1.
Confectionery
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Confectionery, also called sweets or candy, is sweet food. The term varies among English-speaking countries, in general, though, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories, bakers confections and sugar confections. Bakers confectionery, also called flour confections, includes principally sweet pastries, cakes, in the Middle East and Asia, flour-based confections are more dominant. Sugar confectionery includes sweets, candied nuts, chocolates, chewing gum and bubblegum, sweetmeats, pastillage, in some cases, chocolate confections are treated as a separate category, as are sugar-free versions of sugar confections. The words candy, sweets, and lollies are common words for the most common varieties of sugar confectionery, the confectionery industry also includes specialized training schools and extensive historical records. Traditional confectionery goes back to ancient times, and continued to be eaten through the Middle Ages into the modern era, generally, confections are low in micronutrients and protein but high in calories. They may be fat-free foods, although some confections, especially fried doughs, are high-fat foods, many confections are considered empty calories. Specially formulated chocolate has been manufactured in the past for use as a high-density food energy source. Confections are defined by the presence of sweeteners and these are usually sugars, but it is possible to buy sugar-free sweets, such as sugar-free peppermints. The most common sweetener for cooking is table sugar, which is chemically a disaccharide containing both glucose and fructose. Hydrolysis of sucrose gives a mixture called invert sugar, which is sweeter and is also a commercial ingredient. Finally confections, especially commercial ones, are sweetened by a variety of syrups obtained by hydrolysis of starch and these sweeteners include all types of corn syrup. Bakers confectionery includes sweet baked goods, especially those that are served for the dessert course, bakers confections are sweet foods that feature flour as a main ingredient and are baked. Major categories include cakes, sweet pastries, doughnuts, scones, Sugar confections include sweet, sugar-based foods, which are usually eaten as snack food. This includes sugar candies, chocolates, candied fruits and nuts, chewing gum, in the European Union, the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community scheme matches the UN classification, under code number 10.82. Ice cream and sorbet are classified with dairy products under ISIC1050, NACE10.52, different dialects of English use regional terms for sugar confections, In Britain, Ireland, and some Commonwealth countries, sweets or, more colloquially, sweeties. In Australia and New Zealand, lollies, chewy and Chuddy are Australian slang for chewing gum. In North America, candy, although this generally refers to a specific range of confectionery
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
Sugar
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Sugar is the generic name for sweet, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. There are various types of derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose, fructose, the table sugar or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide of glucose and fructose. Sugar is used in prepared foods and it is added to some foods, in the body, sucrose is hydrolysed into the simple sugars fructose and glucose. Other disaccharides include maltose from malted grain, and lactose from milk, longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides or polysaccharides. Some other chemical substances, such as glycerol may also have a sweet taste, low-calorie food substitutes for sugar, described as artificial sweeteners, include aspartame and sucralose, a chlorinated derivative of sucrose. Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants and are present in sufficient concentrations for efficient commercial extraction in sugarcane, the world production of sugar in 2011 was about 168 million tonnes. The average person consumes about 24 kilograms of sugar each year, equivalent to over 260 food calories per person, since the latter part of the twentieth century, it has been questioned whether a diet high in sugars, especially refined sugars, is good for human health. Sugar has been linked to obesity, and suspected of, or fully implicated as a cause in the occurrence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, macular degeneration, the etymology reflects the spread of the commodity. The English word sugar ultimately originates from the Sanskrit शर्करा, via Arabic سكر as granular or candied sugar, the contemporary Italian word is zucchero, whereas the Spanish and Portuguese words, azúcar and açúcar, respectively, have kept a trace of the Arabic definite article. The Old French word is zuchre and the contemporary French, sucre, the earliest Greek word attested is σάκχαρις. The English word jaggery, a brown sugar made from date palm sap or sugarcane juice, has a similar etymological origin – Portuguese jagara from the Sanskrit शर्करा. Sugar has been produced in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times and it was not plentiful or cheap in early times and honey was more often used for sweetening in most parts of the world. Originally, people chewed raw sugarcane to extract its sweetness, sugarcane was a native of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. Different species seem to have originated from different locations with Saccharum barberi originating in India and S. edule, one of the earliest historical references to sugarcane is in Chinese manuscripts dating back to 8th century BC that state that the use of sugarcane originated in India. Sugar was found in Europe by the 1st century AD, but only as an imported medicine and it is a kind of honey found in cane, white as gum, and it crunches between the teeth. It comes in lumps the size of a hazelnut, sugar is used only for medical purposes. Sugar remained relatively unimportant until the Indians discovered methods of turning sugarcane juice into granulated crystals that were easier to store, crystallized sugar was discovered by the time of the Imperial Guptas, around the 5th century AD
4.
Candy
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Candy, also called sweets or lollies, is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called sugar confectionery, encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum, vegetables, fruit, or nuts which have been glazed and coated with sugar are said to be candied. Physically, candy is characterized by the use of a significant amount of sugar or sugar substitutes, unlike a cake or loaf of bread that would be shared among many people, candies are usually made in smaller pieces. However, the definition of candy also depends upon how people treat the food, unlike sweet pastries served for a dessert course at the end of a meal, candies are normally eaten casually, often with the fingers, as a snack between meals. Each culture has its own ideas of what constitutes candy rather than dessert, the same food may be a candy in one culture and a dessert in another. Candy is a food product. Sugar candies include hard candies, soft candies, caramels, marshmallows, taffy, commercially, sugar candies are often divided into groups according to the amount of sugar they contain and their chemical structure. Comparison of sugar candies Chocolate is sometimes treated as a branch of confectionery. In this model, chocolate candies like chocolate candy bars and chocolate truffles are included, hot chocolate or other cocoa-based drinks are excluded, as is candy made from white chocolate. Comparison of chocolate types Candies can be classified into noncrystalline and crystalline types, noncrystalline candies are homogeneous and may be chewy or hard, they include hard candies, caramels, toffees, and nougats. Crystalline candies incorporate small crystals in their structure, are creamy that melt in the mouth or are easily chewed, they include fondant and fudge. Between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, the Persians, followed by the Greeks, discovered the people in India and they adopted and then spread sugar and sugarcane agriculture. Sugarcane is indigenous to tropical South and Southeast Asia, while the sugar is derived from the Sanskrit word Sharkara. Pieces of sugar were produced by boiling sugarcane juice in ancient India and consumed as Khanda, before sugar was readily available, candy was based on honey. Honey was used in Ancient China, Middle East, Egypt, Greece, Candy is still served in this form today, though now it is more typically seen as a type of garnish. Before the Industrial Revolution, candy was often considered a form of medicine, in the Middle Ages candy appeared on the tables of only the most wealthy at first. At that time, it began as a combination of spices, digestive problems were very common during this time due to the constant consumption of food that was neither fresh nor well balanced. Banquet hosts would typically serve these types of candies at banquets for their guests, one of these candies, sometimes called chamber spice, was made with cloves, ginger, aniseed, juniper berries, almonds and pine kernels dipped in melted sugar
5.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
6.
Halloween
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It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints, martyrs, and all the faithful departed. Some academics, however, support the view that Halloween began independently as a solely Christian holiday. Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows Eve, a reflected in the eating of certain foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes. The word Halloween or Halloween dates to about 1745 and is of Christian origin, the word Halloween means hallowed evening or holy evening. It comes from a Scottish term for All Hallows Eve, in Scots, the word eve is even, and this is contracted to een or een. Over time, Hallow Een evolved into Halloween, although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English All Hallows Eve is itself not seen until 1556. Todays Halloween customs are thought to have influenced by folk customs and beliefs from the Celtic-speaking countries. Samhain was the first and most important of the four days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and was celebrated on 31 October–1 November in Ireland, Scotland. A kindred festival was held at the time of year by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall and Kalan Goañv in Brittany. For the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset, Samhain and Calan Gaeaf are mentioned in some of the earliest Irish and Welsh literature. The names have been used by historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century, samhain/Calan Gaeaf marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the darker half of the year. Like Beltane/Calan Mai, it was seen as a liminal time and this meant the Aos Sí, the spirits or fairies, could more easily come into our world and were particularly active. Most scholars see the Aos Sí as degraded versions of ancient gods whose power remained active in the minds even after they had been officially replaced by later religious beliefs. The Aos Sí were both respected and feared, with individuals often invoking the protection of God when approaching their dwellings, at Samhain, it was believed that the Aos Sí needed to be propitiated to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left outside for the Aos Sí, the souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Places were set at the table and by the fire to welcome them. The belief that the souls of the return home on one night of the year. In 19th century Ireland, candles would be lit and prayers offered for the souls of the dead
7.
Maize
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Maize, also known as corn, is a large grain plant first domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The six major types of corn are dent corn, flint corn, pod corn, popcorn, flour corn, the leafy stalk of the plant produces separate pollen and ovuliferous inflorescences or ears, which are fruits, yielding kernels or seeds. Maize kernels are used in cooking as a starch. Most historians believe maize was domesticated in the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico, recent research modified this view somewhat, scholars now indicate the adjacent Balsas River Valley of south-central Mexico as the center of domestication. The Olmec and Mayans cultivated maize in numerous varieties throughout Mesoamerica, cooked and its believed that beginning about 2500 BC, the crop spread through much of the Americas. The region developed a network based on surplus and varieties of maize crops. Nevertheless, recent data indicates that the spread of maize took place even earlier, according to Piperno, A large corpus of data indicates that it was dispersed into lower Central America by 7600 BP and had moved into the inter-Andean valleys of Colombia between 7000 and 6000 BP. Since then, even earlier dates have been published, the study also demonstrated that the oldest surviving maize types are those of the Mexican highlands. Later, maize spread from this region over the Americas along two major paths and this is consistent with a model based on the archaeological record suggesting that maize diversified in the highlands of Mexico before spreading to the lowlands. Before they were domesticated, maize plants only grew small,25 millimetres long corn cobs, Maize is the most widely grown grain crop throughout the Americas, with 361 million metric tons grown in the United States in 2014. Approximately 40% of the crop—130 million tons—is used for corn ethanol, genetically modified maize made up 85% of the maize planted in the United States in 2009. After the arrival of Europeans in 1492, Spanish settlers consumed maize and explorers and traders carried it back to Europe, Spanish settlers far preferred wheat bread to maize, cassava, or potatoes. Maize flour could not be substituted for wheat for bread, since in Christian belief only wheat could undergo transubstantiation. At another level, Spaniards worried that by eating indigenous foods, which they did not consider nutritious, that not only would they weaken, despite these worries, Spaniards did consume maize and archeological evidence from Florida sites indicate they cultivated it as well. Maize spread to the rest of the world because of its ability to grow in diverse climates and it was cultivated in Spain just a few decades after Columbuss voyages and then spread to Italy, West Africa and elsewhere. The word maize derives from the Spanish form of the indigenous Taíno word for the plant and it is known by other names around the world. The word corn outside North America, Australia, and New Zealand refers to any cereal crop, in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, corn primarily means maize, this usage started as a shortening of Indian corn. Indian corn primarily means maize, but can more specifically to multicolored flint corn used for decoration
8.
Corn kernel
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Corn kernels are the fruits of maize. Maize is a grain, and the kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable or a source of starch, one ear of corn contains roughly 800 kernels in 16 rows. One hundred bushels of corn can contain upwards of 7,280,000 kernels, corn is a popular food throughout the world in many forms. It is used in breakfast cereals in the Western world and it is a grain that can be eaten raw off the cob, although it is usually preferred cooked. In the United States, for reasons such as government subsidies, corn is the basis of many products, in the form of high fructose corn syrup. The kernel of maize consists of a pericarp fused to the seed coat and this type of fruit is typical of the grasses and is called a caryopsis. Maize kernels are frequently and incorrectly referred to as seeds, the kernels are about the size of peas, and adhere in regular rows round a white, pithy substance, which forms the ear. The kernels can be of various colors, blackish, bluish-gray, purple, green, red, white, when ground into flour, maize yields more flour, with much less bran, than wheat does. It lacks the protein gluten of wheat and, therefore, makes baked goods with poor rising capability, a genetic variant that accumulates more sugar and less starch in the ear is consumed as a vegetable and is called sweet corn. Corn kernels are readily available in bulk throughout maize-producing areas, transportation and packaging of dried clean corn kernels to non-producing areas adds to the cost. Corn kernels are used as pelletized fuel for stoves and furnaces. Corn kernels are a natural pellet, which gives them an advantage over other man-made biomass pellets. However, the use of corn as a fuel stock may increase the price of corn and have effects on corn as a food stock
9.
Fondant icing
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Fondant icing, also commonly referred to simply as fondant, is an edible icing used to decorate or sculpt cakes and pastries. It is made sugar, water, gelatin, and glycerol. It does not have the texture of most icings, rolled fondant is akin to stiff clay, the word, in French, means melting, coming from the same root as fondue and foundry. Poured fondant is a creamy confection used as a filling or coating for cakes, pastries, in its simplest form, it is sugar and water stabilized with gelatin and glycerine. It is cooked to the stage, cooled slightly, and stirred or beaten to incorporate air. Sometimes lemon or vanilla is added to the mixture for taste, other flavorings are used as well, as are various colorings. An example of its use is the Cadbury Creme Egg, the filling of which is inverted sugar syrup, Fondant fancies are a type of cake typically coated in poured fondant. Rolled fondant, fondant icing, or pettinice, which is not the material as poured fondant, is commonly used to decorate wedding cakes. Although wedding cakes are made with marzipan and royal icing. Rolled fondant includes gelatin and food-grade glycerine, which keeps the sugar pliable and it can also be made using powdered sugar and melted marshmallows. Rolled fondant is rolled out like a pie crust and used to cover the cake, commercial shelf-stable rolled fondant often consists principally of sugar and hydrogenated oil. However, different formulations for commercial shelf-stable fondant are available and include other ingredients, such as sugar, cellulose gum, sculpting fondant is similar to rolled fondant but with a stiffer consistency, which makes it a good sculpting material. Sugar paste or gum paste is similar to rolled fondant, but it will harden out completely and therefore is used for bigger cake decorations such as bride and groom figures, bigger flowers, ingredients of sugar paste are mainly egg whites and powdered sugar. Poured fondant is formed by supersaturating water with sucrose, more than twice as much sugar will dissolve in water at the boiling point as will at room temperature. After the sucrose is dissolved, if the solution is left to cool undisturbed, while the solution is supersaturated, if a seed crystal falls into the mix, or if the solution is agitated, the dissolved sucrose crystallizes to form large, crunchy crystals. However, if the solution is allowed to cool undisturbed, and then stirred vigorously, it forms many tiny crystals, media related to Fondant at Wikimedia Commons
10.
Marshmallow
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Some marshmallow recipes call for eggs. This confection is the version of a medicinal confection made from Althaea officinalis. The word marshmallow stems from the plant that is a genus of an herb native to parts of Europe, North Africa. The word marsh is used because the plant grows in marshes. The plant itself has a stem, leaves, and a flower that has five white petals. There is no date as to when marshmallows were invented. Ancient Egyptians were said to be the first to enjoy this gooey treat and it was strictly reserved for gods and royalty, who took the root of the plant and used it as a medicinal to soothe coughs and sore throats, and heal wounds. The first marshmallows were prepared by boiling pieces of pulp with sugar until it thickened. Once thickened, the mixture was strained, cooled, and then used as intended, whether it was being used for candy or medicinal purposes, the manufacturing process was limited to a small scale. In the early to mid-1800s, the marshmallow had made its way to France where confectioners married the plants medicinal purposes with indulgent ingredients utilized by the Egyptians, owners of small candy stores would whip the sap from the mallow root into a fluffy candy mold. This candy was called Pâté de Guimauve and it was a spongy-soft dessert made from whipping dried marshmallow roots with sugar, water, and egg whites. It was sold in bar form as a lozenge, the only issue now was that the drying and preparing of the marshmallow took 1 to 2 days before the final product could be produced. Thus, these stores could never keep up with the demand. In the late 1800s, candy makers started looking for a new process, the way this system worked was that there were trays of modified corn starch, and each tray had a mold firmly pushed down in it to create cavities within the starch. The cavities were filled with the whipped marshmallow sap mixture. At the same time, candy makers had begun to replace the mallow root with gelatin which created a form of marshmallow. By the early 1900s, thanks to the starch mogul system, marshmallows were introduced to the United States and they were sold in tins as penny candy, and began to be used in a variety of food recipes like banana fluff, lime mallow sponge, and tutti frutti. In 1948, Alex Doumak revolutionized the process for manufacturing marshmallows and he created and patented the extrusion process which involved taking the marshmallow ingredients, and running them through tubes
11.
Thanksgiving
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Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in Canada, in the United States, in some of the Caribbean islands and in Liberia. It was originally celebrated as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest, similarly named festival holidays occur 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, although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well. Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among almost all religions after harvests, the Thanksgiving holidays 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 date on which the modern Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated. Before 1536 there were 95 Church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, the 1536 reforms reduced the number of Church holidays to 27, but some Puritans wished to completely eliminate all Church holidays, including Christmas and Easter. The holidays were to be replaced by specially called Days of Fasting or Days of Thanksgiving, unexpected disasters or threats of judgement from on high called for Days of Fasting. Special blessings, viewed as coming from God, called for Days of Thanksgiving, for example, Days of Fasting were called on account of drought in 1611, floods in 1613, and plagues in 1604 and 1622. Days of Thanksgiving were called following the victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588, 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. Some researchers state that there is no compelling narrative of the origins of the Canadian Thanksgiving day, the origins of 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 and continued throughout the winter season, 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, most of the US aspects of Thanksgiving, were incorporated when United Empire Loyalists began to flee from the United States during the American Revolution and settled in Canada. The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest, Pilgrims and Puritans who began emigrating from England in the 1620s and 1630s carried the tradition of Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving with them to New England. In the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God, now called Oktober Feesten, Leidens autumn thanksgiving celebration in 1617 was the occasion for sectarian disturbance that appears to have accelerated the pilgrims plans to emigrate to America. Later in Massachusetts, religious thanksgiving services were declared by civil leaders such as Governor Bradford, the practice of holding an annual harvest festival did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s. Thanksgiving proclamations were made mostly by church leaders in New England up until 1682, during the revolutionary period, political influences affected the issuance of Thanksgiving proclamations. Various proclamations were made by governors, John Hancock, General George Washington. James Baker maintains, The American holidays 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 Gods providence
12.
Christmas
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In several countries, celebrating Christmas Eve on December 24 has the main focus rather than December 25, with gift-giving and sharing a traditional meal with the family. Although the month and date of Jesus birth are unknown, by the fourth century the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December 25. Today, most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar and this is not a disagreement over the date of Christmas as such, but rather a preference of which calendar should be used to determine the day that is December 25. Although it is not known why December 25 became a date of celebration, December 25 was the date the Romans marked as the winter solstice, the shortest, and therefore darkest day of the year. Jesus was identified with the Sun based on an Old Testament verse, the date is exactly nine months following Annunciation, when the conception of Jesus is celebrated. Finally, the Romans had a series of pagan festivals near the end of the year, so Christmas may have been scheduled at this time to appropriate, or compete with, one or more of these festivals. The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, the economic impact of Christmas has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world. Christmas is a form of Christs mass. It is derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, which is from Old English Crīstesmæsse, crīst is from Greek Khrīstos, a translation of Hebrew Māšîaḥ, Messiah, meaning anointed, and mæsse is from Latin missa, the celebration of the Eucharist. The form Christenmas was also used, but is now considered archaic and dialectal, it derives from Middle English Cristenmasse. In addition to Christmas, the holiday has been known by other names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons referred to the feast as midwinter, or, more rarely, Nativity, meaning birth, is from Latin nātīvitās. In Old English, Gēola referred to the corresponding to December and January. Noel entered English in the late 14th century and is from the Old French noël or naël, itself ultimately from the Latin nātālis, the canonical gospels of Luke and Matthew both describe Jesus as being born in Bethlehem in Judea, to a virgin mother. In the Gospel of Luke account, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census and it says that angels proclaimed him a savior for all people, and shepherds came to adore him. In the Matthew account, magi follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, King Herod orders the massacre of all the boys less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family flees to Egypt and later settles in Nazareth. The Nativity stories of Matthew and Luke are prominent in the gospels, the first recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome in 336. Christmas played a role in the Arian controversy of the fourth century, the feast regained prominence after 800, when Charlemagne was crowned emperor on Christmas Day
Cookbook: Candy corn 
Media: Candy corn
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