Cooking Exceptionally With Gin Lee

  The Story Behind Halloween: How Old Customs Shaped Today’s Celebration Jack-o’-lanterns glow on doorsteps, costumes fill the streets, and children call “trick or treat.” The story behind Halloween explains how these familiar sights grew from customs that began centuries ago. Halloween didn’t come from one place or one event. Its traditions took shape over time through seasonal festivals, Christian holy days, local folk customs, immigration, and popular culture. The holiday’s history includes the Gaelic festival of Samhain, the Christian observance of All Hallows’ Eve, and customs such as souling and guising. Some links between these practices and today’s Halloween are clear; others remain uncertain. The story behind Halloween has more than one beginning Halloween’s past is layered, and no single origin explains every tradition. Seasonal customs, religious observances, and regional practices all helped shape the holiday. Samhain offers context, not a simple origin story Samhain wa...

  Food With a Spooky History: What Halloween and Funeral Foods Reveal (Note : "This article contains content that may not be suitable for younger audiences.”) A cake made with urine and fed to a dog. Bread baked with charms that hinted at marriage, poverty, or death. Food with a spooky history can carry stories far stranger than its ingredients. Some tales come from records of real customs or events. Others grew through folklore, rumor, or later retellings. Separating the two helps us see what people feared, hoped for, and did together. These stories lead from Salem’s witchcraft crisis to Halloween games and funeral tables. Along the way, they show how ordinary food could hold deep meaning, even when its supposed powers were only a matter of belief. Food With a Spooky History: Salem’s Witch Cake How a cake entered a witchcraft accusation On February 25, 1692, Salem Village residents Tituba and John Indian made a “witch cake” from rye meal and the urine of girls said to be afflicte...