–March, Vaisakhi in April and Onam in August–September are a few important harvest festivals. Jews celebrate the week-long harvest festival of Sukkot in the autumn. Observant Jews build a temporary hut or shack called a sukkah, and spend the week living, eating, sleeping, and praying inside it. A sukkah has three walls and a semi-open roof, designed to allow the elements to enter. It is reminiscent of the tabernacles Israelite farmers would live in during the harvest, at the end of which they would bring a portion of the harvest to the Temple in Jerusalem. Customs and traditions in English-Speaking World An early harvest festival used to be celebrated at the beginning of the harvest season on 1 August and was called Lammas, meaning 'loaf Mass'. The Latin prayer to hallow the bread is given in the Durham Ritual. Farmers made loaves of bread from the fresh wheat crop. These were given to the local church as the Communion bread during a special service thanking God for the harvest. By the sixteenth century, several customs seem to have been firmly established around the gathering of the final harvest. They include the reapers accompanying a fully laden cart; a tradition of shouting "Hooky, hooky"; and one of the foremost reapers dressing extravagantly, acting as 'lord' of the harvest and asking for money from the onlookers. A play by Thomas Nashe, Summer's last will, (first published in London in 1600 but believed from internal evidence to have been first performed in October 1592 at Croydon) contains a scene which demonstrates several of these features. There is a character personifying harvest who comes on stage attended by men dressed as reapers; he refers to himself as their "master" and ends the scene by begging the audience for a "largesse". The scene is inspired by contemporary harvest celebrations, and singing and drinking feature largely. The stage instruction reads:     "Enter Harvest with a scythe on his neck, and all his reapers with sickles, and a great black bowl with a posset in it borne before him: they come in singing." The song which follows may be an actual harvest song or a creation of the author's intended to represent a typical harvest song of the time:     Merry, merry, merry, cheery, cheery, cheery,     Trowel the black bowl to me;     Hey derry, derry, with a pop and a lorry,     I'll throw it again to thee;     Hooky, hooky, we have shorn,     And we have bound,     And we have brought Harvest     Townhome. The shout of "hooky, hooky" appears to be one traditionally associated with the harvest celebration. The last verse is repeated in full after the character Harvest remarks to the audience "Is your throat clear to help us sing hooky, hooky?" and a stage direction adds, "Heere they all sing after him". Also, in 1555 in Archbishop Parker's translation of Psalm 126 occur the lines:     "He home returnes: wyth hocky cry,     With sheaues full lade abundantly." In some parts of England "Hockey" or "Horkey" (the word is spelled variously) became the accepted name of the actual festival itself:     "Hockey is brought Home with hallowing     Boys with plum-cake The Cart following". Another widespread tradition was the distribution of a special cake to the celebrating farmworkers. A prose work of 1613 refers to the practice as predating the Reformation. Describing the character of a typical farmer, it says:     "Rocke Munday..Christmas Eve, the hoky, or seed cake, these he yearly keeps, yet holds them no relics of popery."[1] Early English settlers took the idea of harvest thanksgiving to North America. The most famous one is the harvest Thanksgiving held by the Pilgrims in 1621. National Harvest Thanksgiving ceremony in Poland's Jasna Góra Roman Catholic sanctuary in Częstochowa, Poland. Presidential Harvest Festival in Spała, Poland Nowadays the festival is held at the end of harvest, which varies in different parts of Britain. Sometimes neighboring churches will set the Harvest Festival on different Sundays so that people can attend each other's thanksgiving. Until the 20th century, most farmers celebrated the end of the harvest with a big meal called the harvest supper, to which all who had helped in the harvest were invited. It was sometimes known as a "Mell-supper", after the last patch of corn or wheat standing in the fields which were known as the "Mell" or "Neck". Cutting it signified the end of the work of harvest and the beginning of the feast. There seems to have been a feeling that it was bad luck to be the person to cut the last stand of corn. The farmer and his workers would race against the harvesters on other farms to be first to complete the harvest, shouting to announce they had finished. In some counties, the last stand of corn would be cut by the workers throwing their sickles at it until it was all down, in others the reapers would take it in turns to be blindfolded and sweep a scythe to and fro until all of the Mell was cut down. Some churches and villages still have a Harvest Supper. The modern British tradition of celebrating the Harvest Festival in churches began in 1843, when the Reverend Robert Hawker invited parishioners to a special thanksgiving service at his church at Morwenstow in Cornwall. Victorian hymns such as Come, ye thankful people, come and All things bright and beautiful but also Dutch and German harvest hymns in translation (for example, We plough the fields and scatter) helped popularise his idea of a harvest festival, and spread the annual custom of decorating churches with home-grown produce for the Harvest Festival service. On 8 September 1854 the Revd Dr William Beal, Rector of Brooke, Norfolk,[2] held a Harvest Festival aimed at ending what he saw as disgraceful scenes at the end of harvest,[3] and went on to promote 'harvest homes' in other Norfolk villages. Another early adopter of the custom as an organized part of the Church of England calendar was Rev Piers Claughton at Elton, Huntingdonshire in or about 1854.[4] As British people have come to rely less heavily on home-grown produce, there has been a shift in emphasis in many Harvest Festival celebrations. Increasingly, churches have linked Harvest with an awareness of and concern for people in the developing world for whom growing crops of sufficient quality and quantity remains a struggle. Development and Relief organizations often produce resources for use in churches at harvest time which promote their own concerns for those in need across the globe. In the early days, there were ceremonies and rituals at the beginning as well as at the end of the harvest. Encyclopædia Britannica traces the origins to "the animistic belief in the corn [grain] spirit or corn mother." In some regions the farmers believed that a spirit resided in the last sheaf of grain to be harvested. To chase out the spirit, they beat the grain to the ground. Elsewhere they wove some blades of the cereal into a "corn dolly" that they kept safe for "luck" until seed-sowing the following year.[citation needed] Then they plowed the ears of grain back into the soil in hopes that this would bless the new crop.     Church bells could be heard on each day of the harvest.     A corn dolly was made from the last sheaf of corn harvested. The corn dolly often had a place of honour at the banquet table, and was kept until the following spring.     In Cornwall, the ceremony of Crying The Neck was practiced. Today it is still re-enacted annually by The Old Cornwall Society.     The horse bringing the last cartload was decorated with garlands of flowers and colourful ribbons.     A magnificent Harvest feast was held at the farmer's house and games were played to celebrate the end of the harvest." (wikipedia.org) "Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English,[1] is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March (Southern Hemisphere). Autumn is the season when the duration of daylight becomes noticeably shorter and the temperature cools considerably. Day length decreases and night length increases as the season progresses until the Winter Solstice in December (Northern Hemisphere) and June (Southern Hemisphere). One of its main features in temperate climates is the striking change in colour for the leaves of deciduous trees as they prepare to shed. Date definitions Some cultures regard the autumnal equinox as "mid-autumn", while others with a longer temperature lag treat the equinox as the start of autumn.[2] In the English-speaking world of high latitude countries, autumn traditionally began with Lammas Day and ended around Hallowe'en, the approximate mid-points between midsummer, the autumnal equinox, and midwinter. Meteorologists (and Australia[3][4] and most of the temperate countries in the southern hemisphere)[5][6] use a definition based on Gregorian calendar months, with autumn being September, October, and November in the northern hemisphere,[7] and March, April, and May in the southern hemisphere. In the higher latitude countries in the Northern Hemisphere, autumn traditionally starts with the September equinox (21 to 24 September)[8] and ends with the winter solstice (21 or 22 December).[9] Popular culture in the United States associates Labor Day, the first Monday in September, as the end of summer and the start of autumn; certain summer traditions, such as wearing white, are discouraged after that date.[10] As daytime and nighttime temperatures decrease, trees change colour and then shed their leaves.[11] Under the traditional East Asian solar term system, autumn starts on or around 8 August and ends on or about 7 November. In Ireland, the autumn months according to the national meteorological service, Met Éireann, are September, October, and November.[12] However, according to the Irish Calendar, which is based on ancient Gaelic traditions, autumn lasts throughout the months of August, September, and October, or possibly a few days later, depending on tradition. In the Irish language, September is known as Meán Fómhair ("middle of autumn") and October as Deireadh Fómhair ("end of autumn").[13][14] Persians celebrate the beginning of the autumn as Mehregan to honor Mithra (Mehr). Etymology Autumnal scene with yellow, orange, and red leaves Autumnal scene with yellow, orange, and red leaves Leaves falling from the trees during autumn in the forest 2:38 Sound of leaves on trees and fallen on the ground Problems playing this file? See media help. The word autumn (/ˈɔːtəm/) is derived from Latin autumnus, archaic auctumnus, possibly from the ancient Etruscan root autu- and has within it connotations of the passing of the year.[15] Alternative etymologies include Proto-Indo-European *h₃ewǵ- ("cold") or *h₂sows- ("dry").[16] After the Greek era, the word continued to be used as the Old French word autompne (automne in modern French) or autumpne in Middle English,[17] and was later normalised to the original Latin. In the Medieval period, there are rare examples of its use as early as the 12th century, but by the 16th century, it was in common use. Before the 16th century, harvest was the term usually used to refer to the season, as it is common in other West Germanic languages to this day (cf. Dutch herfst, German Herbst, and Scots hairst). However, as more people gradually moved from working the land to living in towns, the word harvest lost its reference to the time of year and came to refer only to the actual activity of reaping, and autumn, as well as fall, began to replace it as a reference to the season.[18][19][better source needed] The alternative word fall for the season traces its origins to old Germanic languages. The exact derivation is unclear, with the Old English fiæll or feallan and the Old Norse fall all being possible candidates. However, these words all have the meaning "to fall from a height" and are clearly derived either from a common root or from each other. The term came to denote the season in 16th-century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year". Compare the origin of spring from "spring of the leaf" and "spring of the year".[20] During the 17th century, Englishmen began emigrating to the new North American colonies, and the settlers took the English language with them. While the term fall gradually became nearly obsolete in Britain, it became the more common term in North America.[21] The name backend, a once common name for the season in Northern England, has today been largely replaced by the name autumn.[22] Associations Harvest Association with the transition from warm to cold weather, and its related status as the season of the primary harvest, has dominated its themes and popular images. In Western cultures, personifications of autumn are usually pretty, well-fed females adorned with fruits, vegetables and grains that ripen at this time. Many cultures feature autumnal harvest festivals, often the most important on their calendars. Still-extant echoes of these celebrations are found in the autumn Thanksgiving holiday of the United States and Canada, and the Jewish Sukkot holiday with its roots as a full-moon harvest festival of "tabernacles" (living in outdoor huts around the time of harvest). There are also the many festivals celebrated by indigenous peoples of the Americas tied to the harvest of ripe foods gathered in the wild, the Chinese Mid-Autumn or Moon festival, and many others. The predominant mood of these autumnal celebrations is a gladness for the fruits of the earth mixed with a certain melancholy linked to the imminent arrival of harsh weather. This view is presented in English poet John Keats' poem To Autumn, where he describes the season as a time of bounteous fecundity, a time of 'mellow fruitfulness'. In North America, while most foods are harvested during the autumn, foods usually associated with the season include pumpkins (which are integral parts of both Thanksgiving and Halloween) and apples, which are used to make the seasonal beverage apple cider. Melancholia "Jesień" (Autumn) Józef Chełmoński picture of 1875 presenting a typical view of autumn in Polish 19th century countryside Autumn, especially in poetry, has often been associated with melancholia. The possibilities and opportunities of summer are gone, and the chill of winter is on the horizon. Skies turn grey, the amount of usable daylight drops rapidly, and many people turn inward, both physically and mentally.[23] It has been referred to as an unhealthy season.[24] Similar examples may be found in Irish poet W.B. Yeats' poem The Wild Swans at Coole where the maturing season that the poet observes symbolically represents his own ageing self. Like the natural world that he observes, he too has reached his prime and now must look forward to the inevitability of old age and death. French poet Paul Verlaine's "Chanson d'automne" ("Autumn Song") is likewise characterised by strong, painful feelings of sorrow. Keats' To Autumn, written in September 1819, echoes this sense of melancholic reflection but also emphasises the lush abundance of the season. The song "Autumn Leaves", based on the French song "Les Feuilles mortes", uses the melancholic atmosphere of the season and the end of summer as a metaphor for the mood of being separated from a loved one.[25] Halloween Autumn is associated with Halloween (influenced by Samhain, a Celtic autumn festival),[26] and with it a widespread marketing campaign that promotes it. The Celtic people also used this time to celebrate the harvest with a time of feasting. At the same time though, it was a celebration of death as well. Crops were harvested, livestock were butchered, and Winter was coming.[27] Halloween, 31 October, is in autumn in the northern hemisphere. Television, film, book, costume, home decoration, and confectionery businesses use this time of year to promote products closely associated with such a holiday, with promotions going from late August or early September to 31 October, since their themes rapidly lose strength once the holiday ends, and advertising starts concentrating on Christmas. Other associations In some parts of the northern hemisphere, autumn has a strong association with the end of summer holiday and the start of a new school year, particularly for children in primary and secondary education. "Back to School" advertising and preparations usually occurs in the weeks leading to the beginning of autumn. Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in Canada, in the United States, in some of the Caribbean islands and in Liberia. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada, on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States (where it is commonly regarded as the start of the Christmas and holiday season), and around the same part of the year in other places. Similarly named festival holidays occur in Germany and Japan. Television stations and networks, particularly in North America, traditionally begin their regular seasons in their autumn, with new series and new episodes of existing series debuting mostly during late September or early October (series that debut outside the autumn season are usually known as mid-season replacements). A sweeps period takes place in November to measure Nielsen Ratings. American football is played almost exclusively in the autumn months; at the high school level, seasons run from late August through early November, with some playoff games and holiday rivalry contests being played as late as Thanksgiving. In many American states, the championship games take place in early December. College football's regular season runs from September through November, while the main professional circuit, the National Football League, plays from September through to early January. Summer sports, such as association football (in Northern America, East Asia, Argentina, and South Africa), Canadian football, stock car racing, tennis, golf, cricket, and professional baseball, wrap up their seasons in early to late autumn; Major League Baseball's championship World Series is popularly known as the "Fall Classic".[28] (Amateur baseball is usually finished by August.) Likewise, professional winter sports, such as ice hockey and basketball, and most leagues of association football in Europe, are in the early stages of their seasons during autumn; American college basketball and college ice hockey play teams outside their athletic conferences during the late autumn before their in-conference schedules begin in winter. The Christian religious holidays of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day are observed in autumn in the Northern hemisphere. Easter falls in autumn in the southern hemisphere. The secular celebration of International Workers' Day also falls in autumn in the southern hemisphere. Since 1997, Autumn has been one of the top 100 names for girls in the United States.[29] In Indian mythology, autumn is considered to be the preferred season for the goddess of learning Saraswati, who is also known by the name of "goddess of autumn" (Sharada). In Asian mysticism, Autumn is associated with the element of metal, and subsequently with the colour white, the White Tiger of the West, and death and mourning. Tourism Autumn colouration at the Kalevanpuisto park in Pori, Finland. See also: Leaf peeping Although colour change in leaves occurs wherever deciduous trees are found, coloured autumn foliage is noted in various regions of the world: most of North America, Eastern Asia (including China, Korea, and Japan), Europe, southeast, south, and part of the midwest of Brazil,[30][31] the forest of Patagonia, eastern Australia and New Zealand's South Island. Eastern Canada and New England are famous for their autumnal foliage,[32][33] and this attracts major tourism (worth billions of US dollars) for the regions." (wikipedia.org) "Pumpkin pie is a dessert pie with a spiced, pumpkin-based custard filling. The pumpkin and pumpkin pie are both a symbol of harvest time,[1][2] and pumpkin pie is generally eaten during the fall and early winter. In the United States and Canada it is usually prepared for Thanksgiving,[3] Christmas, and other occasions when pumpkin is in season. The pie's filling ranges in color from orange to brown and is baked in a single pie shell, usually without a top crust. The pie is generally flavored with a spice mixture known as pumpkin pie spice, which is made using spices such as ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice. The pie is usually prepared with canned pumpkin, but fresh-cooked pumpkin can be used. Overview Pumpkin pie filling being prepared Pies made from pumpkins typically use pie pumpkins, also known as sugar pumpkins, which measure about 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimetres) in diameter, approximately the size of a large grapefruit.[4] They are considerably smaller than the typically larger varieties used to carve jack o'lanterns, contain significantly less pulp, and have a less stringy texture.[4] The flesh is cooked until soft and puréed before being blended with the other ingredients. The pulp is mixed with eggs, evaporated or sweetened condensed milk, sugar, and a spice mixture called pumpkin pie spice. This typically includes cinnamon, powdered ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Allspice is also commonly used and can replace the clove and nutmeg, as its flavor is similar to both combined.[5] Cardamom and vanilla are also sometimes used as batter spices. The pie is then baked in a pie shell and sometimes topped with whipped cream.[6] Similar pies are made with butternut squash or sweet potato fillings.[7] The pie is often made from canned pumpkin,[8] which is prepared mainly from varieties of Cucurbita pepo and Cucurbita maxima.[9] Packaged pumpkin pie filling with spices included is also used. A December 1988 report by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found that canned pumpkin products sometimes have sweet squash mixed in with the pumpkin "to obtain the same texture that is well-liked by consumers."[9][10] Many modern companies produce seasonal pumpkin-pie-flavored products such as candy, cheesecake, coffee, ice cream, french toast, waffles and pancakes, and many breweries produce a seasonal pumpkin ale or beer; these are generally not flavored with pumpkins, but rather pumpkin pie spices. Commercially made pumpkin pie mix is made from Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita moschata.[11][12][13][14] (Libby's pumpkin pie mix uses the Select Dickinson Pumpkin variety of C. moschata for its canned pumpkins.) History A slice of homemade pumpkin pie with whipped cream The pumpkin is native to North America. The pumpkin was an early export to France; from there it was introduced to Tudor England, and the flesh of the "pompion" was quickly accepted as pie filling. During the seventeenth century, pumpkin pie recipes could be found in English cookbooks, such as Hannah Woolley's The Gentlewoman's Companion (1675).[15][16] Pumpkin "pies" made by early American colonists were more likely to be a savory soup made and served in a pumpkin[17] than a sweet custard in a crust. Pumpkins were also stewed and made into ale by colonists.[5] An early appearance of a more modern, custard-like pumpkin pie was in American Cookery, a cookbook published in 1796.[18] It used a sweet custard filling in a pie crust, with spices similar to the ones used today. It was not until the early nineteenth century that the recipes appeared in Canadian[19] and American cookbooks[15] or that pumpkin pie became a common addition to the Thanksgiving dinner.[15] The Pilgrims brought the pumpkin pie back to New England,[20] while the English method of cooking the pumpkin took a different course. In the 19th century, the English pumpkin pie was prepared by stuffing the pumpkin with apples, spices, and sugar and then baking it whole.[21][22] In the United States after the Civil War, the pumpkin pie was resisted in Southern states as a symbol of Yankee culture imposed on the South, where there was no tradition of eating pumpkin pie.[23] Many Southern cooks instead made sweet potato pie, or added bourbon and pecans to give the pumpkin pie a Southern touch.[23] Today, throughout much of Canada and the United States, it is traditional to serve pumpkin pie after Thanksgiving dinner.[24][25] Pumpkin pies were discouraged from Thanksgiving dinners in the United States in 1947 as part of a voluntary egg rationing campaign promoted by the Truman Administration, mainly because of the eggs used in the recipe.[26][27] This was a part of President Truman's Citizen's Food Committee task force, designed to ration food consumption in the United States in hopes to provide more foreign food assistance to Europe post World War II.[27][a] Part of the campaign included an "Egg-less & Poultry-less Thursday", which began in October 1947, and with Thanksgiving Day always occurring on a Thursday, there was a considerable backlash among American consumers against this.[27] Truman was true to his word, and no pumpkin pie was served at the White House for Thanksgiving in 1947.[b] In popular culture Poetry     Lydia Maria Child's Thanksgiving poem "Over the River and Through the Wood" (1844) references pumpkin pie in one of its verses: "Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done? / Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!"     Mathew Franklin Whittier, signing as "A Yankee," wrote in his poem "Song of the Pumpkin" (1846):[29]     Ah! on Thanksday, when from East and from West,     From North and from South comes the pilgrim and guest;     When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board     The old broken links of affection restored;     When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,     And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before;     What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye,     What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie? Songs     Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann and George Frederick Cameron wrote the song "Farewell O Fragrant Pumpkin Pie" in the opera Leo, the Royal Cadet (1889):[30]     Farewell, O fragrant pumpkin pie!     Dyspeptic pork, adieu!     Though to the college halls I hie.     On field of battle though I die, my latest sob, my latest sigh     shall wafted be to you!     And thou, O doughnut rare and rich and fried divinely brown!     Thy form shall fill a noble niche in memory's chamber whilst I pitch     my tent beside the river which rolls on through Kingston town.     And my Love—my little Nell,     the apple of my eye to thee how can I say farewell?     I love thee more than I can tell;     I love thee more than anything—but—pie!     The Christmas-themed song "There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays" makes a reference to homemade pumpkin pie being looked forward to by a man returning to his family's home in Pennsylvania.     The popular Christmas song "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" contains the lyric, "Later we'll have some pumpkin pie/And we'll do some caroling".     "Sleigh Ride", another popular Christmas song, also mentions sitting around a fire after being out in the snow and eating pumpkin pie. Records The world's largest pumpkin pie was made in New Bremen, Ohio, at the New Bremen Pumpkinfest on September 25, 2010.[31][32] The pie consisted of 550 kilograms (1,212 pounds) of canned pumpkin, 410 litres (109 US gallons) of evaporated milk, 2,796 eggs, 3.2 kg (7 lb) of salt, 6.6 kg (14+1⁄2 lb) of cinnamon, and 238 kg (525 lb) of sugar.[31] The final pie weighed 1,678 kg (3,699 lb) and measured 6 m (20 ft) in diameter.[31] Image gallery     A homemade pumpkin pie prepared using fresh pumpkin     A homemade pumpkin pie prepared using fresh pumpkin     Cross-section view of a commercially prepared pumpkin pie     Cross-section view of a commercially prepared pumpkin pie     A can of pureed pumpkin, typically used as the main ingredient in the pie filling     A can of pureed pumpkin, typically used as the main ingredient in the pie filling" (wikipedia.org) "Pumpkin pie spice, also known as pumpkin spice, is an American spice mix commonly used as a flavoring for pumpkin pie, but does not include pumpkin as an ingredient. Pumpkin pie spice is similar to the British and Commonwealth mixed spice. It is generally a blend of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and sometimes allspice.[1] It can also be used as a seasoning in general cooking. As of 2016, pumpkin spice consumables produce $500 million in annual sales.[2] The spice is often referred to in the context of a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks, with the company selling more than 200 million lattes between its launch and 2013, generating revenue of at least $80 million a year. History A "Pompkin" recipe calling for a similar spice mix (mace, nutmeg and ginger) can be found as far back as 1796 in the first known published American cookbook, American Cookery, written by Amelia Simmons:[3]     Pompkin     No. 1. One quart stewed and strained, 3 pints cream, 9 beaten eggs, sugar, mace, nutmeg and ginger, laid into paste No. 7 or 3, and with a dough spur, cross and chequer it, and baked in dishes three quarters of an hour.     No. 2. One quart of milk, 1 pint pompkin, 4 eggs, molasses, allspice and ginger in a crust, bake 1 hour. Pumpkin pie spice has been mentioned in cookbooks dating to the 1890s.[4][5][6] Blended pumpkin pie spice was introduced commercially by McCormick & Company in 1934.[7] and is now commercialized by many companies. The American coffee chain Starbucks developed a Pumpkin Spice Latte in January 2003, adding it to a range of seasonal winter drinks. Starbucks' director of espresso Americas, Peter Dukes, said that "developers realized there was something special around the pumpkin flavor, especially since there wasn't anything around pumpkin at the time". The company experimented with different combinations and ratios of pumpkin to spice, ultimately deciding on a recipe with no pumpkin in it.[8] It became Starbucks' most popular seasonal beverage. " (wikipedia.org) "Salt and pepper is the common name for edible salt and ground black pepper, which are ubiquitously paired on Western dining tables as to allow for the additional seasoning of food after its preparation. During food preparation or cooking, they may also be added in combination. Salt and pepper are typically maintained in separate shakers on the table, but they may be mixed in the kitchen. They are typically found in a set (pair), often a matched set, of salt and pepper shakers.[1] They may be considered condiments or seasonings; salt is a mineral and black pepper is a spice. History The pairing of salt and pepper as table accessories dates to seventeenth-century French cuisine, which considered black pepper (distinct from herbs such as fines herbes) the only spice that did not overpower the true taste of food.[2] Some food writers like Sara Dickerman have argued that, in modern cookery, a new spice could be used in place of the historic ground black pepper.[3][4] Other cultures In Hungary, paprika may replace pepper on the dinner table, while in Basque cuisine, Espelette pepper frequently replaces black pepper." (wikipedia.org) "Seasoning is the process of supplementing food via herbs, spices, salts, and/or sugar, intended to enhance a particular flavour. General meaning Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings". However, Larousse Gastronomique states that "to season and to flavor are not the same thing", insisting that seasoning includes a large or small amount of salt being added to a preparation.[1] Salt may be used to draw out water, or to magnify a natural flavor of a food making it richer or more delicate, depending on the dish. This type of procedure is akin to curing. For instance, sea salt (a coarser-grained salt) is rubbed into chicken, lamb, and beef to tenderize the meat and improve flavour. Other seasonings like black pepper and basil transfer some of their flavors to the food. A well-designed dish may combine seasonings that complement each other. In addition to the choice of herbs and seasoning, the timing of when flavors are added will affect the food that is being cooked or otherwise prepared. In some cultures, meat may be seasoned by pouring seasoning sauce over the dish at the table. A variety of seasoning techniques exist in various cultures. Seasoning means bringing out or intensifying the natural flavor of the food without changing it. Seasonings are usually added near the end of the cooking period. The most common seasonings are salt, pepper, and acids (such as lemon juice). When seasonings are used properly, they cannot be tasted; their job is to heighten the flavors of the original ingredients.[2] Researchers have found traces of garlic mustard seeds in prehistoric pots that also contained traces of other animals, making this the earliest recording of seasoning food.[3] Oil infusion Infused oils are also used for seasoning. There are two methods for doing an infusion—hot and cold. Olive oil makes a good infusion base for some herbs, but tends to go rancid more quickly than other oils. Infused oils should be kept refrigerated. It is important to note that butter is not considered a seasoning.[citation needed] Escoffier In Le Guide culinaire,[4] Auguste Escoffier divides seasoning and condiments into the following groups: Seasonings Salts     Saline seasonings – salt, spiced salt, saltpeter.     Acid seasonings – plain vinegar (sodium acetate), or same aromatized with tarragon; verjuice, lemon and orange juices.     Hot seasonings – peppercorns, ground or coarsely chopped pepper, or mignonette pepper; paprika, curry, cayenne, and mixed pepper spices.     Spice seasonings – made by using essential oils like paprika, clove oil, etc. Condiments Condiments     The pungents – onions, shallots, garlic, chives, and horseradish.     Hot condiments – mustard, gherkins, capers, English sauces, such as Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, etc. and American sauces such as chili sauce, Tabasco, A1 Steak Sauce, etc.; the wines used in reductions and braisings; the finishing elements of sauces and soups.     Fatty substances – most animal fats, butter, vegetable greases (edible oils and margarine)." (wikipedia.org) "A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to impart a specific flavor, to enhance the flavor,[1] or to complement the dish. A table condiment or table sauce is more specifically a condiment that is served separately from the food and is added to taste by the diner. Condiments are sometimes added prior to serving, for example, in a sandwich made with ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise. Some condiments are used during cooking to add flavor or texture: barbecue sauce, compound butter, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, Marmite and sour cream are examples. Many condiments, such as mustard or ketchup, are available in single-serving packets, commonly when supplied with take-out or fast food meals. Definition Various condiments at Sangha market, Mali in 1992 The exact definition of a condiment varies. Some definitions encompass spices and herbs, including salt and pepper,[2] using the term interchangeably with seasoning.[3] Others restrict the definition to include only "prepared food compound[s], containing one or more spices", which are added to food after the cooking process, such as mustard, ketchup or mint sauce.[3] Salt, pepper, and sugar are commonly placed on Western restaurant tables. Etymology The term condiment comes from the Latin condimentum, meaning "spice, seasoning, sauce" and from the Latin condire, meaning "preserve, pickle, season".[4] The term originally described pickled or preserved foods, but its meaning has changed over time.[5] History Condiments were known in Ancient Rome, India, Greece and China. There is a myth that before food preservation techniques were widespread, pungent spices and condiments were used to make the food more palatable,[6] but this claim is not supported by any evidence or historical record.[7] The Romans made the condiments garum and liquamen by crushing the innards of various fish and then fermenting them in salt, resulting in a liquid containing glutamic acid, suitable for enhancing the flavor of food. The popularity of these sauces led to a flourishing condiment industry.[4] Apicius, a cookbook based on fourth and fifth century cuisine, contains a section based solely on condiments." (wikipedia.org) "Salt and pepper shakers or salt and pepper pots, of which the first item is normally called a salt cellar in British English,[1] are condiment dispensers used in Western culture that are designed to allow diners to distribute grains of edible salt and ground peppercorns. Salt and pepper shakers are sometimes held in a cruet-stand. History and usage Salt and pepper shakers can be made from a variety of materials, including plastic, glass, metal, and ceramic.[2] Salt shakers became increasingly common after anti-caking agents were introduced by the Morton Salt company in the 1920s.[3] The Great Depression of the 1930s boosted the popularity of salt and pepper shakers as global ceramics producers concentrated on inexpensive items.[3] Except in the most casual dining establishments, they are usually provided as a matched set, sometimes distinguishable only by the number of holes on the top of the shaker. Designs range from small, plain glass screw cap containers (invented by John Landis Mason, inventor of the Mason jar) to more ornate works of art. Sometimes the design refers to some pair of related objects—such as a replica of a West Highland White Terrier containing salt and a Scottish Terrier containing pepper. Designs may also relate to specific occasions or holidays. As a result of this diversity of design, collecting salt and pepper shakers is a hobby.[4][5][6][7][8][9] Design of salt and pepper shakers has also been used to transmit cultural perspectives about race[10][11] and other cultural values.[12] Two Museums of Salt and Pepper Shakers in the US and Spain are dedicated to showing the variety and history of salt and pepper shakers through the ages. Żupny Castle in Poland also contains a collection of salt shakers. Distinguishing salt from pepper The number of holes varies by culture, health, and taste. In the United States where excessive salt is considered unhealthy, salt is stored in the shaker with the fewer holes, but in parts of Europe where pepper was historically a rare spice, this is reversed.[13] In the UK, salt was often poured onto the side of one's plate and used for dipping, rather than shaken across the whole dish, hence salt cellars having a single, larger, hole. The shakers may also be simply labelled "pepper" and "salt" or "p" and "s" (in some cases the latter may be formed of the holes for pouring), or may be colored white for salt and black for pepper. Many salt and pepper shakers are transparent, in which case they need not be otherwise distinguished. As an alternative to salt and pepper shakers, pepper may be distributed at the table by use of a pepper grinder, while salt may be distributed from a salt cellar or a salt mill." (wiipedia.org) "A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved lantern, most commonly made from a pumpkin or a root vegetable such as a rutabaga or turnip.[1] Jack-o'-lanterns are associated with the Halloween holiday. Its name comes from the reported phenomenon of strange lights flickering over peat bogs, called will-o'-the-wisps or jack-o'-lanterns. The name is also tied to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a drunkard who bargains with Satan and is doomed to roam the Earth with only a hollowed turnip to light his way. Jack-o'-lanterns carved from pumpkins are a yearly Halloween tradition that developed in the United States when Celtic Americans brought their root vegetable carving tradition with them.[2] It is common to see jack-o'-lanterns used as external and internal decorations prior to and on Halloween. To make a jack-o'-lantern, the top of a pumpkin or turnip is cut off to form a lid, the inside flesh is scooped out, and an image—usually a "scary" or "funny" face—is carved out of the rind to expose the hollow interior. A light source, traditionally a flames from a candle or tealight, is placed within before the lid is closed. Artificial jack-o'-lanterns with electric lights are also marketed. Etymology An assortment of carved pumpkins. The term jack-o'-lantern was originally used to describe the visual phenomenon ignis fatuus (lit., "foolish fire") known as a will-o'-the-wisp in English folklore.[3] Used especially in East England, its earliest known use dates to the 1660s.[4] History A plaster cast of a traditional Irish Jack-o'-Lantern in the Museum of Country Life, Ireland. Rutabaga or turnip were often used. Modern carving of a Cornish Jack-o'-Lantern made from a turnip. Origin The carving of vegetables has been a common practice in many parts of the world. It is believed that the custom of making jack-o'-lanterns at Halloween time began in the British Isles. [5][6][7] In the 19th century, "turnips or mangel wurzels, hollowed out to act as lanterns and often carved with grotesque faces," were used on Halloween in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands.[8] In these Gaelic-speaking regions, Halloween was also the festival of Samhain and was seen as a time when supernatural beings (the Aos Sí), and the souls of the dead, walked the earth. Jack-o'-lanterns were also made at Halloween time in Somerset, England (see Punkie Night) during the 19th century.[8] By those who made them, the lanterns were said to represent either spirits or supernatural beings,[8] or were used to ward off evil spirits.[9] For example, sometimes they were used by Halloween participants to frighten people,[9][10][11] and sometimes they were set on windowsills to keep harmful spirits out of one's home.[10] It has also been suggested that the jack-o'-lanterns originally represented Christian souls in purgatory, as Halloween is the eve of All Saints' Day (1 November)/All Souls' Day (2 November).[12] On January 16 in 1836, the Dublin Penny Journal published a long story on the legend of "Jack-o'-the-Lantern", although this does not mention the lantern being carved from a vegetable.[13] In 1837, the Limerick Chronicle refers to a local pub holding a carved gourd competition and presenting a prize to "the best crown of Jack McLantern". The term "McLantern" also appears in an 1841 publication of the same paper.[citation needed] There is also evidence that turnips were used to carve what was called a "Hoberdy's Lantern" in Worcestershire, England, at the end of the 18th century. The folklorist Jabez Allies outlines other derivations of the name, "Hobany's", which is most likely derived from "Hob and his", with other variations including "Hob-o'-Lantern", "Hobbedy's Lantern" and "Hobbady-lantern".[14] In North America Adaptations of Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820) often show the Headless Horseman with a pumpkin or jack-o'-lantern in place of his severed head. (In the original story, a shattered pumpkin is discovered next to Ichabod Crane's abandoned hat on the morning after Crane's supposed encounter with the Horseman.) The application of the term to carved pumpkins in American English is first seen in 1834.[15] The carved pumpkin lantern's association with Halloween is recorded in the 1 November 1866 edition of the Daily News (Kingston, Ontario):     The old time custom of keeping up Hallowe'en was not forgotten last night by the youngsters of the city. They had their maskings and their merry-makings, and perambulated the streets after dark in a way which was no doubt amusing to themselves. There was a great sacrifice of pumpkins from which to make transparent heads and face, lighted up by the unfailing two inches of tallow candle.[16] James Fenimore Cooper wrote a nautical novel titled The Jack O'lantern (le Feu-Follet), Or the Privateer (1842). The Jack O'lantern was the name of the ship.[17] The poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who was born in Massachusetts in 1807, wrote the poem "The Pumpkin" (1850):[18]     Oh!—fruit loved of boyhood!—the old days recalling,     When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!     When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,     Glaring out through the dark with a candle within! In 1879's Funny Nursery Rhymes, a poem admonishes children to avoid being similar to untrustworthy "Master Jack o' Lantern," described as a "wicked, deceiving boy" similar to a will-o'-the-wisp who "dances, and jumps, and gambols." He is humorously illustrated as a personification of a lantern.[19] Agnes Carr Sage, in the article, "Halloween Sports and Customs" (Harper's Young People (1885):[20]     It is an ancient British custom to light great bonfires (Bone-fire to clear before Winter froze the ground) on Hallowe'en, and carry blazing fagots about on long poles; but in place of this, American boys delight in the funny grinning jack-o'-lanterns made of huge yellow pumpkins with a candle inside. In the United States, the carved pumpkin was first associated with the harvest season in general, long before it became a symbol of Halloween.[21] In 1895, an article on Thanksgiving entertaining recommended a lit jack-o'-lantern as part of the festivities.[21][22] Folklore A commercial "R.I.P." pattern. Halloween jack-o'-lantern. Pumpkin projected onto the wall. The story of the jack-o'-lantern comes in many forms and is similar to the story of Will-o'-the-wisp[23] retold in different forms across Western Europe,[24] including, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden.[25] In Switzerland, children will leave bowls of milk or cream out for mythical house spirits called Jack o' the bowl.[26] An old Irish folk tale from the mid-18th century tells of Stingy Jack, a lazy yet shrewd blacksmith who uses a cross to trap Satan. One story says that Jack tricked Satan into climbing an apple tree, and once he was up there, Jack quickly placed crosses around the trunk or carved a cross into the bark, so that Satan couldn't get down.[27] Another version[citation needed] of the story says that Jack was getting chased by some villagers from whom he had stolen. He then met Satan, who claimed it was time for him to die. However, the thief stalled his death by tempting Satan with a chance to bedevil the church-going villagers chasing him. Jack told Satan to turn into a coin with which he would pay for the stolen goods (Satan could take on any shape he wanted); later, when the coin (Satan) disappeared, the Christian villagers would fight over who had stolen it. The Devil agreed to this plan. He turned himself into a silver coin and jumped into Jack's wallet, only to find himself next to a cross Jack had also picked up in the village. Jack closed the wallet tight, and the cross stripped the Devil of his powers; and so he was trapped. In both folktales, Jack lets Satan go only after he agrees to never take his soul. Many years later, the thief died, as all living things do. Of course, Jack's life had been too sinful for him to go to Heaven; however, Satan had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from Hell as well.[28] Jack now had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and Satan mockingly tossed him a burning coal, to light his way. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which were his favorite food), put the coal inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place.[28] He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or jack o'lantern. Cornish folklorist Dr. Thomas Quiller Couch (d. 1884) recorded the use of the term in a rhyme used in Polperro, Cornwall, in conjunction with Joan the Wad, the Cornish version of Will-o'-the-wisp. The people of Polperro regarded them both as pixies. The rhyme goes:[29]     Jack o' the lantern! Joan the wad,     Who tickled the maid and made her mad     Light me home, the weather's bad. Jack-o-lanterns were also a way of protecting one's home against the undead. Superstitious people[30] used them specifically to ward off vampires. They thought this because it was said that the jack-o-lantern's light was a way of identifying vampires who, once their identity was known, would give up their hunt for you. Pumpkin craft A jack-o'-lantern Sections of the pumpkin or turnip are cut out to make holes, often depicting a face, which may be either cheerful, scary, or comical.[31] World records For a long time, Keene, New Hampshire, held the world record for most jack-o'-lanterns carved and lit in one place. The Life is Good Company teamed up with Camp Sunshine,[32] a camp for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families, to break the record. A record was set on October 21, 2006, when 30,128 jack-o'-lanterns were simultaneously lit on Boston Common in downtown Boston, Massachusetts.[33] Highwood, Illinois, tried to set the record on October 31, 2011, with an unofficial count of 30,919 but did not follow the Guinness regulations, so the achievement did not count.[34] On October 19, 2013, Keene broke the Boston record and reclaimed the world record for most lit jack-o'-lanterns on display (30,581). The town has now broken the record eight times since the original attempt." (wikipedia.org) "Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly Cucurbita and Lagenaria. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. One of the earliest domesticated types of plants, subspecies of the bottle gourd, Lagenaria siceraria, have been discovered in archaeological sites dating from as early as 13,000 BCE. Gourds have had numerous uses throughout history, including as tools, musical instruments, objects of art, film, and food. Terminology Cucurbita pepo gourds grown in a suburban garden in Australia Gourd is occasionally used to describe crop plants in the family Cucurbitaceae, like pumpkins, cucumbers, squash, luffa, and melons.[1] More specifically, gourd refers to the fruits of plants in the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita,[2][3] or also to their hollow, dried-out shell. There are many different gourds worldwide. The main plants referred to as gourds include several species from the genus Cucurbita (mostly native to North America, including the Malabar gourd and turban squash), Crescentia cujete (the tree gourd or calabash tree, native to the American tropics) and Lagenaria siceraria (bottle gourd, thought to be originally from Africa but present worldwide).[4][5]: 21  Other plants with gourd in their name include the luffa gourd (likely domesticated in Asia), which includes several species from the genus Luffa, as well as the wax gourd, snake gourd, teasel gourd, hedgehog gourd, buffalo gourd/coyote gourd. The bitter melon/balsam apple/balsam pear is also sometimes referred to as a gourd.[5]: 18–19, 21  History L. siceraria or bottle gourd, are native to the Americas, being found in Peruvian archaeological sites dating from 13,000 to 11,000 BCE and Thailand sites from 11,000 to 6,000 BCE.[4] A study of bottle gourd DNA published in 2005 suggests that there are two distinct subspecies of bottle gourds, domesticated independently in Africa and Asia, the latter approximately 4,000 years earlier. The gourds found in the Americas appear to have come from the Asian subspecies very early in history, although a new study now indicates Africa.[6] The archaeological and DNA records show it is likely that the gourd was among the first domesticated species, in Asia between 12,000 and 13,000 years before present, and possibly the first domesticated plant species.[7] Wild, poisonous gourds (Citrullus colocynthis) were unknowingly added to the company of prophets' stew according to a story of Elisha in the Hebrew Bible. Elisha added flour to the stew in order to purify it.[8] Gourds continued to be used throughout history in almost every culture throughout the world. European contact in North America found extensive gourd use, including the use of bottle gourds as birdhouses to attract purple martins, which provided bug control for agriculture. Almost every culture had musical instruments made of gourds, including drums, stringed instruments common to Africa and wind instruments, including the nose flutes of the Pacific.[5]: 23  Research An Indian gourd Scientists in India have been working on crossbreeding six members of the Momordica (bitter gourd) genus found in India to reduce the unpleasant taste while retaining the nutritional and medicinal values of the plants. These include Teasle gourd (Momordica dioica), Spine gourd (Momordica subangulata), Sweet gourd (Momordica cochinchinensis), balsam apple (Momordica balsamina) and Momordica sahyadrica.[9] Uses Cultures from arid regions often associated gourds with water, and they appear in many creation myths. Since the beginning of their history, they have had a multitude of uses, including food, kitchen tools, toys, musical instruments and decoration.[4] Today, gourds are commonly used for a wide variety of crafts, including jewelry, furniture, dishes, utensils and a wide variety of decorations using carving, burning and other techniques.[10] Gourds are also used in instruments. For example, the Balafon, a West-African percussion instrument, is a xylophone that has gourds attached to the bottom of each note for resonance." (wikipedia.org) "Cucurbita (Latin for gourd)[3][4] is a genus of herbaceous fruits in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae (also known as cucurbits or cucurbi), native to the Andes and Mesoamerica. Five edible species are grown and consumed for their flesh and seeds. They are variously known as squash, pumpkin, or gourd, depending on species, variety, and local parlance.[a] Other kinds of gourd, also called bottle-gourds, are native to Africa and belong to the genus Lagenaria, which is in the same family and subfamily as Cucurbita, but in a different tribe. These other gourds are used as utensils or vessels, and their young fruits are eaten much like those of the Cucurbita species. Most Cucurbita species are herbaceous vines that grow several meters in length and have tendrils, but non-vining "bush" cultivars of C. pepo and C. maxima have also been developed. The yellow or orange flowers on a Cucurbita plant are of two types: female and male. The female flowers produce the fruit and the male flowers produce pollen. Many North and Central American species are visited by specialist bee pollinators, but other insects with more general feeding habits, such as honey bees, also visit. There is debate about the taxonomy of the genus, as the number of accepted species varies from 13 to 30. The five domesticated species are Cucurbita argyrosperma, C. ficifolia, C. maxima, C. moschata, and C. pepo. All of these can be treated as winter squash because the full-grown fruits can be stored for months; however, C. pepo includes some cultivars that are better used only as summer squash. The fruits of the genus Cucurbita are good sources of nutrients, such as vitamin A and vitamin C, among other nutrients according to species. The fruits have many culinary uses including pumpkin pie, biscuits, bread, desserts, puddings, beverages, and soups. Although botanical fruits, Cucurbita gourds such as squash are typically cooked and eaten as vegetables. Pumpkins see more varied use, and are eaten both as vegetables and as desserts such as pumpkin pie. Description C. pepo pumpkins – the two bright orange ones in center right, and squashes C. maxima, all others Cucurbita species fall into two main groups. The first group are annual or short-lived perennial vines and are mesophytic, i.e. they require a more or less continuous water supply. The second group are perennials growing in arid zones and so are xerophytic, tolerating dry conditions. Cultivated Cucurbita species were derived from the first group. Growing 5 to 15 meters (15 to 50 ft) in height or length, the plant stem produces tendrils to help it climb adjacent plants and structures or extend along the ground. Most species do not readily root from the nodes; a notable exception is C. ficifolia, and the four other cultivated mesophytes do this to a lesser extent. The vine of the perennial Cucurbita can become semiwoody if left to grow. There is wide variation in size, shape, and color among Cucurbita fruits, and even within a single species. C. ficifolia is an exception, being highly uniform in appearance.[6] The morphological variation in the species C. pepo[7] and C. maxima[8] is so vast that its various subspecies and cultivars have been misidentified as totally separate species.[7] Green Cucurbita moschata leaves with white spots The leaves of Cucurbita moschata often have white spots near the veins. The typical cultivated Cucurbita species has five-lobed or palmately divided leaves with long petioles, with the leaves alternately arranged on the stem. The stems in some species are angular. All of the above-ground parts may be hairy with various types of trichomes, which are often hardened and sharp. Spring-like tendrils grow from each node and are branching in some species. C. argyrosperma has ovate-cordate (egg-shaped to heart-shaped) leaves. The shape of C. pepo leaves varies widely. C. moschata plants can have light or dense pubescence. C. ficifolia leaves are slightly angular and have light pubescence. The leaves of all four of these species may or may not have white spots.[9] The species are monoecious, with unisexual male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers on a single plant and these grow singly, appearing from the leaf axils. Flowers have five fused yellow to orange petals (the corolla) and a green bell-shaped calyx. Male flowers in Cucurbitaceae generally have five stamens, but in Cucurbita there are only three, and their anthers are joined together so that there appears to be one.[10][11] Female flowers have thick pedicels, and an inferior ovary with 3–5 stigmas that each have two lobes.[9][12] The female flowers of C. argyrosperma and C. ficifolia have larger corollas than the male flowers.[9] Female flowers of C. pepo have a small calyx, but the calyx of C. moschata male flowers is comparatively short.[9] a variety of fruits displayed in a garden, some in a sack, some in a basket A variety of fruits displayed at the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid in 2016 Cucurbita fruits are large and fleshy.[10] Botanists classify the Cucurbita fruit as a pepo, which is a special type of berry derived from an inferior ovary, with a thick outer wall or rind with hypanthium tissue forming an exocarp around the ovary, and a fleshy interior composed of mesocarp and endocarp. The term "pepo" is used primarily for Cucurbitaceae fruits, where this fruit type is common, but the fruits of Passiflora and Carica are sometimes also pepos.[13][14] The seeds, which are attached to the ovary wall (parietal placentation) and not to the center, are large and fairly flat with a large embryo that consists almost entirely of two cotyledons.[12] Fruit size varies considerably: wild fruit specimens can be as small as 4 centimeters (1+1⁄2 in) and some domesticated specimens can weigh well over 300 kilograms (660 lb).[9] The current world record was set in 2014 by Beni Meier of Switzerland with a 1,054.0-kilogram (2,323.7 lb) pumpkin.[15] Taxonomy Cucurbita was formally described in a way that meets the requirements of modern botanical nomenclature by Linnaeus in his Genera Plantarum,[16] the fifth edition of 1754 in conjunction with the 1753 first edition of Species Plantarum.[17] Cucurbita pepo is the type species of the genus.[17][18] Linnaeus initially included the species C. pepo, C. verrucosa and C. melopepo (both now included in C. pepo), as well as C. citrullus (watermelon, now Citrullus lanatus) and C. lagenaria (now Lagenaria siceraria) (both are not Cucurbita but are in the family Cucurbitaceae.[19] The Cucurbita digitata, C. foetidissima, C. galeotti, and C. pedatifolia species groups are xerophytes, arid zone perennials with storage roots; the remainder, including the five domesticated species, are all mesophytic annuals or short-life perennials with no storage roots.[6][20] The five domesticated species are mostly isolated from each other by sterility barriers and have different physiological characteristics.[20] Some cross pollinations can occur: C. pepo with C. argyrosperma and C. moschata; and C. maxima with C. moschata. Cross pollination does occur readily within the family Cucurbitaceae.[21] The buffalo gourd (C. foetidissima) has been used as an intermediary, as it can be crossed with all the common Cucurbita.[12] Several types and colors of Cucurbita An assortment of fruits of C. maxima and C. pepo Various taxonomic treatments have been proposed for Cucurbita, ranging from 13 to 30 species.[3] In 1990, Cucurbita expert Michael Nee classified them into the following oft-cited 13 species groups (27 species total), listed by group and alphabetically, with geographic origin:[6][22][23][24]     C. argyrosperma (synonym C. mixta) – cushaw pumpkin; origin: Mexico         C. kellyana, origin: Pacific coast of western Mexico         C. palmeri, origin: Pacific coast of northwestern Mexico         C. sororia, origin: Pacific coast Mexico to Nicaragua, northeastern Mexico     C. digitata – fingerleaf gourd; origin: southwestern United States (USA), northwestern Mexico         C. californica         C. cordata         C. cylindrata         C. palmata     C. ecuadorensis, origin: Ecuador's Pacific coast     C. ficifolia – figleaf gourd, chilacayote, alcayota; origin: Mexico, Panama, northern Chile and Argentina     C. foetidissima – stinking gourd, buffalo gourd; origin: Mexico         C. scabridifolia, likely a natural hybrid of C. foetidissima and C. pedatifolia[25][26]     C. galeottii, little known; origin: Oaxaca, Mexico     C. lundelliana, origin: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize     C. maxima – winter squash, pumpkin; origin: Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador         C. andreana, origin – Argentina     C. moschata – butternut squash, 'Dickinson' pumpkin, golden cushaw; origin: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Venezuela     C. okeechobeensis, origin: Florida         C. martinezii, origin: Mexican Gulf Coast and foothills     C. pedatifolia, origin: Querétaro, Mexico         C. moorei     C. pepo – field pumpkin, summer squash, zucchini, vegetable marrow, courgette, acorn squash; origin: Mexico, USA         C. fraterna, origin: Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, Mexico         C. texana, origin: Texas, USA     C. radicans – calabacilla, calabaza de coyote; origin: Central Mexico         C. gracilior The taxonomy by Nee closely matches the species groupings reported in a pair of studies by a botanical team led by Rhodes and Bemis in 1968 and 1970 based on statistical groupings of several phenotypic traits of 21 species. Seeds for studying additional species members were not available. Sixteen of the 21 species were grouped into five clusters with the remaining five being classified separately:[27][28]     C. digitata, C. palmata, C. californica, C. cylindrata, C. cordata     C. martinezii, C. okeechobeensis, C. lundelliana     C. sororia, C. gracilior, C. palmeri; C. argyrosperma (reported as C. mixta) was considered close to the three previous species     C. maxima, C. andreana     C. pepo, C. texana     C. moschata, C. ficifolia, C. pedatifolia, C. foetidissima, and C. ecuadorensis were placed in their own separate species groups as they were not considered significantly close to any of the other species studied. Phylogeny The full phylogeny of this genus is unknown, and research was ongoing in 2014.[29][30] The following cladogram of Cucurbita phylogeny is based upon a 2002 study of mitochondrial DNA by Sanjur and colleagues.[31]         Sechium edule         C. ficifolia         C. foetidissima             C. maxima and C. andreana     C. ecuadorensis         C. martinezii         C. pepo subspp. fraterna and ovifera         C. pepo subsp. pepo         C. sororia, in part         C. moschata     C. sororia, in part and C. argyrosperma Reproductive biology Bee pollinating female Cucurbita flower Cucurbita female flower with pollinating squash bees All species of Cucurbita have 20 pairs of chromosomes.[27] Many North and Central American species are visited by specialist pollinators in the apid tribe Eucerini, especially the genera Peponapis and Xenoglossa, and these squash bees can be crucial to the flowers producing fruit after pollination.[6][32][33] Male Cucurbita flower Male flower, part of the perianth and one filament removed When there is more pollen applied to the stigma, more seeds are produced in the fruits and the fruits are larger with greater likelihood of maturation,[34] an effect called xenia. Competitively grown specimens are therefore often hand-pollinated to maximize the number of seeds in the fruit, which increases the fruit size; this pollination requires skilled technique.[35][36] Seedlessness is known to occur in certain cultivars of C. pepo.[37][38] The most critical factors in flowering and fruit set are physiological, having to do with the age of the plant and whether it already has developing fruit.[39] The plant hormones ethylene and auxin are key in fruit set and development.[40] Ethylene promotes the production of female flowers. When a plant already has a fruit developing, subsequent female flowers on the plant are less likely to mature, a phenomenon called "first-fruit dominance",[39] and male flowers are more frequent, an effect that appears due to reduced natural ethylene production within the plant stem.[41] Ethephon, a plant growth regulator product that is converted to ethylene after metabolism by the plant, can be used to increase fruit and seed production.[35][42] The plant hormone gibberellin, produced in the stamens, is essential for the development of all parts of the male flowers. The development of female flowers is not yet understood.[43] Gibberellin is also involved in other developmental processes of plants such as seed and stem growth.[44] Germination and seedling growth Kabocha seedling at seven days age Kabocha seedling seven days after being sown Seeds with maximum germination potential develop (in C. moschata) by 45 days after anthesis, and seed weight reaches its maximum 70 days after anthesis.[45] Some varieties of C. pepo germinate best with eight hours of sunlight daily and a planting depth of 1.2 centimeters (1⁄2 in). Seeds planted deeper than 12.5 centimeters (5 in) are not likely to germinate.[46] In C. foetidissima, a weedy species, plants younger than 19 days old are not able to sprout from the roots after removing the shoots. In a seed batch with 90 percent germination rate, over 90 percent of the plants had sprouted after 29 days from planting.[47] Experiments have shown that when more pollen is applied to the stigma, as well as the fruit containing more seeds and being larger (the xenia effect mentioned above), the germination of the seeds is also faster and more likely, and the seedlings are larger.[34] Various combinations of mineral nutrients and light have a significant effect during the various stages of plant growth. These effects vary significantly between the different species of Cucurbita. A type of stored phosphorus called phytate forms in seed tissues as spherical crystalline intrusions in protein bodies called globoids. Along with other nutrients, phytate is used completely during seedling growth.[48] Heavy metal contamination, including cadmium, has a significant negative impact on plant growth.[49] Cucurbita plants grown in the spring tend to grow larger than those grown in the autumn.[50] Distribution and habitat Very large orange pumpkins A festival-winning pumpkin in 2009 weighing 742 kilograms (1,636 lb) Archaeological investigations have found evidence of domestication of Cucurbita going back over 8,000 years from the very southern parts of Canada down to Argentina and Chile. Centers of domestication stretch from the Mississippi River watershed and Texas down through Mexico and Central America to northern and western South America.[6] Of the 27 species that Nee delineates, five are domesticated. Four of them, C. argyrosperma, C. ficifolia, C. moschata, and C. pepo, originated and were domesticated in Mesoamerica; for the fifth, C. maxima, these events occurred in South America.[9] Within C. pepo, the pumpkins, the scallops, and possibly the crooknecks are ancient and were domesticated at different times and places. The domesticated forms of C. pepo have larger fruits than non-domesticated forms and seeds that are bigger but fewer in number.[51] In a 1989 study on the origins and development of C. pepo, botanist Harry Paris suggested that the original wild specimen had a small round fruit and that the modern pumpkin is its direct descendant. He suggested that the crookneck, ornamental gourd, and scallop are early variants and that the acorn is a cross between the scallop and the pumpkin.[51] Sliced butternut squash C. moschata 'Butternut' C. argyrosperma is not as widespread as the other species. The wild form C. a. subsp. sororia is found from Mexico to Nicaragua, and cultivated forms are used in a somewhat wider area stretching from Panama to the southeastern United States.[9] It was probably bred for its seeds, which are large and high in oil and protein, but its flesh is of poorer quality than that of C. moschata and C. pepo. It is grown in a wide altitudinal range: from sea level to as high as 1,800 meters (5,900 ft) in dry areas, usually with the use of irrigation, or in areas with a defined rainy season, where seeds are sown in May and June.[9] C. ficifolia and C. moschata were originally thought to be Asiatic in origin, but this has been disproven. The origin of C. ficifolia is Latin America, most likely southern Mexico, Central America, or the Andes. It grows at elevations ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 meters (3,300 to 9,800 ft) in areas with heavy rainfall. It does not hybridize well with the other cultivated species as it has significantly different enzymes and chromosomes.[9] C. maxima originated in South America over 4,000 years ago,[31] probably in Argentina and Uruguay. The plants are sensitive to frost, and they prefer both bright sunlight and soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0.[52] C. maxima did not start to spread into North America until after the arrival of Columbus. Varieties were in use by native peoples of the United States by the 16th century.[6] Types of C. maxima include triloba,[53] zapallito,[54] zipinka,[55] Banana, Delicious, Hubbard, Marrow (C. maxima Marrow), Show, and Turban.[56] Curved green squashes Fruit of the 'Tromboncino' cultivar of the Crookneck (C. moschata) Group are eaten either when very young, or as mature winter squash. C. moschata is native to Latin America, but the precise location of origin is uncertain.[57] It has been present in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Peru for 4,000–6,000 years and has spread to Bolivia, Ecuador, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. This species is closely related to C. argyrosperma. A variety known as the Seminole Pumpkin has been cultivated in Florida since before the arrival of Columbus. Its leaves are 20 to 30 centimeters (8 to 12 in) wide. It generally grows at low elevations in hot climates with heavy rainfall, but some varieties have been found above 2,200 meters (7,200 ft).[9] Groups of C. moschata include Cheese, Crookneck (C. moschata), and Bell.[56] C. pepo is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, domesticated species with the oldest known locations being Oaxaca, Mexico, 8,000–10,000 years ago, and Ocampo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, about 7,000 years ago. It is known to have appeared in Missouri, United States, at least 4,000 years ago.[6][9][58][59] Debates about the origin of C. pepo have been on-going since at least 1857.[60] There have traditionally been two opposing theories about its origin: 1) that it is a direct descendant of C. texana and 2) that C. texana is merely feral C. pepo.[6] A more recent theory by botanist Thomas Andres in 1987 is that descendants of C. fraterna hybridized with C. texana,[61] resulting in two distinct domestication events in two different areas: one in Mexico and one in the eastern United States, with C. fraterna and C. texana, respectively, as the ancestral species.[9][31][61][62] C. pepo may have appeared in the Old World before moving from Mexico into South America.[9] It is found from sea level to slightly above 2,000 meters (6,600 ft). Leaves have 3–5 lobes and are 20–35 centimeters (8–14 in) wide. All the subspecies, varieties, and cultivars are interfertile.[7] In 1986 Paris proposed a revised taxonomy of the edible cultivated C. pepo based primarily on the shape of the fruit, with eight groups .[51][63] All but a few C. pepo cultivars can be included in these groups.[9][63][64][65] There is one non-edible cultivated variety: C. pepo var. ovifera.[66] A classification of cultivated C. pepo varieties based on Paris' eight groups and the one non-edible variety Cultivar group     Botanical name     Image     Description Acorn     C. pepo var. turbinata     Green acorn squashes     Winter squash, both a shrubby and creeping plant, obovoid or conical shape, pointed at the apex and with longitudinal grooves, thus resembling a spinning top,[63] ex: Acorn squash[9][64][65] Cocozzelle     C. pepo var. Ionga     Slender green Cocozzelle squash     Summer squash, long round slender fruit that is slightly bulbous at the apex,[63] similar to fastigata, ex: Cocozelle von tripolis[9][64][65] Crookneck     C. pepo var. torticollia (also torticollis)     Yellow curved squash     Summer squash, shrubby plant, with yellow, golden, or white fruit which is long and curved at the end and generally has a verrucose (wart-covered) rind,[63] ex: Crookneck squash[9][64][65] Pumpkin     C. pepo var. pepo     Round orange pumpkin     Winter squash, creeping plant, round, oblate, or oval shape and round or flat on the ends,[63] ex: Pumpkin;[9][64][65] includes C. pepo subsp. pepo var. styriaca, used for Styrian pumpkin seed oil[67] Scallop     C. pepo var. clypeata; called C. melopepo by Linnaeus[7]     Whitish round squash     Summer squash, prefers half-shrubby habitat, flattened or slightly discoidal shape, with undulations or equatorial edges,[63] ex: Pattypan squash[9][64][65] Straightneck     C. pepo var. recticollis     Yellow straight squashes     Summer squash, shrubby plant, with yellow or golden fruit and verrucose rind, similar to var. torticollia but a stem end that narrows,[63] ex: Straightneck squash[9][64][65] Vegetable marrow     C. pepo var. fastigata     White oval squash     Summer and winter squashes, creeper traits and a semi-shrub, cream to dark green color, short round fruit with a slightly broad apex,[63] ex: Spaghetti squash (a winter variety)[9][64][65] Zucchini/Courgette     C. pepo var. cylindrica     Slender green squash     Summer squash, presently the most common group of cultivars, origin is recent (19th century), semi-shrubby, cylindrical fruit with a mostly consistent diameter,[63] similar to fastigata, ex: Zucchini[9][64][65] Ornamental gourds     C. pepo var. ovifera     Squash that is that half yellow and half green     Non-edible,[66] field squash closely related to C. texana, vine habitat, thin stems, small leaves, three sub-groups: C. pepo var. ovifera (egg-shaped, pear-shaped), C. pepo var. aurantia (orange color), and C. pepo var. verrucosa (round warty gourds), ornamental gourds found in Texas and called var. texana and ornamental gourds found outside of Texas (Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana) are called var. ozarkana.[58] History and domestication Early 1500s painting of squash plants and fruits Cucurbita pepo subsp. texana, from the Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany, 1503–1508, f. 161, earliest depiction of cucurbits in Europe The ancestral species of the genus Cucurbita were present in the Americas before the arrival of humans,[68][69] and are native to the Americas. The likely center of origin is southern Mexico, spreading south through what is now known as Mesoamerica, on into South America, and north to what is now the southwestern United States.[68] Evolutionarily speaking, the genus is relatively recent in origin, dating back only to the Holocene, whereas the family Cucurbitaceae, in the shape of seeds similar to Bryonia, dates to the Paleocene.[70] Recent genomic studies support the idea that the Cucurbita genus underwent a whole-genome duplication event, increasing their number of chromosomes and accelerating the rate at which their genomes evolve compared to other cucurbits.[71][72][73] No species within the genus is entirely genetically isolated. C. moschata can intercross with all the others, though the hybrid offspring may not themselves be fertile unless they become polyploid.[20] The genus was part of the culture of almost every native peoples group from southern South America to southern Canada.[69] Modern-day cultivated Cucurbita are not found in the wild.[6] Genetic studies of the mitochondrial gene nad1 show there were at least six independent domestication events of Cucurbita separating domestic species from their wild ancestors.[31] Species native to North America include C. digitata (calabazilla),[74] and C. foetidissima (buffalo gourd),[75] C. palmata (coyote melon), and C. pepo.[6] Some species, such as C. digitata and C. ficifolia, are referred to as gourds. Gourds, also called bottle-gourds, which are used as utensils or vessels, belong to the genus Lagenaria and are native to Africa. Lagenaria are in the same family and subfamily as Cucurbita but in a different tribe.[76] The earliest known evidence of the domestication of Cucurbita dates back at least 8,000 years ago, predating the domestication of other crops such as maize and beans in the region by about 4,000 years.[6][58][59][77] This evidence was found in the Guilá Naquitz cave in Oaxaca, Mexico, during a series of excavations in the 1960s and 1970s, possibly beginning in 1959.[78][79] Solid evidence of domesticated C. pepo was found in the Guilá Naquitz cave in the form of increasing rind thickness and larger peduncles in the newer stratification layers of the cave. By c. 8,000 years BP the C. pepo peduncles found are consistently more than 10 millimeters (3⁄8 in) thick. Wild Cucurbita peduncles are always below this 10 mm barrier. Changes in fruit shape and color indicate that intentional breeding of C. pepo had occurred by no later than 8,000 years BP.[12][80][81] During the same time frame, average rind thickness increased from 0.84–1.15 millimeters (1⁄32–3⁄64 in).[82] Recent genomic studies suggest that Cucurbita argyrosperma was domesticated in Mexico, in the region that is currently known as the state of Jalisco.[83] Squash was domesticated first, followed by maize and then beans, becoming part of the Three Sisters agricultural system of companion planting.[84][85] The English word "squash" derives from askutasquash (a green thing eaten raw), a word from the Narragansett language, which was documented by Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, in his 1643 publication A Key Into the Language of America.[86] Similar words for squash exist in related languages of the Algonquian family.[51][87] Production Top ten squash producers — 2012[88] Country     Production (metric tons) China China     6,140,840 India India     4,424,200 Russia Russia     988,180 United States USA     778,630 Iran Iran     695,600 Egypt Egypt     658,234 Mexico Mexico     522,388 Ukraine Ukraine     516,900 Italy Italy     508,075 Turkey Turkey     430,402 Top 10 total     15,663,449 The family Cucurbitaceae has many species used as human food.[9] Cucurbita species are some of the most important of those, with the various species being prepared and eaten in many ways. Although the stems and skins tend to be more bitter than the flesh,[89][90] the fruits and seeds of cultivated varieties are quite edible and need little or no preparation. The flowers and young leaves and shoot tips can also be consumed.[91] The seeds and fruits of most varieties can be stored for long periods of time,[6] particularly the sweet-tasting winter varieties with their thick, inedible skins.[92] Summer squash have a thin, edible skin. The seeds of both types can be roasted, eaten raw, made into pumpkin seed oil,[67] ground into a flour or meal,[93] or otherwise prepared. Squashes are primarily grown for the fresh food market.[94] The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported that the ranking of the top five squash-producing countries was stable between 2005 and 2009. Those countries are: China, India, Russia, the United States, and Egypt. By 2012, Iran had moved into the 5th slot, with Egypt falling to 6th.[88][dead link] The only additional countries that rank in the top 20 where squashes are native are Cuba, which ranks 14th with 347,082 metric tons, and Argentina, which ranks 17th, with 326,900 metric tons.[88] In addition to being the 4th largest producer of squashes in the world, the United States is the world's largest importer of squashes, importing 271,614 metric tons in 2011, 95 percent of that from Mexico. Within the United States, the states producing the largest amounts are Florida, New York, California, and North Carolina.[94] Nutrients Summer squash, all varieties, rawNutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) Energy    69 kJ (16 kcal) Carbohydrates     3.4 g Sugars    2.2 g Dietary fiber    1.1 g Fat     0.2 g Protein     1.2 g Vitamins    Quantity %DV† Vitamin A equiv. beta-Carotene lutein zeaxanthin     1% 10 μg 1% 120 μg 2125 μg Thiamine (B1)    4% 0.048 mg Riboflavin (B2)    12% 0.142 mg Niacin (B3)    3% 0.487 mg Pantothenic acid (B5)    3% 0.155 mg Vitamin B6    17% 0.218 mg Folate (B9)    7% 29 μg Vitamin C    20% 17 mg Vitamin K    3% 3 μg Minerals    Quantity %DV† Iron    3% 0.35 mg Magnesium    5% 17 mg Manganese    8% 0.175 mg Phosphorus    5% 38 mg Potassium    6% 262 mg Zinc    3% 0.29 mg Other constituents    Quantity Water    95 g Link to USDA Database entry, for comparison, see values for raw pumpkin     Units     μg = micrograms • mg = milligrams     IU = International units †Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA FoodData Central As an example of Cucurbita, raw summer squash is 94% water, 3% carbohydrates, and 1% protein, with negligible fat content (table). In a 100-gram reference serving, raw squash supplies 69 kilojoules (16 kcal) of food energy and is rich in vitamin C (20% of the Daily Value, DV), moderate in vitamin B6 and riboflavin (12–17% DV), but otherwise devoid of appreciable nutrient content (table), although the nutrient content of different Curcubita species may vary somewhat.[95] Pumpkin seeds contain vitamin E, crude protein, B vitamins and several dietary minerals (see nutrition table at pepita).[96] Also present in pumpkin seeds are unsaturated and saturated oils, palmitic, oleic and linoleic fatty acids,[97] as well as carotenoids.[98] Toxins Cucurbitin is an amino acid and a carboxypyrrolidine that is found in raw Cucurbita seeds.[99][100] It retards the development of parasitic flukes when administered to infected host mice, although the effect is only seen if administration begins immediately after infection.[101] Cucurmosin is a ribosome inactivating protein found in the flesh and seed of Cucurbita,[102][103] notably Cucurbita moschata. Cucurmosin is more toxic to cancer cells than healthy cells.[102][104] Cucurbitacin is a plant steroid present in wild Cucurbita and in each member of the family Cucurbitaceae. Poisonous to mammals,[105] it is found in quantities sufficient to discourage herbivores. It makes wild Cucurbita and most ornamental gourds, with the exception of an occasional C. fraterna and C. sororia, bitter to taste.[3][61][106] Ingesting too much cucurbitacin can cause stomach cramps, diarrhea and even collapse.[89] This bitterness is especially prevalent in wild Cucurbita; in parts of Mexico, the flesh of the fruits is rubbed on a woman's breast to wean children.[107] While the process of domestication has largely removed the bitterness from cultivated varieties,[3] there are occasional reports of cucurbitacin causing illness in humans.[3] Cucurbitacin is also used as a lure in insect traps.[106] Pests and diseases Cucurbita species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the cabbage moth (Mamestra brassicae), Hypercompe indecisa, and the turnip moth (Agrotis segetum).[108] Cucurbita can be susceptible to the pest Bemisia argentifolii (silverleaf whitefly)[109] as well as aphids (Aphididae), cucumber beetles (Acalymma vittatum and Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi), squash bug (Anasa tristis), the squash vine borer (Melittia cucurbitae), and the two-spotted spidermite (Tetranychus urticae).[110] The squash bug causes major damage to plants because of its very toxic saliva.[111] The red pumpkin beetle (Aulacophora foveicollis) is a serious pest of cucurbits, especially the pumpkin, which it can defoliate.[112] Cucurbits are susceptible to diseases such as bacterial wilt (Erwinia tracheiphila), anthracnose (Colletotrichum spp.), fusarium wilt (Fusarium spp.), phytophthora blight (Phytophthora spp. water molds), and powdery mildew (Erysiphe spp.).[110] Defensive responses to viral, fungal, and bacterial leaf pathogens do not involve cucurbitacin.[105] Species in the genus Cucurbita are susceptible to some types of mosaic virus including: cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), papaya ringspot virus-cucurbit strain (PRSV), squash mosaic virus (SqMV), tobacco ringspot virus (TRSV),[113] watermelon mosaic virus (WMV), and zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV).[114][115][116][117] PRSV is the only one of these viruses that does not affect all cucurbits.[114][118] SqMV and CMV are the most common viruses among cucurbits.[119][120] Symptoms of these viruses show a high degree of similarity, which often results in laboratory investigation being needed to differentiate which one is affecting plants.[113] Human culture Culinary uses Slice of yellowish pumpkin custard with brown shell Pumpkin custard made from kabocha, a cultivated variant of C. maxima Long before European contact, Cucurbita had been a major food source for the native peoples of the Americas, and the species became an important food for European settlers, including the Pilgrims, even featuring at the first Thanksgiving.[12] Commercially produced pumpkin commonly used in pumpkin pie is most often varieties of C. moschata; Libby's, by far the largest producer of processed pumpkin, uses a proprietary strain of the Dickinson pumpkin variety of C. moschata for its canned pumpkin.[121] Other foods that can be made using members of this genus include biscuits, bread, cheesecake, desserts, donuts, granola, ice cream, lasagna dishes, pancakes, pudding, pumpkin butter,[122] salads, soups, and stuffing.[123] Squash soup is a dish in African cuisine.[124] The xerophytic species are proving useful in the search for nutritious foods that grow well in arid regions.[125] C. ficifolia is used to make soft and mildly alcoholic drinks.[9] In India, squashes (ghiya) are cooked with seafood such as prawns.[126] In France, marrows (courges) are traditionally served as a gratin, sieved and cooked with butter, milk, and egg, and flavored with salt, pepper, and nutmeg,[127] and as soups. In Italy, zucchini and larger squashes are served in a variety of regional dishes, such as cocuzze alla puviredda cooked with olive oil, salt and herbs from Apulia; as torta di zucca from Liguria, or torta di zucca e riso from Emilia-Romagna, the squashes being made into a pie filling with butter, ricotta, parmesan, egg, and milk; and as a sauce for pasta in dishes like spaghetti alle zucchine from Sicily.[128] In Japan, squashes such as small C. moschata pumpkins (kabocha) are eaten boiled with sesame sauce, fried as a tempura dish, or made into balls with sweet potato and Japanese mountain yam.[129] Art, music, and literature Squash carved into a teapot shape Moche squash ceramic. 300 C.E. Larco Museum Along with maize and beans, squash has been depicted in the art work of the native peoples of the Americas for at least 2,000 years.[130][131] For example, cucurbits are often represented in Moche ceramics.[130][132] Though native to the western hemisphere, Cucurbita began to spread to other parts of the world after Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492.[133][134] Until recently, the earliest known depictions of this genus in Europe was of Cucurbita pepo in De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes in 1542 by the German botanist Leonhart Fuchs, but in 1992, two paintings, one of C. pepo and one of C. maxima, painted between 1515 and 1518, were identified in festoons at Villa Farnesina in Rome.[135] Also, in 2001 depictions of this genus were identified in Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany (Les Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne), a French devotional book, an illuminated manuscript created between 1503 and 1508. This book contains an illustration known as Quegourdes de turquie, which was identified by cucurbit specialists as C. pepo subsp. texana in 2006.[136] In 1952, Stanley Smith Master, using the pen name Edrich Siebert, wrote "The Marrow Song (Oh what a beauty!)" to a tune in 6 8 time. It became a popular hit in Australia in 1973,[137] and was revived by the Wurzels in Britain on their 2003 album Cutler of the West.[138][139] John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem entitled The Pumpkin in 1850.[140] "The Great Pumpkin" is a fictional holiday figure in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.[141] Cleansing and personal care uses C. foetidissima contains a saponin that can be obtained from the fruit and root. This can be used as a soap, shampoo, and bleach. Prolonged contact can cause skin irritation.[142][143] Pumpkin is also used in cosmetics.[144] Folk remedies Cucurbita have been used in various cultures as folk remedies. Pumpkins have been used by Native Americans to treat intestinal worms and urinary ailments. This Native American remedy was adopted by American doctors in the early nineteenth century as an anthelmintic for the expulsion of worms.[145] In southeastern Europe, seeds of C. pepo were used to treat irritable bladder and benign prostatic hyperplasia.[146] In Germany, pumpkin seed is approved for use by the Commission E, which assesses folk and herbal medicine, for irritated bladder conditions and micturition problems of prostatic hyperplasia stages 1 and 2, although the monograph published in 1985 noted a lack of pharmacological studies that could substantiate empirically found clinical activity.[147] The FDA in the United States, on the other hand, banned the sale of all such non-prescription drugs for the treatment of prostate enlargement in 1990.[148] In China, C. moschata seeds were also used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of the parasitic disease schistosomiasis[149] and for the expulsion of tape worms.[150] In Mexico, herbalists use C. ficifolia in the belief that it reduces blood sugar levels.[151] Festivals White, green, and orange squashes built into a Christmas tree shape A pyramid of squashes in the Waterlily House, Kew Gardens, 2013 Cucurbita fruits including pumpkins and marrows are celebrated in festivals in countries such as Argentina, Austria,[152] Bolivia,[153] Britain, Canada,[154] Croatia,[155] France,[156][157] Germany, India, Italy,[158][159][160][161] Japan,[162] Peru,[163] Portugal, Spain,[164] Switzerland,[165] and the United States. Argentina holds an annual nationwide pumpkin festival Fiesta Nacional del Zapallo ("Squashes and Pumpkins National Festival"), in Ceres, Santa Fe,[166] on the last day of which a Reina Nacional del Zapallo ("National Queen of the Pumpkin") is chosen.[167][168][169] In Portugal the Festival da Abóbora de Lourinhã e Atalaia ("Squashes and Pumpkins Festival in Lourinhã and Atalaia") is held in Lourinhã city, called the Capital Nacional da Abóbora (the "National Capital of Squashes and Pumpkins").[170] Ludwigsburg, Germany annually hosts the world's largest pumpkin festival.[171] In Britain a giant marrow (zucchini) weighing 54.3177 kilograms (119 lb 12 oz) was displayed in the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show in 2012.[172] In the US, pumpkin chucking is practiced competitively, with machines such as trebuchets and air cannons designed to throw intact pumpkins as far as possible.[173][174] The Keene Pumpkin Fest is held annually in New Hampshire; in 2013 it held the world record for the most jack-o-lanterns lit in one place, 30,581 on October 19, 2013.[175] Halloween is widely celebrated with jack-o-lanterns made of large orange pumpkins carved with ghoulish faces and illuminated from inside with candles.[176] The pumpkins used for jack-o-lanterns are C. pepo,[177][178] not to be confused with the ones typically used for pumpkin pie in the United States, which are C. moschata.[121] Kew Gardens marked Halloween in 2013 with a display of pumpkins, including a towering pyramid made of many varieties of squash, in the Waterlily House during its "IncrEdibles" festival." (wikipedia.org) "Kmart Corporation (/ˈkeɪmɑːrt/ KAY-mart, doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was incorporated in 1899 as S. S. Kresge Corporation and renamed Kmart Corporation in 1977.[3] The first store with the Kmart name opened in 1962 in Garden City, Michigan.[4] At its peak in 1994, Kmart operated 2,486 stores globally, including 2,323 discount stores and Super Kmart Center locations in the United States.[5][6][7][8] As of April 16, 2022, that number was down to nine, including just three in the continental United States.[1] From 2005 through 2019, Kmart was a subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation.[9] Since 2019, Kmart has been a subsidiary of Transform SR Brands LLC, a privately held company that was formed in 2019 to acquire assets from Sears Holdings. History Early years 1940s postcard of Kresge store in Springfield, Massachusetts (Store #26) S. S. Kresge, the founder of the company that would become Kmart, met variety-store pioneer Frank Winfield Woolworth while working as a traveling salesman and selling to all 19 of Woolworth's stores at the time. In 1897, Kresge invested $6,700 saved from his job into a five-and-dime store in Memphis, Tennessee. He jointly owned the first store with his former tinware customer, John McCrory.[10] Kresge and McCrory added a second store in downtown Detroit the following year. These were the first S.S. Kresge stores.[11][12][13] After two years of partnership, he traded McCrory his share in the Memphis store, plus $3,000, for full ownership of the Detroit store, and formed the Kresge & Wilson Company with his brother-in-law, Charles J. Wilson.[12][13] In 1912, Kresge incorporated the S.S. Kresge Company in Delaware with 85 stores. In 1916, Kresge incorporated a new S.S. Kresge Company in Michigan and took over the operations of the original company; the new company in Michigan is the modern day Kmart company. The company was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange on May 23, 1918. During World War I, Kresge experimented with raising the limit on prices in his stores to $1. By 1924, Kresge was worth approximately $375 million and owned real estate of the approximate value of $100 million.[14][better source needed] Growth early in the 20th century remained brisk, with 257 stores in 1924, rising to 597 stores by 1929. Kresge retired as president in 1925. The Great Depression reduced profitability and resulted in store closings, with the number rising to 682 in 1940. After the war, shopping patterns changed and many customers moved out of the cities into the suburbs. 1960s–1970s Kmart's original logo used until 1990. This logo was also used by Kmart Australia from 1969 until 1991. The box where "-mart" was displayed would eventually be phased out during the 1970s. The Kmart Foods logo used during the 1960s Under the leadership of executive Harry Cunningham, S.S. Kresge Company opened the first Kmart-named store, at 27,000 square feet (2,500 square meters), which was referred to by Kresge as a "bantam" Kmart and was in fact originally intended to be a Kresge store until late in the planning process, on January 25, 1962, in San Fernando, California,[15] just six months before the first Walmart opened, while the first ground-up full-size Kmart with 80,000 square feet (7,400 square meters), opened on March 1, 1962, in Garden City, Michigan. Cunningham and Sam Walton were both inspired by Ann & Hope, which they each visited in 1961.[16][17] Sixteen more Kmart stores opened in 1962. Kmart Foods, a now-defunct chain of Kmart supermarkets, opened in that decade. Though the store chain continued to open Kmart branded stores, the store chain was still officially called S.S. Kresge Company. A Big Kmart store in Willow Street, Pennsylvania (store #3810) as it appears on its last day of operation, April 18, 2021. This was one of the last two Kmart stores in Pennsylvania. This location is now Ocean State Job Lot. Company founder Kresge died on October 18, 1966, at age 99.[18] Around the time of the opening of the first Kmart, some poorly performing S.S. Kresge stores were converted to a new "Jupiter Discount Stores" brand, which was conceived as a bare-bones, deep discount outfit. During the 1970s, Kmart put a number of competing retailers out of business. Kresge, Jupiter and Kmart stores mainly competed with other store chains like Zayre, Ames, Bradlees, Caldor, Hills, and those that were operated by MMG-McCrory Stores (McCrory, McLellan, H.L. Green, J.J. Newberry, S.H. Kress, TG&Y, Silver's and eventually G.C. Murphy Co.). In 1977, S.S. Kresge Company changed its name to K Mart Corporation. 1980s In 1980, Vice Chairman Bernard M. Fauber was elected as the chairman and as the CEO of Kmart.[19] In 1981, the 2,000th Kmart store opened. By the end of 1981, there were 2,055 Kmart stores across the United States and Canada.[20] In 1987, the Kmart Corporation sold its remaining 76 Kresge and Jupiter stores in the United States to McCrory Stores,[21] and the brands were almost entirely discontinued, although Canadian Kresge and Jupiter stores continued to operate until 1994.[22] Kmart experimented with co-branding in 1985, when the in-store cafeteria at the store in Canton, Michigan, was converted to a Wendy's.[23][24][failed verification] Until November 1990, when it was passed by Walmart, Kmart was the second-largest retailer in the United States, after Sears.[25] During the 1980s, the company's fortunes began to change; many of Kmart's stores were considered to be outdated and in decaying condition. In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, the corporate office shifted much of its focus from the Kmart stores to other companies it had acquired or created, such as Sports Authority, Builders Square, and Waldenbooks. Blue Light Special The Blue Light Special was a sale promotion within the store for a short period within store hours only. It was advertised using a rotating blue light, in the same style a police car used, and was announced over the store public address system with the phrase "attention Kmart shoppers", a phrase which became a pop culture reference.[26] The original Blue Light Special[further explanation needed] limited-time offers to sell slower moving merchandise [27] was first introduced in 1965,[28] was retired in 1991.[29] The company brought back the Blue Light Special in 2001, but again discontinued it in 2002. The concept was briefly revived in 2005, though Kmart at that time had no plans to use the concept long-term.[30] Blue Light Specials were revived again in 2009 on Saturdays, offering surprise hour-long sales on selected merchandise, but were discontinued again. Blue Light Specials were revived once again in November 2015.[28] 1990–2001: New image The front of the Super Kmart Center store in Cambridge, Ohio (store #3555), as it appears before it was downsized in 2015 and closed in 2018. This location is now Rural King. In 1990, in an effort to update its image, Kmart introduced a new logo. It dropped the old-style italic "K" with a turquoise "mart" in favor of a red block letter K with the word "mart" written in script and contained inside the "K". Kmart then began remodeling stores shortly thereafter. This logo was replaced in 2004 with the current logo. In 1990, Little Caesars Pizza opened its first in-store Kmart restaurant in Rochester, Michigan[31] (coincidentally, both Little Caesars and Kmart were founded in Garden City, Michigan, in 1959 and 1962 respectively). In 1995, Kmart also tried to reinvent itself by using the short-lived name Today's Kmart.[32] In 1991, the company revised its name slightly to Kmart Corporation.[33] In 1992, Kmart entered the Eastern European market with the purchase of 13 stores in the former Czechoslovakia.[34] These stores were sold off in 1996.[35] The company also began to offer exclusive merchandise by Martha Stewart, Kathy Ireland, Jaclyn Smith, Lauren Hutton, and Thalía. Other recognizable brands included exclusively licensed merchandising of products relating to Sesame Street and Disney. Actress and television personality Rosie O'Donnell and actress/director and producer Penny Marshall became among the company's most recognized spokespersons.[36] Kmart's red classic logo (1990–2004) The Super Kmart Center logo that was used primarily in the early 1990s, but was also used for some stores that opened in 2001 Super Kmart Center (Super Kmart) opened an all-new location on July 25, 1991, in Medina Township, Ohio, featuring a full-service grocery with a full-service deli, seafood counter and bakery. And it also had general merchandise like many Kmarts had.[37] After the Medina and Copley store opened, many more super Kmarts were open nationwide. However, this location was downsized in 2011 and was one of a number of Kmarts closed in early 2012 due to dismal Christmas 2011 sales.[38] The second ground-up Super Kmart Center opened in Copley Township, Ohio, featuring an in-store video rental center, and an in-store carryout Chinese restaurant.[39] This location has also shut down.[40] The last Super Kmart Center in Howland Township, Ohio, closed on April 8, 2018.[41] The largest super Kmart store was in Euclid, Ohio as it was a former Hypermart.[citation needed] Big Kmart opened in Chicago, Illinois, on April 23, 1997.[42] The format focuses on home fashions, children's apparel, and consumables (The Pantry).[40] Most Kmart stores were remodeled to this format during the late 1990s and the early 2000s. During 1997 and 1998, Kmart converted 1,245 of their regular Kmart stores into Big Kmart stores. Initially, the Big Kmart stores were successful, and by the end of 1997, Kmart had seen their sales numbers grow by 10% due to success of their Big Kmart stores. In 1998, Kmart acquired 45 former Venture stores and converted them into Big Kmart stores.[43] By the end of 1998, 62% of Kmart's stores were Big Kmart stores. Kmart later converted nearly 1,900 of their regular Kmart stores into Big Kmart stores in 1999. By the end of 1999, Kmart saw another increase in sales numbers by 6.5% due to the success of their Big Kmart stores.[citation needed] The last Big Kmart in Marshall, Michigan, closed on November 22, 2021.[44] This Super Kmart Center logo was used on the former Super Kmart Center stores in Mexico during the 1990s. The Sports Authority was acquired by Kmart in 1990 and spun-off 5 years later. Kmart's profitability and sales peaked in 1992, and have since declined due to competition with Walmart, Target, and internet shopping.[3] In 1994, Kmart announced they would close 110 stores.[45] Unlike its competitors Walmart and Target, Kmart failed to invest in computer technology to manage its supply chain. Furthermore, Kmart maintained a high dividend, which reduced the amount of money that was available for improving its stores. Many business analysts also faulted the company for failing to create a coherent brand image. In September 1995, Kmart sold its money-losing in-store auto repair centers to Penske Corporation for $112 million to operate them as Penske Auto Centers.[46][47] Penske later closed the auto repair centers in 2002 as a result of a payment dispute with Kmart.[48][49] The second Super Kmart Center logo, spelled out as Super Kmart, was used for stores that opened in the late 1990s (1997-2002). The Big Kmart logo, stylized as BIG Kmart, was used for stores that were opened or renovated in the late 1990s (1997-2002). In 1997, Kmart launched the Kmart Cash Card as a replacement for the paper gift certificates and to facilitate the return process.[50] In July 1999, Kmart hired SuperValu and Fleming to distribute $3.9 billion worth of food and other related products to all Kmart stores.[51] From 1999 to 2000 Kmart converted 150 regular Kmart stores into Big Kmart stores during the first half of 2000.[citation needed] In 2000, Kmart and Capital One launched an all-new co-branded MasterCard as a replacement for the private label Kmart credit cards.[52] Also in 2000, Kmart expanded the Martha Stewart Everyday Garden Collection to include live plants and seeds.[53] Kmart also launched the Martha Stewart Everyday Kitchen, which is a complete line of housewares essentials.[54] In July 2000, Kmart closed 72 underperforming stores due to poor sales, while opening 20 new Big Kmart stores, converting 12 regular Kmart stores into Super Kmart Center stores, and opening 5 new Super Kmart Center stores.[55] and the company announced a planned major restructuring, in which Kmart would invest in new customer check-out and new inventory management technology and other related systems as well.[56] In 2001, Kmart opened several new Super Kmart stores as part of Kmart's plan to expand their Super Kmart Center store portfolio, along with Kmart trying to make groceries available at stores as well.[57] However, due to Kmart filing for bankruptcy in January 2002, Kmart was unable to open any more new Super Kmart Center stores, and any of the Super Kmart Center stores that were under construction during Kmart's 2002 bankruptcy were halted, no matter how close the stores were to completion. In 2001, Kmart signed a $4.5 billion arrangement with Fleming, making them the sole food and consumables distributor for the company's stores.[58] In February 2001, Japanese video game company Sega sued Kmart for failure to pay $2.2 million of $25.9 million for Sega Dreamcast game systems.[59] In August 2001, Target sued Kmart because the company's "Dare to Compare" advertising campaign inaccurately compared its own prices with those of Target a majority of the time on in-store signs.[60] 2002–2009: Collapse and merger with Sears Kmart's lime green logo that was used only at five prototype locations in 2002 On January 22, 2002, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under the leadership of its then-chairman Charles Conaway and president Mark Schwartz.[61][62] Conaway, who successfully expanded CVS Corporation, accepted an offer to take the helm at Kmart along with a loan of $5 million (equivalent to $7.53 million in 2023). In a scandal similar to that involving Enron, Conaway and Schwartz were accused of misleading shareholders and other company officials about the company's financial crisis while making millions and allegedly spending the company's money on airplanes, houses, boats and other luxuries. At a conference for Kmart employees on January 22, Conaway accepted "full blame" for the financial disaster. As Kmart emerged from bankruptcy, Conaway was forced to step down, and was asked to pay back all the loans he had taken. After dismissing Conaway and Schwartz, Kmart closed more than 300 stores in the U.S., including all the Kmart stores in Alaska, and laid off around 34,000 workers as part of the restructuring process.[63] Kmart introduced five prototype stores with a new logo, layout, and lime green and gray color scheme, one in White Lake, Michigan, and four in central Illinois: (Peoria, Pekin, Morton and Washington). The new layout was touted as having wider aisles and improved selection and lighting, and the city or town's name was featured under the new Kmart logo at the front entrance. However, Kmart could not afford a full-scale rollout.[64] The lime green prototype was abandoned for the new Kmart "Orange" concept that rolled out at several of its locations throughout the United States in 2006. While Kmart was going through bankruptcy, a significant amount of Kmart's outstanding debt was purchased by ESL Investments, a hedge fund controlled by Edward Lampert. Lampert worked to accelerate the bankruptcy process.[65] Big Kmart store in Levittown, New York (store #3979) during liquidation sale in September 2004. This location was a former TSS. The building was demolished in 2016, the location is now a Home Depot. On January 13, 2003, Kmart closed 326 stores due to a lack of profitability and poor sales.[66] On May 6, 2003, Kmart emerged from bankruptcy protection as a subsidiary of the new Kmart Holding Corporation. On June 10, 2003, Kmart began trading on the NASDAQ stock market with the ticker symbol of KMRT with Lampert serving as the chairman and with ESL Investments controlling 53% of the new company for an investment of less than $1 billion.[67][68] Lampert dismissed his concerns that the smaller company would be at a disadvantage, stating "The focus that a lot of people have in retail revolves around sales, but sales without profit do not allow a business to be successful in the long term."[69] He began to improve the company's balance sheet by reducing inventory, cutting costs, and closing underperforming stores. By the fourth quarter of 2003, Kmart posted its first profitable quarter in three years, although it has since returned to an operating loss. On July 23, 2004, a new Kmart logo featuring a large red "K" with "kmart" in small block letters underneath it was announced.[70] On August 12, 2004, Kmart and E! Entertainment Television announced a new, exclusive, cross-promotional clothing brand called Attention. Attention was launched as a new clothing brand that would be sold only at Kmart stores and would be used to promote E! News Live.[71] Kmart had previously signed a similar deal with the WB Network to have the cast of five WB shows wear Kmart branded clothing during shows.[72] On November 8, 2004, Kmart launched the Kmart Rewards credit card that is managed by HSBC Bank.[73] The third Super Kmart Center logo, spelled out as Kmart Supercenter, was only used for printed ads and street signs (2004–2018). The KDollar logo (November 2004–2012) On November 17, 2004, Kmart's management announced its intention to purchase Sears for $11 billion.[67] As part of the merger, the Kmart Holding Corporation (the company that owns Kmart) would be transferred to the new Sears Holdings Corporation and Sears would be purchased by the new Sears Holdings Corporation. The new corporation announced that it would continue to operate stores under both the Sears and Kmart brands.[74] Around this time, Kmart changed its logo from a red K with the script "mart" inside, to the same K with the chain's name in lowercase letters below it. Kmart's headquarters were relocated to Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and in 2012 the sprawling headquarters complex in Troy, Michigan, was acquired by the Forbes Company, which owns the nearby upscale mall, Somerset Collection.[75] No concrete plans for redevelopment of the site had been announced. In 2005, Sears Holdings Corporation introduced the Sears Essentials store format, which would serve as a Kmart-Sears hybrid. Sears Essentials stores were freestanding (not located at a shopping mall) stores. In 2006, the company discontinued the Sears Essentials name, and renamed all of the Sears Essentials stores as Sears Grand stores.[76] Kmart started remodeling stores to the "Orange" prototype in 2005.[77] In 2006, the typical white and blue interior of the stores was changed to orange and brown, and shelf heights were lowered to create better sightlines. The remodeled stores contain an appliance department with Kenmore Appliances and most have hardware departments that sell Craftsman tools, which prior to the merger had been exclusive to Sears stores.[78] Some auto centers left vacant by Penske after Kmart filed for bankruptcy had been converted to Sears Auto Centers.[79] As of 2009, 280 stores had been remodeled to this new prototype.[citation needed] In July 2009, Sears Holdings opened its first Sears-branded appliance store inside a Kmart.[80] The 4,000 sq ft (370 m2) store-within-a-store opened inside the former garden department of a Birmingham, Alabama, Kmart. It is two-thirds the size of the appliance department in most Sears stores, but larger than the 2,500 sq ft (230 m2) appliance department in remodeled Kmart stores. In October 2009, it was reported that Kmart and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia failed to come to a new agreement. This came after Stewart made remarks on CNBC that her line at Kmart had deteriorated, particularly after the Sears merger.[81] In November 2009, Kmart reported its first year-over-year sales increase of 0.5% since 2005, and only the second such increase since 2001.[82] 2010–2018: Decline On December 27, 2011, after a disastrous holiday sales season, Sears Holdings announced that 100 to 120 of Sears and Kmart stores would close.[83] In 2014, news reports indicated that Kmart was liquidating dozens of stores across the United States.[84][85] Kmart's parent company, Sears Holdings Corporation, underwent financial distress throughout the year, sparking an unspecified number of closings of Sears and Kmart locations amid vendors' and lenders' concerns about its liquidity.[86] Along with store closings, measures included the spinning off its Lands' End division, selling most of its stake in Sears Canada, issuing debt and taking on loans that cumulatively put it on track to raise $1.445 billion in cash in 2014.[86] Howard Riefs, a company spokesman who has often spoken on behalf of Kmart, said, "Store closures are part of a series of actions we're taking to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base and accelerate the transformation of our business model."[87][88] On October 10, 2014, Kmart was a victim of a data breach concerning customers' credit and debit card information.[89] On October 19, Kmart stated, "Based on the forensic investigation to date, no personal information, no debit card PIN numbers, no email addresses and no social security numbers were obtained by those criminally responsible. There is also no evidence that kmart.com customers were impacted. This data breach has been contained and the malware has been removed. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our members and customers."[90] In January 2015, Kmart agreed to pay $102,048 and other consideration to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disability discrimination lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, Kmart offered a job at its Hyattsville, Maryland, store to a candidate with kidney disease on dialysis. The candidate advised the hiring manager that he could not provide a urine sample for the company's mandatory pre-employment drug screening because of his medical condition, and requested a reasonable accommodation such as a blood test or other drug test that did not require a urine sample; Kmart had refused to provide an alternative test and denied the candidate employment.[91] In April 2016, Kmart announced that it was liquidating 68 stores.[92] The chain announced in September 2016 that 64 more stores in 28 states would close by mid-December 2016.[93] Sears Holdings CEO Eddie Lampert stated in October 2016 that there were not and never had been plans to close the Kmart format and that they are working hard to make it a "more fun, engaging place to shop, powered by our integrated retail innovations and Shop Your Way".[94] In December 2016, at least 25 Kmart locations were targeted for closure in early 2017.[95][96][97] The original Kmart store in Garden City, Michigan (store#4000), which closed in 2017 (pictured in 2016). It was demolished in 2020.[98] In January 2017, Kmart announced that 78 more stores would close, including the first Kmart location in Garden City, Michigan.[99] Financial analysts began warning that the fate of Sears Holdings was nearing its end.[100] In May 2017, Kmart announced the upcoming closure of 18 more stores.[101] Sears Holdings admitted uncertainty regarding the survival of both Sears and Kmart.[102] In early June 2017, Kmart announced that an additional 49 stores across the U.S. were to be shuttered by September 2017.[103] In early July 2017, Kmart had announced that 35 more stores would close by early October 2017.[104] In late August 2017, Kmart announced another 28 store closures, including the last Rhode Island location, in Cranston.[105] On October 11, 2017, with no closing sale held, the Kmart store in Santa Rosa, California, was apparently burnt down by wildfires in the Bay Area, adding to the list of closed stores.[106] On October 17, 2017, Kmart announced the liquidation of an unspecified number of locations by late November.[107] On November 3, 2017, it was announced that a further 45 Kmarts (along with 18 Sears stores) were to close, effective by January 2018, including Kmart's last store in Alabama, in Albertville.[108][109] Located in Greenwich, NY A smaller Big Kmart located in Greenwich, New York (store #9274) in 2017, in a former Big N. This store closed in March 2019 along with 79 other Kmart and Sears stores. This location is now a Big Lots. According to Fortune.com, Kmart and Sears did not run any television advertisements during the 2017 holiday season in order to focus on digital marketing after evaluating the effectiveness of its various marketing efforts.[110] On January 4, 2018, after yet another disappointing holiday sales season, Kmart announced the liquidation of 64 more stores in the spring of 2018. This included Kmart's only remaining Super Kmart location in Warren, Ohio, which officially discontinued the Super Kmart format.[111] According to MSN Money, Kmart along with sister company Sears had an extremely high chance of disappearing and going defunct in 2018, such that 2017 would have marked its final holiday season as an independent brand.[112] On March 15, 2018, Sears Holdings announced that a small profit was made in the fourth quarter of 2017.[113] However, investors claimed that it was due to tax refunds and that sales were still falling for both Kmart and Sears.[114] On March 26, 2018, CEO Eddie Lampert said, "I'm not sure Kmart on its own could ever be a great retailer," implying that the company was trying to shift to online shopping as opposed to brick and mortar stores.[115] On April 12, 2018, Sears announced plans to close and auction 16 of its Sears stores, and close several more Kmart locations, but did not specify how many. Two known locations on the list were Kmart stores in Brandon, Florida, and Saugus, Massachusetts.[citation needed] In early May, Sears announced the liquidation of several more Kmarts, including the last Kmart in Vermont, in Bennington.[116] Kmart store closing sale in Gillette, Wyoming (store #4863) in 2018. This location is now Hobby Lobby, Shoe Dept. Encore and Harbor Freight Tools. On May 21, 2018, Sears Holdings announced yet another round of liquidation sales in forty Sears and Kmart stores across 24 states.[117] These stores were closed by July 4, 2018. On May 31, Sears Holdings announced the liquidation of an additional 16 Kmart stores and 48 Sears stores,[118] including the last Kmart in Hawaii, in Līhuʻe.[119] The closings announced May 31, 2018, were from among 100 unprofitable stores in Sears Holdings and the remaining 28 unprofitable stores were, "a small group of stores that was pulled from the closing list ... as they are being evaluated further," meaning even more store closings could occur later in the year. Sears Holdings did not disclose those locations at the time.[118] On June 28, 2018, Sears Holdings disclosed 10 of the stores being evaluated and announced they would close by September 2018. Liquidation sales began on the same day.[120] On July 13, 2018, news came through from multiple sources that even more Kmart stores were set to liquidate across the nation.[121][122] On August 23, 2018, it was announced that 13 more stores would close by November.[123] 2018–2019: Second bankruptcy On October 15, 2018, Sears Holdings filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced that it would close 142 stores, including 63 Kmart stores, which included the last Kmart in Arkansas, in Russellville, the last two Kmarts in Georgia, in Covington and Peachtree City, and the last two Kmarts in Kansas, in Kansas City and Salina.[124] Sears Holdings' bankruptcy also marked Kmart's second bankruptcy in 16 years. On November 8, 2018, Sears Holdings announced it would close an additional 40 stores, including 11 Kmart stores.[125] On November 23, 2018, Sears Holdings released a list of 505 stores, including 239 Kmart stores, to be presented for sale in the bankruptcy process while all other stores were holding liquidation sales.[126] However, the stores for sale were not guaranteed to be protected from liquidation in the future. On December 28, 2018, Sears Holdings announced it would close 80 additional stores, consisting of 37 Kmart stores.[127] In a proposal announced in early January, Sears Holdings planned only to keep 202 Kmart stores along with 223 Sears stores open, assuming that it would survive the bankruptcy process. Most of the proposed locations were in highly populated coastal regions.[128] Kmart Cafe Chesapeake Virginia Former Kmart Cafe in the Chesapeake, Virginia Kmart store (store #3471), in a former Robert Hall Village. This store permanently closed on December 15, 2019. It was one of the last two Kmarts in Virginia. On January 15, 2019, when it had appeared that Kmart's parent, Sears Holdings, was preparing to file for Chapter 7 liquidation, the bankruptcy court judge ordered the company to return to the negotiating table and work out a new deal with Eddie Lampert to prevent the liquidation from occurring. A new deal was struck at the last minute that would keep up to 400 Sears and Kmart stores operating.[129] On January 19, 2019, Sears Holdings officially announced that they had won the auction, and that some of the then existing stores were to remain open.[130] On January 24, 2019, a group of unsecured creditors, which included Simon Property Group, filed a motion with the bankruptcy court to overturn the deal Sears Holdings had recently made with Lampert, claiming Lampert had been "engaged in serial asset stripping" of the company at the expense of suppliers and landlords. The creditors had requested that the bankruptcy court rule to liquidate the company instead of allowing reorganization so that the creditors would be able to recover more money that was still owed to them.[131] On January 28, the federal government-operated Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation announced that they were not in favor of Sears Holdings' current agreement with Lampert since that agreement would create a $1.7 billion funding gap in the employee pension fund, requiring American taxpayers to cover the shortfall.[132] In papers filed on February 1 with the bankruptcy court, ESL "outlined plans to close three Kmart stores per month in 2019" if the court would decide to accept ESL's purchase bid.[133] In February 2019, it was announced that a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved the sale of the most lucrative part of Sears Holdings to Edward Lampert, allowing the surviving part of the company that operated both Sears and Kmart to remain in business at the expense of suppliers, landlords, employees, pensioners, the U.S. government, and other creditors. Kmart would have 202 locations after the sale was to be completed.[134] 2019–present: New management and further decline The sale of 202 Kmart stores to Transform Holdco was finalized in February 2019, with the remaining Kmart locations liquidated to partially pay off Sears Holdings creditors.[135] In May 2019, it was revealed that Kmart would close its store in Walla Walla, Washington in July, making it the first post-bankruptcy closure for the brand since being bought by ESL.[136] On August 6, 2019, TransformCo announced plans to close five additional stores by October 2019. At the time of the announcement, TransformCo also added that it "cannot rule out additional store closures in the near term".[137] Between August 5 and 23, 2019, it was later announced that four more Kmarts would close. In late 2019, the massive closure of 120 Kmart stores was announced.[138][139] In November 2019, Kmart announced the closing of 45 stores in February 2020. The Wall Street Journal reported that Transformco "would continue to evaluate its retail footprint, suggesting that additional closures are possible".[140] On February 6, 2020, Kmart announced it would close 15 more stores.[141] Headquarters The Kales Building in downtown Detroit as shown in 2007, formerly the S.S. Kresge Co. headquarters from 1914 to 1930 The owner of Kmart, Transform Holdco LLC, had its headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, just outside of Chicago since 1993 when it moved out of the Sears Tower in downtown Chicago.[142] Kmart's headquarters had been in Hoffman Estates since Kmart bought Sears in 2005, but in December 2021, Transformco announced that it intended to put its corporate headquarters and 120 surrounding acres in the Northwest suburb on the market at the start of the new year.[143] The headquarters were formerly located in the Kmart International Headquarters at 3100 W. Big Beaver Road in Troy, Michigan, in Metro Detroit.[144][145] The facility had 23 interconnected modules. Each had three stories, except for one module, which was one story. Based on the layout, Norm Sinclair of DBusiness concluded that it was "a study in inefficiency".[144] Subsidiaries Current Big Kmart store in Carlisle, Pennsylvania (store#7746), December 2012. It was later converted into a regular Kmart with the current logo. This store closed in December 2018, along with 141 other Kmart and Sears stores. This location is now a U-Haul.     Kmart is a chain of discount department stores that are usually free-standing or located in strip malls. They carry compact discs (CDs), DVDs, TV shows on DVD, electronics, bedding, household hardware, sporting goods, clothing, toys, jewelry, office supplies, health and beauty products, over-the-counter medications, home decor, and a limited selection of food items. Many also have a garden center, a Jackson Hewitt tax center, a pharmacy, and a K-Cafe or a deli serving Nathan's Hot Dogs and pizza. Kmart stores range from 80,000–110,000 sq ft (7,400–10,200 m2). Most of them were either converted to or rebranded as Big Kmart while some were converted into Super Kmart stores. A Super Kmart Center store in Lorain, Ohio (store #3910) in February 2013. This store closed on September 18, 2016. This location was demolished and is now a Meijer. Former A Big Kmart store in Webster, Massachusetts (store #9692) in December 2017, opened in 1980 in a former Grant City. This store was closed in December 2019. This location is now U-Haul. A Kmart Express gas station in Cleveland, Ohio in February 2013. The Super Kmart (store #4966) near it, as well as this Kmart Express, closed in 2014. These buildings were demolished and the location is now a Menards.     American Fare was a chain of hypermarkets that operated from 1989 to 1994. It was a joint venture involving Kmart, which owned 51 percent of the store, and Birmingham, Alabama-based Bruno's Supermarkets, which owned 49 percent of the stores. The first store opened in Stone Mountain, Georgia, near Atlanta, on January 29, 1989. American Fare's 244,000 sq ft (22,700 m2) of retail space included 74,550 sq ft (6,926 m2) of groceries, 104,000 sq ft (9,700 m2) of general merchandise, and 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) of clothing (including apparel, footwear, and accessories). An area in the front of the store housed a music and video store, a food court, bank, hair salon, pharmacy and a card store. Charlotte, North Carolina, was home to the second American Fare, which opened on April 1, 1990, with 160,000 sq ft (15,000 m2) of retail space. A third and final store opened in Jackson, Mississippi in August 1990, with plans for a fourth store in Birmingham, Alabama never coming to fruition. In June 1992, Bruno's announced the termination of its partnership with the Kmart Corporation, and that Kmart would assume ownership of the three stores. The three stores closed by May 1994. The Stone Mountain store now houses the DeKalb County Board of Education. The Charlotte store was converted to Super Kmart, then a Steve & Barry's, before closing in 2009. It now houses a Verizon call center, and the Jackson store's parking lot became a Carmax in 2007, while the building itself is now owned by Comcast.[146] The American Fare brand is used on some Kmart store-brand consumable products.     Big Kmart was a chain of discount department stores that carried everything a regular Kmart carries, but emphasizes home decor, children's clothing, and more food items such as meat and poultry, baked goods, frozen foods and an extended, but limited section of garden produce. Big Kmart stores ranged from 84,000 to 120,000 sq ft (7,800 to 11,100 m2). Big Kmart stores also featured a garden center, a pharmacy, a branch of a local bank, a Jackson Hewitt tax center, an Olan Mills portrait studio, an arcade, a K-Café or Little Caesars Pizza Station, and sometimes a Kmart Express gas station. As noted above, Kmart introduced the Big Kmart brand company-wide when it was introduced in 1997. Some Big Kmart locations were either closed or converted to normal Kmart stores. The final Big Kmart store in Marshall, Michigan closed permanently on November 21, 2021.     BlueLight Internet service. In 1999 Kmart began offering a dial-up Internet service called BlueLight, which was eventually spun off as an independent company. BlueLight was initially free and supported by banner ads. BlueLight dropped the free service in February 2001 and was reacquired by Kmart in July 2001. In 2002 United Online, which also owns NetZero and Juno, bought the BlueLight service after Kmart filed for bankruptcy. In August 2006, Bluelight dropped the banners. In August 2006, the service cost $14.95 a month and had around 165,000 subscribers.     Borders Books was a chain of bookstores acquired by Kmart in 1992. In 1994, Borders merged with the Kmart chain Waldenbooks to form Borders-Walden Group, which was sold in 1995. In February 2011, Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced plans to liquidate in July after failing to find a buyer to keep the chain's remaining 399 stores in operation. The remaining stores closed in September.     Builders Square was a home improvement superstore. In 1997, it was sold to Hechinger, which went out of business in 1999.     Designer Depot: A discount clothing store chain operated in Metro Detroit in the 1980s.[147] The first opened in a former S. S. Kresge dime store in St. Clair Shores, Michigan in 1982, selling brand names such as Yves Saint Laurent, Izod Lacoste, and Calvin Klein at discount prices.[148]     K-Café was an in-store restaurant that served a fairly standard menu of hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, grilled cheese sandwiches and Philly cheesesteak. They also offered a full breakfast menu of baked goods, bagels and egg platters with bacon or sausage and such snacks as nachos, pretzels, popcorn and ice cream. In addition to the café's menu, hot food items could also be purchased at the deli and eaten in the Deli Café at Super Kmart Center stores. However, K-Café has been discontinued in all of their stores.[when?] Most restaurants that were located at Super Kmart Center stores were instead known as Super K-Café. However, some Kmart stores have Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eateries and Little Caesars Pizza Stations instead of K-Cafés.[citation needed]     KDollar was a chain of discount stores/dollar stores that sold Kmart merchandise at a discount. The stores were often former Kmart or Big Kmart stores. Sears Brands filed for a trademark on the KDollar name on November 6, 2012.[149] The first opened in a former regular Kmart store in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 2013.[150] A second KDollar store opened in Waukegan, Illinois.     Kmart Chef restaurants were a small chain of free-standing fast-food restaurants owned by Kmart, started in 1967 with the first location on the parking lot of a Kmart in Pontiac, Michigan. The "limited, high-turnover menu" (as Kmart founder S.S. Kresge put it) consisted of hamburgers, French fries, hot dogs, and soft drinks. The Kmart Chef chain folded in 1974 after peaking at 11 locations.[151]     Kmart Dental was an in-store dental office located in Kmart stores. There was only one such prototype in a Kmart store, in Miami, Florida. Despite the name, Kmart Dental was never technically owned by Kmart.[152]     Kmart Express was a chain of gas stations/convenience stores located in out-parcels at some Kmart and Super Kmart stores, particularly in the Midwest. In the early 2000s, there were plans to expand this concept to most Kmarts, but the plan for more locations was canceled after Kmart's bankruptcy in 2002. The final Kmart Express, in Ionia, MI, closed in 2017.     Kmart Food Stores was a supermarket chain founded in 1962. Most Kmart Food locations were paired with Kmart stores, often operated by a local grocery chain but always branded as Kmart Food. The chain was discontinued in the early 1980s.     Kwash was an attached-to-store laundromat launched in May 2010. Only one such prototype existed. It was in a former auto bay in Iowa City, Iowa. It featured a separate entrance, laundromat attendants and free wi-fi along with a limited selection of laundry goods available for purchase. The Kwash closed along with the Kmart in 2017.[153]     Makro, a Dutch warehouse club chain, operated locations in the U.S. from February 1981 to 1989, in Atlanta, Philadelphia, and the Washington, D.C. suburb of Largo, Maryland.[154] Kmart bought the chain's entire American holdings in 1989, having owned a 49 percent share before.[155] The Makro stores were later converted to Pace or closed in 1990.[156]     Office Square was a chain selling office supplies and office furniture which was a spin-off of Builders Square. In 1991, OfficeMax was acquired by Kmart and Office Square was merged into OfficeMax stores.     OfficeMax is a chain selling office supplies and office furniture which was acquired in 1991 and sold in 1995. It was acquired by Office Depot in 2013.     Pace Membership Warehouse was Kmart's warehouse club brand, until the chain was purchased by Walmart. In 1993, Walmart converted most of the stores into its Sam's Club brand, and sold others to chains such as Bradlees.     PayLess Drugs was a chain of drug stores acquired by Kmart in 1985[157] and later sold to TCH Corporation in 1994.[158] The resulting entity, Thrifty PayLess, was acquired by Rite Aid in 1996, which converted all of the PayLess and Thrifty stores into Rite Aid stores in 1999. The PayLess division also owned Bi-Mart, which was spun off along with sister stores such as Pay 'n Save.     The Sports Authority was a chain of sporting goods stores which was acquired in 1990 and sold in 1995. The Sports Authority went out of business in 2016.     Super Kmart Center was a chain of superstores that carried everything a regular Kmart carries, but also had a full grocery section with meat and poultry, baked goods, a delicatessen, garden produce, and fresh seafood. Super Kmart Centers ranged from 140,000 to 190,000 sq ft (13,000 to 18,000 m2). The first store opened in Medina, Ohio on July 25, 1991, which downsized to a regular Kmart before closing for good in 2012. In 1997 a few days after Kmart opened its first Big Kmart store in Chicago, the Super Kmart Center brand was renamed to Super Kmart. Super Kmart Center stores also featured a garden center, a video rental store, a branch of a local bank, an arcade, a portrait studio, a Jackson Hewitt tax center, a pharmacy, and usually a deli café or Little Caesars Pizza Station. Many of these services were closed and discontinued in recent years. Several locations also included Kmart Express gas stations, and most had an auto center. Most Super Kmarts were closed during the two rounds of closures in 2002 and 2003, and many had their groceries removed, converting them into regular Kmart locations.[159] A typical Super Center sold around $30 million of merchandise during one fiscal year. In 2015, some stores were converted into a regular Kmart with a concept called K-Fresh. These stores feature an expanded pantry and a fresh-food department, though these types of items are no longer prepared on-site and are now prepackaged. The deli, butcher and bakery operations were also closed. Kmart gradually closed its Super Kmart stores; the last location was in Warren, Ohio and closed on April 8, 2018. It was replaced by Meijer.[160]     U-Pak was a single "no-frills" supermarket which sold items out of boxes instead of on shelves, and featured reduced hours. It opened adjacent to a Kmart on Opdyke Boulevard in Pontiac, Michigan in 1979 and closed less than a month later due to poor sales.[161]     Variety Outlet. A closeout chain, typically operated out of closed Kmart stores. The first opened in Rome, Georgia in 1994.[162][163]     Waldenbooks was a chain consisting primarily of shopping-mall–based book stores which was acquired in 1984. In 1994, Kmart chain Borders merged with Waldenbooks to form Borders-Walden Group, which was sold in 1995 (the company was subsequently renamed Borders Group, and went out of business in 2011). Philanthropy     This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: All of the information in this section is over a decade old. Has the company did anything that was philanthropic in light of the massive number of store closings during the more recent past?. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (January 2019) Kmart for Kids was the umbrella program for Kmart's philanthropic initiatives. The program had helped children across the country live happier, healthier lives through the support of: March of Dimes, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and American Diabetes Association.[164] At one time, Kmart was March of Dimes' number one corporate sponsor, having raised $114 million for the charity over more than 30 years.[165][166] On July 29, 2008, Don Germano, SVP/GM of Kmart stores, was elected to a five-year term on the national Board of Trustees of the March of Dimes Foundation.[167] Kmart for Kids had supported St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital through its annual Thanks and Giving campaign, an opportunity for Kmart customers to give thanks for the healthy children in their lives and give to help those who are not. Kmart had been a partner of the campaign since 2006, and as of December 2008, had raised more than $59.2 million (equivalent to $74.5 million in 2023) for St. Jude's.[168] A record $21.9 million (equivalent to $25.5 million in 2023) was donated for the tenth annual fundraising campaign during the 2013 holiday season.[169] In 2008, Kmart earned the "Outstanding Corporate Citizen" Award for its support of the American Diabetes Association's "Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes" program.[170] The tribute honored Kmart for the most well-developed, proactive program in the areas of charity, community development, diversity, philanthropy, and associate development. In 2008, Kmart became a national sponsor of "Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes" and over the past two years, Kmart's customers and associates have raised approximately $1.5 million (equivalent to $2.02 million in 2023) through its in-store campaigns. Environmental record On May 9, 2007, Kmart was penalized $102,422 (equivalent to $133,850 in 2023) for violations of federal hazardous waste, clean water, emergency planning and preparation regulations at 17 distribution centers.[171] Kmart corrected the violations by preparing and implementing spill-prevention control and countermeasure plans, applying for appropriate storm-water permits, complying with hazardous-waste-generator requirements, and submitting reports to state and local emergency-planning and response organizations informing them of the presence of hazardous substances.[172] The Environmental Protection Agency also accused Kmart of not maintaining adequate information and failing to act in accordance with hazardous-waste-storage and disposal requirements.[173] For instance, the EPA reported having discovered improperly labeled oil-storage drums at a location in Falls, Pennsylvania.[173] Kmart promoted battery recycling.[174] In 1990, Kmart proposed spending about $80 million (equivalent to $166 million in 2023) on full-page newspaper advertisements offering to recycle junk batteries for $2 (equivalent to $4.00 in 2023) each.[175] Animal welfare concerns In 2012, Mercy for Animals, a non-profit organization working against cruelty to farmed animals, conducted an infiltration at Christensen Farms, a pork supplier to Kmart, Walmart and Costco, obtaining hidden-camera footage of pigs confined in small gestation crates and cruelty to piglets.[176] In response to Mercy for Animals' infiltration, Kmart announced it would begin requiring its pork suppliers to phase out gestation crates.[177] Racing sponsorships Kmart was a prominent sponsor in NASCAR and the now-defunct CART series. They were a longtime sponsor of Newman/Haas Racing, owned by actor Paul Newman and former racer Carl Haas. Their CART drivers included Nigel Mansell and the father-son duo of Michael and Mario Andretti. Michael Andretti and Mansell won championships under Kmart sponsorship in 1991 and 1993, respectively. When Michael Andretti moved to Formula One in 1993, Kmart sponsored his McLaren for the season. The store also sponsored the NASCAR-sanctioned Kmart 400 at Michigan and North Carolina Speedway. Lake Speed garnered Kmart's first win in NASCAR in 1988 at the Darlington Raceway. Kmart sponsored three-time champion Darrell Waltrip in 1999 and 2000, his last two full-time seasons. Most recently, in NASCAR, the store sponsored Boris Said's #60 No Fear Ford Fusion in 2006.[178][179] International     This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Australia and New Zealand Main article: Kmart Australia Kmart Australia logo The first Kmart store in Australia opened in 1969 in Burwood East, Victoria; the site was renovated in 2010 to be a shopping mall known as Burwood One.[180] Kmart Australia was born out of a joint venture between G.J. Coles & Coy Limited (Coles) and the S.S. Kresge Company (Kresge), with Kresge owning 51% of the common stock in the company and the remaining 49% being owned by Coles. The first New Zealand store opened in Henderson a suburb of Auckland in 1988.[181] Kresge later exited this partnership in 1994 selling their ownership in the company to Coles Myer the successor to G. J. Coles & Coy Limited.[182] Since the dissolution of Coles Myer in 2007, the Australian and New Zealand Kmart stores are owned by Wesfarmers.[183] Canada Former Kmart Store in Bayers Lake, Nova Scotia (Store #5551) shown in 1994. Canadian Tire now operates in its place. Kmart closed five Montreal stores and several other Quebec stores in 1983 due to the company restructuring.[citation needed] Kresge ceased to exist in Canada in 1994.[184] In December 1997, it was announced that ten of the existing 122 stores were to be closed.[185] However, as a result of Kmart's ongoing financial difficulties, the Canadian division comprising 112 stores was sold to competitor Zellers of the Hudson's Bay Company in May 1998,[186] after which the stores were either closed or converted to Hudson's Bay Company brands, mostly Zellers.[187] Slogans     The Saving Place 1960s–1990     Your Lowest Price is a Kmart Price 1990–1998 Caribbean In the early 2000s, Kmart tried to expand into Caribbean countries where Wal-Mart and Target had no presence, but ultimately none of the proposed stores advanced beyond the construction stage and none opened by the time Kmart filed for bankruptcy in 2002 when it stopped paying its construction contractors.[188] Kmart started construction of a Super Kmart in 2001 in Trinidad,[188] but halted it in 2002 when the store was 80 percent complete. There were plans for more stores to be built in Trinidad, as well as in Millennium Heights in Barbados, five stores in the Dominican Republic, and a potential foray into Jamaica.[189] The unfinished Super Kmart store in Trinidad and Tobago is now a Tru Value Supermarket.[citation needed] Europe Kmart in Bratislava, Slovakia, during the early 1990s. This location is now a Tesco. In 1992, Kmart purchased several communist-era department stores in Eastern Europe, including 13 in the former Czechoslovakia that were bought from the former Czechoslovak government.[190] One of those stores was the old MÁJ department store on Národní Třída in Prague.[citation needed] Many of these outlets were quite profitable, with the Bratislava location setting a single-store sales record for the company. In March 1996, due to its troubles in the U.S., the Kmart Corporation announced that it had agreed to sell the six Kmart stores in the Czech Republic and the seven in Slovakia to Tesco of Britain for about $117.5 million (equivalent to $203 million in 2023), to focus on its core operations in North America.[191][192] Mexico Super Kmart Center, Cuernavaca, México in 1995. This location is now a Mega Hypermarket Since 1997. In the 1990s, Kmart opened four stores in Mexico, in partnership with the Mexican retailer Liverpool.[193][194] All were supercenters located in suburbs of Mexico City. About half of the store area was devoted to groceries, and this part of the stores resembled those in the US with some adjustments to the local market.[195] These plus an unfinished store were sold in 1997 to the Mexican hypermarket chain Mega (part of Comercial Mexicana)[196] and remain open under that name, except the store in Tlalnepantla, which was demolished in 2004 to build a Costco. Singapore In 1994, Kmart opened a 9,700-square-metre (104,000 sq ft) store in the Marina Square Shopping Center in a joint venture with Metro (Private) Limited. The joint venture with Singapore was dissolved in 1996.[197][198] The Marina Square location became MegaMart, then as NTUC FairPrice and Giant." (wikipedia.org) "A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature.[1][2] Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, and brick. The earliest ceramics made by humans were pottery objects (pots, vessels or vases) or figurines made from clay, either by itself or mixed with other materials like silica, hardened and sintered in fire. Later, ceramics were glazed and fired to create smooth, colored surfaces, decreasing porosity through the use of glassy, amorphous ceramic coatings on top of the crystalline ceramic substrates.[3] Ceramics now include domestic, industrial and building products, as well as a wide range of materials developed for use in advanced ceramic engineering, such as in semiconductors. The word "ceramic" comes from the Greek word κεραμικός (keramikos), "of pottery" or "for pottery",[4] from κέραμος (keramos), "potter's clay, tile, pottery".[5] The earliest known mention of the root "ceram-" is the Mycenaean Greek ke-ra-me-we, workers of ceramic written in Linear B syllabic script.[6] The word ceramic can be used as an adjective to describe a material, product or process, or it may be used as a noun, either singular, or more commonly, as the plural noun "ceramics".[7] Materials A low magnification SEM micrograph of an advanced ceramic material. The properties of ceramics make fracturing an important inspection method. Ceramic material is an inorganic, non-metallic oxide, nitride, or carbide material. Some elements, such as carbon or silicon, may be considered ceramics. Ceramic materials are brittle, hard, strong in compression, and weak in shearing and tension. They withstand chemical erosion that occurs in other materials subjected to acidic or caustic environments. Ceramics generally can withstand very high temperatures, ranging from 1,000 °C to 1,600 °C (1,800 °F to 3,000 °F). The crystallinity of ceramic materials varies widely. Most often, fired ceramics are either vitrified or semi-vitrified as is the case with earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. Varying crystallinity and electron composition in the ionic and covalent bonds cause most ceramic materials to be good thermal and electrical insulators (researched in ceramic engineering). With such a large range of possible options for the composition/structure of a ceramic (nearly all of the elements, nearly all types of bonding, and all levels of crystallinity), the breadth of the subject is vast, and identifiable attributes (hardness, toughness, electrical conductivity) are difficult to specify for the group as a whole. General properties such as high melting temperature, high hardness, poor conductivity, high moduli of elasticity, chemical resistance and low ductility are the norm, [8] with known exceptions to each of these rules (piezoelectric ceramics, glass transition temperature, superconductive ceramics). Many composites, such as fiberglass and carbon fiber, while containing ceramic materials are not considered to be part of the ceramic family. [9] Highly oriented crystalline ceramic materials are not amenable to a great range of processing. Methods for dealing with them tend to fall into one of two categories – either make the ceramic in the desired shape, by reaction in situ, or by "forming" powders into the desired shape, and then sintering to form a solid body. Ceramic forming techniques include shaping by hand (sometimes including a rotation process called "throwing"), slip casting, tape casting (used for making very thin ceramic capacitors), injection molding, dry pressing, and other variations. Many ceramics experts do not consider materials with amorphous (noncrystalline) character (i.e., glass) to be ceramics even though glassmaking involves several steps of the ceramic process and its mechanical properties are similar to ceramic materials. However, heat treatments can convert glass into a semi-crystalline material known as glass-ceramic.[10][11] Traditional ceramic raw materials include clay minerals such as kaolinite, whereas more recent materials include aluminum oxide, more commonly known as alumina. The modern ceramic materials, which are classified as advanced ceramics, include silicon carbide and tungsten carbide. Both are valued for their abrasion resistance and are therefore used in applications such as the wear plates of crushing equipment in mining operations. Advanced ceramics are also used in the medical, electrical, electronics, and armor industries. History Earliest known ceramics are the Gravettian figurines that date to 29,000 to 25,000 BC. Human beings appear to have been making their own ceramics for at least 26,000 years, subjecting clay and silica to intense heat to fuse and form ceramic materials. The earliest found so far were in southern central Europe and were sculpted figures, not dishes.[12] The earliest known pottery was made by mixing animal products with clay and fired at up to 800 °C (1,500 °F). While pottery fragments have been found up to 19,000 years old, it was not until about 10,000 years later that regular pottery became common. An early people that spread across much of Europe is named after its use of pottery, the Corded Ware culture. These early Indo-European peoples decorated their pottery by wrapping it with rope, while still wet. When the ceramics were fired, the rope burned off but left a decorative pattern of complex grooves on the surface. Corded-Ware culture pottery from 2500 BC The invention of the wheel eventually led to the production of smoother, more even pottery using the wheel-forming (throwing) technique, like the pottery wheel. Early ceramics were porous, absorbing water easily. It became useful for more items with the discovery of glazing techniques, coating pottery with silicon, bone ash, or other materials that could melt and reform into a glassy surface, making a vessel less pervious to water.... A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature.[1][2] Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, and brick. The earliest ceramics made by humans were pottery objects (pots, vessels or vases) or figurines made from clay, either by itself or mixed with other materials like silica, hardened and sintered in fire. Later, ceramics were glazed and fired to create smooth, colored surfaces, decreasing porosity through the use of glassy, amorphous ceramic coatings on top of the crystalline ceramic substrates.[3] Ceramics now include domestic, industrial and building products, as well as a wide range of materials developed for use in advanced ceramic engineering, such as in semiconductors. The word "ceramic" comes from the Greek word κεραμικός (keramikos), "of pottery" or "for pottery",[4] from κέραμος (keramos), "potter's clay, tile, pottery".[5] The earliest known mention of the root "ceram-" is the Mycenaean Greek ke-ra-me-we, workers of ceramic written in Linear B syllabic script.[6] The word ceramic can be used as an adjective to describe a material, product or process, or it may be used as a noun, either singular, or more commonly, as the plural noun "ceramics".[7] Materials A low magnification SEM micrograph of an advanced ceramic material. The properties of ceramics make fracturing an important inspection method. Ceramic material is an inorganic, non-metallic oxide, nitride, or carbide material. Some elements, such as carbon or silicon, may be considered ceramics. Ceramic materials are brittle, hard, strong in compression, and weak in shearing and tension. They withstand chemical erosion that occurs in other materials subjected to acidic or caustic environments. Ceramics generally can withstand very high temperatures, ranging from 1,000 °C to 1,600 °C (1,800 °F to 3,000 °F). The crystallinity of ceramic materials varies widely. Most often, fired ceramics are either vitrified or semi-vitrified as is the case with earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. Varying crystallinity and electron composition in the ionic and covalent bonds cause most ceramic materials to be good thermal and electrical insulators (researched in ceramic engineering). With such a large range of possible options for the composition/structure of a ceramic (nearly all of the elements, nearly all types of bonding, and all levels of crystallinity), the breadth of the subject is vast, and identifiable attributes (hardness, toughness, electrical conductivity) are difficult to specify for the group as a whole. General properties such as high melting temperature, high hardness, poor conductivity, high moduli of elasticity, chemical resistance and low ductility are the norm, [8] with known exceptions to each of these rules (piezoelectric ceramics, glass transition temperature, superconductive ceramics). Many composites, such as fiberglass and carbon fiber, while containing ceramic materials are not considered to be part of the ceramic family. [9] Highly oriented crystalline ceramic materials are not amenable to a great range of processing. Methods for dealing with them tend to fall into one of two categories – either make the ceramic in the desired shape, by reaction in situ, or by "forming" powders into the desired shape, and then sintering to form a solid body. Ceramic forming techniques include shaping by hand (sometimes including a rotation process called "throwing"), slip casting, tape casting (used for making very thin ceramic capacitors), injection molding, dry pressing, and other variations. Many ceramics experts do not consider materials with amorphous (noncrystalline) character (i.e., glass) to be ceramics even though glassmaking involves several steps of the ceramic process and its mechanical properties are similar to ceramic materials. However, heat treatments can convert glass into a semi-crystalline material known as glass-ceramic.[10][11] Traditional ceramic raw materials include clay minerals such as kaolinite, whereas more recent materials include aluminum oxide, more commonly known as alumina. The modern ceramic materials, which are classified as advanced ceramics, include silicon carbide and tungsten carbide. Both are valued for their abrasion resistance and are therefore used in applications such as the wear plates of crushing equipment in mining operations. Advanced ceramics are also used in the medical, electrical, electronics, and armor industries. History Earliest known ceramics are the Gravettian figurines that date to 29,000 to 25,000 BC. Human beings appear to have been making their own ceramics for at least 26,000 years, subjecting clay and silica to intense heat to fuse and form ceramic materials. The earliest found so far were in southern central Europe and were sculpted figures, not dishes.[12] The earliest known pottery was made by mixing animal products with clay and fired at up to 800 °C (1,500 °F). While pottery fragments have been found up to 19,000 years old, it was not until about 10,000 years later that regular pottery became common. An early people that spread across much of Europe is named after its use of pottery, the Corded Ware culture. These early Indo-European peoples decorated their pottery by wrapping it with rope, while still wet. When the ceramics were fired, the rope burned off but left a decorative pattern of complex grooves on the surface. The invention of the wheel eventually led to the production of smoother, more even pottery using the wheel-forming (throwing) technique, like the pottery wheel. Early ceramics were porous, absorbing water easily. It became useful for more items with the discovery of glazing techniques, coating pottery with silicon, bone ash, or other materials that could melt and reform into a glassy surface, making a vessel less pervious to water." "A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus Cucurbita that has culinary and cultural significance[1][2] but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning.[3] The term pumpkin is sometimes used interchangeably with "squash" or "winter squash", and is commonly used for cultivars of Cucurbita argyrosperma, Cucurbita ficifolia, Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita moschata, and Cucurbita pepo.[1] Native to North America (northeastern Mexico and the southern United States), C. pepo pumpkins are one of the oldest domesticated plants, having been used as early as 7,000 to 5,500 BC. Today, pumpkins of varied species are widely grown for food, as well as for aesthetic and recreational purposes.[4] The pumpkin's thick shell contains edible seeds and pulp. Pumpkin pie, for instance, is a traditional part of Thanksgiving meals in Canada and the United States, and pumpkins are frequently carved as jack-o'-lanterns for decoration around Halloween, although commercially canned pumpkin purée and pumpkin pie fillings are usually made of different pumpkin varieties from those used for jack-o'-lanterns.[5] Etymology and terminology According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the English word pumpkin derives from the Ancient Greek word πέπων (romanized pepōn), meaning 'melon'.[6][7] Under this theory, the term transitioned through the Latin word peponem and the Middle French word pompon to the Early Modern English pompion, which was changed to pumpkin by 17th-century English colonists, shortly after encountering pumpkins upon their arrival in what is now the northeastern United States.[6] An alternate derivation for pumpkin is the Massachusett word pôhpukun, meaning 'grows forth round'.[8] This term would likely have been used by the Wampanoag people (who speak the Wôpanâak dialect of Massachusett) when introducing pumpkins to English Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony, located in present-day Massachusetts.[9] The English word squash is also derived from a Massachusett word, variously transcribed as askꝏtasquash,[10] ashk8tasqash, or, in the closely-related Narragansett language, askútasquash.[11] Researchers have noted that the term pumpkin and related terms like ayote and calabaza are applied to a range of winter squash with varying size and shape.[1] The term tropical pumpkin is sometimes used for pumpkin cultivars of the species Cucurbita moschata.[12] Description Cross section of a Cucurbita maxima pumpkin Pumpkin fruits are a type of botanical berry known as a pepo.[13] Characteristics commonly used to define "pumpkin" include smooth and slightly ribbed skin,[14] and deep yellow to orange color.[14] White, green, and other pumpkin colors also exist.[15] While C. pepo pumpkins generally weigh between 3 and 8 kilograms (6 and 18 lb), Giant pumpkins can exceed a tonne in mass.[16][17] Most are varieties of Cucurbita maxima, and were developed through the efforts of botanical societies and enthusiast farmers.[16] The largest cultivars of the species Curcubita maxima frequently reach weights of over 34 kg (75 lb), with current record weights of over 1,226 kg (2,703 lbs). [18] History [icon]    This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2022) The oldest evidence of Cucurbita pepo pumpkin is fragments found in Mexico that are dated between 7,000 and 5,500 BC.[19] Pumpkins and other squash species, alongside maize and beans, feature in the Three Sisters method of companion planting practiced by many North American indigenous societies.[20] Although larger modern pumpkin cultivars are typically excluded as their weight may damage the other crops.[21] Within decades after Europeans began colonizing North America, illustrations of pumpkins similar to the modern cultivars Small Sugar pumpkin and Connecticut Field pumpkin were published in Europe.[13] Cultivation Pumpkins are a warm-weather crop that is usually planted by early July in the Northern Hemisphere. Pumpkins require that soil temperatures 8 centimetres (3 in) deep are at least 15.5 °C (60 °F) and that the soil holds water well. Pumpkin crops may suffer if there is a lack of water, because of temperatures below 18 °C or 65 °F, or if grown in soils that become waterlogged. Within these conditions, pumpkins are considered hardy, and even if many leaves and portions of the vine are removed or damaged, the plant can quickly grow secondary vines to replace what was removed.[22] Pumpkins produce both a male and female flower, with fertilization usually performed by bees.[22] In America, pumpkins have historically been pollinated by the native squash bee, Peponapis pruinosa, but that bee has declined, probably partly due to pesticide (imidacloprid) sensitivity.[23] Ground-based bees, such as squash bees and the eastern bumblebee, are better suited to manage the larger pollen particles that pumpkins create.[24][25] One hive per acre (0.4 hectares, or five hives per 2 hectares) is recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. If there are inadequate bees for pollination, gardeners may have to hand pollinate. Inadequately pollinated pumpkins usually start growing but fail to develop. Production Pumpkin production – 2020 (includes squash and gourds) Country     millions of tonnes  China     7.4  India     5.1  Ukraine     1.3  Russia     1.1  United States     1.1  Spain     0.8 World     28.0 Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations[26] In 2020, world production of pumpkins (including squash and gourds) was 28 million tonnes, with China accounting for 27% of the total. Ukraine and Russia each produced about one million tonnes.[26] In the United States A pumpkin patch in Winchester, Oregon As one of the most popular crops in the United States[further explanation needed], in 2017 over 680 million kilograms (1.5 billion pounds) of pumpkins were produced.[22] The top pumpkin-producing states include Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and California.[4] Pumpkin is the state squash of Texas.[27] According to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, 95% of the U.S. crop intended for processing is grown in Illinois.[28] And 41% of the overall pumpkin crop for all uses originates in the state, more than five times the nearest competitor (California, whose pumpkin industry is centered in the San Joaquin Valley), and the majority of that comes from five counties in the central part of the state.[29] Nestlé, operating under the brand name Libby's, produces 85% of the processed pumpkin in the United States, at their plant in Morton, Illinois. In the fall of 2009, rain in Illinois devastated the Nestlé's Libby's pumpkin crop, which, combined with a relatively weak 2008 crop depleting that year's reserves, resulted in a shortage affecting the entire country during the Thanksgiving holiday season.[30] Another shortage, somewhat less severe, affected the 2015 crop.[31][32] The pumpkin crop grown in the western United States, which constitutes approximately 3–4% of the national crop, is primarily for the organic market.[33] Terry County, Texas, has a substantial pumpkin industry, centered largely on miniature pumpkins.[29] Illinois farmer Sarah Frey is called "the Pumpkin Queen of America" and sells around five million pumpkins annually, predominantly for use as lanterns.[34][35] Nutrition     This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: Nutrition information should be more broadly representative of pumpkin species and varieties, and should not rely on a deprecated database. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (November 2022) Pumpkin, rawNutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) Energy    109 kJ (26 kcal) Carbohydrates     6.5 g Sugars    2.76 g Dietary fiber    0.5 g Fat     0.1 g Protein     1 g Vitamins    Quantity %DV† Vitamin A equiv. beta-Carotene lutein zeaxanthin     53% 426 μg 29% 3100 μg 1500 μg Thiamine (B1)    4% 0.05 mg Riboflavin (B2)    9% 0.11 mg Niacin (B3)    4% 0.6 mg Pantothenic acid (B5)    6% 0.298 mg Vitamin B6    5% 0.061 mg Folate (B9)    4% 16 μg Vitamin C    11% 9 mg Vitamin E    3% 0.44 mg Vitamin K    1% 1.1 μg Minerals    Quantity %DV† Calcium    2% 21 mg Iron    6% 0.8 mg Magnesium    3% 12 mg Manganese    6% 0.125 mg Phosphorus    6% 44 mg Potassium    7% 340 mg Sodium    0% 1 mg Zinc    3% 0.32 mg Other constituents    Quantity Water    91.6 g Link to USDA Database entry     Units     μg = micrograms • mg = milligrams     IU = International units †Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults. In a 100-gram (3.5 oz) amount, raw pumpkin provides 110 kilojoules (26 kilocalories) of food energy and is an excellent source (20% or more the Daily Value, DV) of provitamin A beta-carotene and vitamin A (53% DV) (table). Vitamin C is present in moderate content (11% DV), but no other nutrients are in significant amounts (less than 10% DV, table). Pumpkin is 92% water, 6.5% carbohydrate, 0.1% fat and 1% protein (table). Uses Cooking See also: List of squash and pumpkin dishes Pumpkin pie is a popular way of preparing pumpkin Roasted pumpkin Butternut Pumpkin jam in Tabriz, Iranian Azerbaijan Most parts of the pumpkin plant are edible, including the fleshy shell, the seeds, the leaves, and the flowers. When ripe, the pumpkin can be boiled, steamed, or roasted. Pumpkins that are immature may be eaten as summer squash. Shell and flesh In North America, pumpkins are an important part of the traditional autumn harvest, eaten mashed[36] and making its way into soups and purées. Often, pumpkin flesh is made into pie, various kinds of which are a traditional staple of the Canadian and American Thanksgiving holidays.[37] Pumpkin purée is sometimes prepared and frozen for later use.[38] A 2003 review of United States processing and canning practices noted that the most common commercially-canned pumpkin varieties were Connecticut field pumpkin, Dickinson pumpkin, Kentucky field pumpkin, Boston marrow, and Golden Delicious.[5] In the Middle East, pumpkin is used for sweet dishes; a well-known sweet delicacy is called halawa yaqtin. In the Indian subcontinent, pumpkin is cooked with butter, sugar, and spices in a dish called kadu ka halwa.[citation needed] Pumpkin is used to make sambar in Udupi cuisine.[citation needed] In Australia and New Zealand, pumpkin is often roasted in conjunction with other vegetables.[citation needed] In Japan, small pumpkins are served in savory dishes, including tempura.[citation needed] In Myanmar, pumpkins are used in both cooking and desserts (candied).[citation needed] In Thailand, small pumpkins are steamed with custard inside and served as a dessert. In Vietnam, pumpkins are commonly cooked in soups with pork or shrimp. In Italy, it can be used with cheeses as a savory stuffing for ravioli.[citation needed] In western and central Kenya, pumpkin flesh is usually boiled or steamed.[39][failed verification] Pumpkin is used in both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.[citation needed] Association of pumpkins with harvest time and pumpkin pie at Canadian and American Thanksgiving reinforce its iconic role. Starbucks turned this association into marketing with its Pumpkin Spice Latte, introduced in 2003.[40] This has led to a notable trend in pumpkin and spice flavored food products in North America.[41] Flowers A pumpkin flower, one of the edible parts of the plant In the southwestern United States and Mexico, pumpkin and squash flowers are a popular and widely available food item. They may be used to garnish dishes, or dredged in a batter then fried in oil. Leaves Pumpkin leaf kimchi In Guangxi province, China, the leaves of the pumpkin plant are consumed as a cooked vegetable or in soups.[citation needed] Korean cuisine makes use of pumpkin leaves, usually of C. moschata varieties.[citation needed] Pumpkin leaves are a popular vegetable in the western and central regions of Kenya; they are called seveve, and are an ingredient of mukimo,[39] Pumpkin leaves are also eaten in Zambia, where they are called chibwabwa and are boiled and cooked with groundnut paste as a side dish.[42] Seeds Main article: Pumpkin seed Pumpkin seeds (matured) Pumpkin seeds, also known as pepitas, are edible and nutrient-rich. They are about 1.5 cm (0.5 in) long, flat, asymmetrically oval, light green in color and usually covered by a white husk, although some pumpkin varieties produce seeds without them. Pumpkin seeds are a popular snack that can be found hulled or semi-hulled at grocery stores. Per ounce serving, pumpkin seeds are a good source of protein, magnesium, copper and zinc.[43] In Myanmar, the seeds are a popular sunflower seed substitute.[citation needed] Pumpkin seeds are popular with Kenyan children, who roast them on a pan before eating them.[39][failed verification] Pumpkin seed oil Main article: Pumpkin seed oil Pumpkin seed oil is a thick oil pressed from roasted seeds that appears red or green in color.[44][45] When used for cooking or as a salad dressing, pumpkin seed oil is generally mixed with other oils because of its robust flavor.[46] Pumpkin seed oil contains fatty acids, such as oleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid.[47] Other uses Medicinal Pumpkins have been used as folk medicine by Native Americans to treat intestinal worms and urinary ailments, and this Native American remedy was adopted by American doctors in the early nineteenth century as an anthelmintic for the expulsion of worms.[48][qualify evidence] In Germany and southeastern Europe, seeds of C. pepo were also used as folk remedies to treat irritable bladder and benign prostatic hyperplasia.[49][50][qualify evidence] In China, C. moschata seeds were also used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of the parasitic disease schistosomiasis[51] and for the expulsion of tape worms.[52][qualify evidence]. Animal feed Pumpkin seed meal from Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita moschata have been demonstrated to improve the nutrition of eggs for human consumption, and Cucurbita pepo seed has successfully been used in place of soybean in chicken feed.[53][54] Culture Halloween Main article: Jack o' lantern A pumpkin carved into a jack-o'-lantern for Halloween In the United States, the carved pumpkin was first associated with the harvest season in general, long before it became an emblem of Halloween.[55] The practice of carving produce for Halloween originated from an Irish myth about a man named "Stingy Jack".[4] The practice of carving pumpkin jack-o'-lanterns for the Halloween season developed from a traditional practice in Ireland as well as Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom of carving lanterns from the turnip, mangelwurzel, or swede (rutabaga).[56][57] These vegetables continue to be popular choices today as carved lanterns in Scotland and Northern Ireland, although the British purchased a million pumpkins for Halloween in 2004 reflecting the spread of pumpkin carving in the United Kingdom.[58] Immigrants to North America began using the native pumpkins for carving, which are both readily available and much larger – making them easier to carve than turnips.[57] Not until 1837 does jack-o'-lantern appear as a term for a carved vegetable lantern,[59] and the carved pumpkin lantern association with Halloween is recorded in 1866.[60] In 1900, an article on Thanksgiving entertaining recommended a lit jack-o'-lantern as part of the festivities that encourage kids and families to join together to make their own jack-o'-lanterns.[55] The traditional American pumpkin used for jack-o-lanterns is the Connecticut field variety.[4][61][62][63] Kentucky Field pumpkin is also among the pumpkin cultivars grown specifically for jack-o-lantern carving.[13] Chunking Pumpkin chunking is a competitive activity in which teams build various mechanical devices designed to throw a pumpkin as far as possible. Catapults, trebuchets, ballistas and air cannons are the most common mechanisms.[citation needed] Pumpkin festivals and competitions Giant Cucurbita maxima pumpkins Growers of giant pumpkins often compete to grow the most massive pumpkins. Festivals may be dedicated to the pumpkin and these competitions. In the United States, the town of Half Moon Bay, California, holds an annual Art and Pumpkin Festival, including the World Champion Pumpkin Weigh-Off.[64] The record for the world's heaviest pumpkin, 1,226 kg (2,703 lb), was established in Italy in 2021.[17] Folklore and fiction There is a connection in folklore and popular culture between pumpkins and the supernatural, such as:     The custom of carving jack-o-lanterns from pumpkins derives from folklore about a lost soul wandering the earth.     In the fairy tale Cinderella, the fairy godmother turns a pumpkin into a carriage for the title character, but at midnight it reverts to a pumpkin.     In some adaptations of Washington Irving's ghost story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the headless horseman is said to use a pumpkin as a substitute head. In most folklore the carved pumpkin is meant to scare away evil spirits on All Hallows' Eve (that is, Halloween), when the dead were purported to walk the earth. Cultivars See also: List of gourds and squashes The species and varieties include many economically important cultivars with a variety of different shapes, colors, and flavors that are grown for different purposes. Variety is used here interchangeably with cultivar, but not with species or taxonomic variety. Image     Name     Species     Origin     Description     Al Hachi     Cucurbita moschata[citation needed]     Kashmir     The people of Kashmir dry Al Hachi pumpkins to eat in the winter, when snowfall can isolate the valley.[65] A Big Max pumpkin at a county fair in New York     Big Max     Cucurbita maxima     [citation needed]     Big Max can exceed 100 pounds (45 kg) and 20 in (510 mm) in diameter under ideal growing conditions.[66] The variety was hybridized for its size during the early 1960s.[67] Individual fruits are round to slightly flattened.[68][69] Courges butternut 01.jpg     Butternut pumpkin     Cucurbita moschata     Massachusetts     Often called Butternut Squash, has a pumpkin-like flavor when eaten. Has orange flesh darker than skin. A pair of Cheese Pumpkin fruit     Cheese pumpkin or Long Island cheese pumpkin     Cucurbita moschata     North America, possibly from an origin in Central America[70]     So-called for its resemblance to a wheel of cheese, this cultivar has been noted for its long storage ability as well as relatively poor culinary characteristics.[71][13] One of Duschesne's 1786 botanical illustrations depicts a fruit that has been identified with the Cheese Pumpkin.[72] A group of Connecticut Field Pumpkin fruit     Connecticut field pumpkin     Cucurbita pepo     North America[13]     Considered to be "one of the oldest pumpkins in existence".[73] Widely used for autumn decorations, either whole or as jack-o'-lanterns.[74]     Dickinson pumpkin or Libby's Select     Cucurbita moschata     North America     The oblong, ribbed fruits weigh up to 40 pounds and are widely used for canning. Brought by Elijah Dickinson from Kentucky to Illinois in 1835.[75] Cultivars similar to the Dickinson Pumpkin were grown by the Seminole people as well as farmers in Cuba and coastal and southern Mexico.[76] Libby's Select is classified either as a selection from the Dickinson Pumpkin or a selection from the same parent lineage.[77][78][79][80] A group of Dill's Atlantic Giant fruit     Dill's Atlantic Giant     Cucurbita maxima     North America     Dill's Atlantic Giant was bred by Howard Dill from sources including the Mammoth Pumpkin variety.[81][82] The variety were patented in 1979, who then went on to set the giant pumpkin in 1980 with a 459 lb (208 kg) record.[83] A single Galeux d' Eysines pumpkin as viewed from above     Galeux d' Eysines or Peanut pumpkin     Cucurbita maxima     France     The Galeux d’ Eysines is mentioned Vilmorin-Andrieux's album Les Plantes Potagères in 1883. It is noted for peanut-like growths, caused by a buildup of sugar. Its name may have originally been Borde Galeux d’ Eysines, translating to embroidered with scabs from Eysines. Immature pumpkins can be etched with words or designs that become warts as it matures. Galeux d’ Eysines was reportedly brought to the United States in 1996 from the Foire aux Potirons pumpkin festival in Tranzault, France by author Amy Goldman.[84][85] 1912 advertisement for Japanese Pie Pumpkin seeds     Japanese pie pumpkin or Chinese alphabet squash     Cucurbita argyrosperma     Pennsylvania     Japanese Pie Pumpkin is so-called because its seeds become crazed, resembling to Americans the appearance of Chinese characters or Japanese kanji. This variety was introduced by Samuel Wilson of Pennsylvania in 1884.[13] An unripe Jarrahdale Pumpkin     Jarrahdale pumpkin     Cucurbita maxima     Australia     A variety with a blue-gray skin, named after the Western Australian town of Jarrahdale. The Jarrahdale closely resembles the Queensland Blue. It cuts easily, and has orange, sweet-tasting flesh.[86][87]     Jonathan pumpkin, White crookneck pumpkin, or White Salem pumpkin[13][88]     Cucurbita argyrosperma         Available commercially as early as 1891 from Livingston Seed.[13] The name Jonathan may originate as a form of melioration against the character of Brother Jonathan which was sometimes used as mocking personification of the United States by satirists in Europe.[89] Brother Jonathan was also used within the United States either as characterizing the epitome of thrift and industriousness, or an unsophisticated bumpkin.[90] A whole kabocha pumpkin     Kabocha or Japanese pumpkin     Cucurbita maxima     Japan     In North America, Kabocha or Japanese pumpkin are generally kuri kabocha, a cultivar created from seiyo kabocha (buttercup squash). Varieties of kabocha include Ajihei, Ajihei No. 107, Ajihei No. 331, Ajihei No. 335, Cutie, Ebisu, Emiguri, Marron d'Or and Miyako.[91][92] In Japan, "kabocha" may refer to either this squash, to the Western pumpkin, or indeed to other squashes.[93]     Kentucky field pumpkin     Cucurbita moschata     Cuba, Mexico, or the United States     Kentucky field pumpkin is among the pumpkin cultivars grown specifically for jack-o-lantern carving.[71] It has been classified as part of a group of Cucurbita moschata cultivars historically grown by the Seminole people of the United States southeast, as well as by farmers in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. Similar cultivars were identified in Cuba as well as coastal and southern Mexico.[76] A Musquée de Provence fruit     Musquée de Provence, Moscata di Provenza or fairytale pumpkin     Cucurbita moschata     France     A large pumpkin from France with sweet, fragrant, deep-orange flesh often sold by the slice due to its size.[94] The ripe fruit of a Seminole pumpkin as viewed from above     Seminole pumpkin     Cucurbita moschata     Florida     A landrace originally cultivated by the Seminole people of what is now Florida. Naturalists recorded Seminole pumpkins hanging from trees in the 18th century.[95][96] The ripe fruit of a Styrian pumpkin as viewed from above     Styrian pumpkin     Cucurbita pepo     Styria     Styrian pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo subsp. pepo var. styriaca or var. oleifera) have hull-less seeds, which are used in Austria and Slovenia as part of a pumpkin seed oil industry that presses their roasted seeds.[97][98] A group of five Sugar Pumpkin fruit after harvest     Sugar pumpkin     Cucurbita pepo     North America     The sugar pumpkin is one of the earliest varieties of pumpkin documented by European colonists upon arrival in North America. It has sweeter flesh than the similar but larger Connecticut Field pumpkin from which sugar pumpkins may have been selected.[13] A West Indian pumpkin fruit     West Indian pumpkin, Cuban pumpkin, or Calabaza[72]     Cucurbita moschata     Cuba and West Indies     The West Indian pumpkin was brought from Cuba and the West Indies to the Philippines and United States." (wikipedia.org)
  • Condition: Used
  • Condition: Like-new with defect; one shaker has crazing at plug hole. Please see photos and description.
  • Number of Items in Set: 2
  • Pattern: Pumpkin
  • Shape: Novelty
  • Occasion: Fall
  • Size: Small
  • Color: Orange
  • Set Includes: Pepper Shaker, Salt Shaker
  • Material: Ceramic
  • MPN: 0-06783433-3
  • Food Compatibility: Seasoning
  • Brand: Kmart
  • Type: Salt & Pepper Shakers
  • Number in Pack: 2
  • Model: Pumpkin
  • Style: Novelty
  • Original/Reproduction: Original
  • Theme: Seasonal
  • Features: Hand Wash Only, Hand Painted
  • Time Period Manufactured: 2010-2019
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: China

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