September 2, Labor Day. United States

Designed to honor workers, this day is the unofficial end of summer. Relaxed picnics and barbecues signal a final day of leisure before resuming serious work after the slower pace of summer. Barbecued meats (pork, chicken, steak), salads, and potato chips like those served on Memorial Day and July 4 are typical.

September 7-8, Rosh Hashanah (New Year). Jewish

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins at sundown the day before. The words "Rosh Hashanah" literally mean " head of the year," and the first ten days of the year are called the Days of Awe or Repentance. At this time Jews contemplate the past year and ask for forgiveness for sins from God and from people they have wronged. The tenth day, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is marked by religious services. Jews emerge from these services freed from sin by repentance and sealed into the Book of Life; thus they are renewed for the coming year.

FOOD AND DRINK

Rosh Hashanah coincides with the harvest and many food customs celebrate the plenty of the season by featuring vegetables and fruits. There is also great emphasis on sweet things such as honey and sweet fruits to symbolize the hope for a "sweet" and prosperous year to come.

Jews of all communities begin the holiday meal, served on the first evening of Rosh Hashanah, with apple slices dipped in a bowl of honey.

The main course is usually meat, chicken, beef, or lamb, often cooked with fruit, and sweet vegetables such as carrots or sweet potatoes, or a sweetened sauce.

Tzimmes, a dish of sweet vegetables, sometimes including fruit, is a popular side dish. The selection of vegetables varies from community to community and cook to cook, but likely choices include carrots, winter squash, sweet potatoes, quinces, apples, prunes, and raisins. Honey or brown sugar is used as a sweetener, and some cooks also add spices such as cinnamon or allspice. Sometimes beef is included in tzimmes. As well as being sweet, carrots symbolize prosperity because they look like gold coins when cut into discs. In this form, they garnish dishes such as gefilte fish.

Among Sephardic Jews, green vegetables such as spinach symbolize a "green" year with plentiful crops, while rice is also served because its many grains are a sign of abundance.

In keeping with the emphasis on sweet dishes, challah, the traditional braided egg bread, is made sweeter with extra sugar and raisins and baked in round shapes to signify a full year.

Desserts often make use of honey, fruit, and nuts, once again emphasizing the themes of sweetness and plenty.

Sephardic Jews from the Mediterranean region have a service called Yehi Ratsones (May It Be Your Will) at which they eat seven symbolic foods, each expressing a wish. Apple slices in honey or jellied rose petals signify the hope for a sweet year, dates are to create a sense of wonder, pomegranate is for a year rich with seeds, pumpkin is eaten in the hope of being remembered for good deeds, leeks such as in leek fritters are eaten to diminish enemies and beets to remove them. Finally, each person eats a bit from the head of a whole fish in the hope that they will be at the head rather than the tail of things in the coming year. The fruits and vegetables are chosen because their names sound similar to the wishes they signify.

September 16, El Día de Independencia (Independence Day). Mexican

This is the anniversary of the historic occasion in 1810 when Mexicans first took arms against their Spanish rulers. Today the bell that summoned the original rebels is rung by the president on the evening of the holiday.

FOOD AND DRINK

Tamales are made for every festive occasion in Mexico. These are mixtures of white cornmeal with meat, vegetables, and seasonings wrapped in a corn husk and cooked inside a banana or other large leaf, which keeps them moist. Fillings, and the leaves to cook them in, vary from region to region.

Another especially patriotic dish is chiles in nogada. These are poblano chilies stuffed with ground pork and served coated in a creamy white walnut sauce garnished with pomegranate seeds and flat-leafed parsley. The colors of the dish are those of the Mexican flag—the green chilies and parsley, the white sauce, and the red pomegranate seeds. The dish was invented in 1821 in honor of Don Agustin de Iturbide, who led the final revolt against the Spanish. It can only be made during this season since the sauce requires fresh walnuts, unavailable at other times.

September 16, Yom Kippur. Jewish

Yom Kippur begins at sundown the day before, as a day when Jews attend religious services to atone for their sins. Sundown also begins the 24-hour fast during Yom Kippur.

FOOD AND DRINK

The meal on the evening before Yom Kippur is generally large. People often choose chicken as the main dish. Chicken soup is also popular, often served with kreplach, filled dough in shapes similar to tortellini.

At the end of Yom Kippur the fast is broken by a light meal, often of dairy foods that can be prepared ahead of time.

September 21, Chusok (Harvest Festival). Korean

On this thanksgiving festival, Koreans pay respects to their ancestors.

FOOD AND DRINK

Chusok is celebrated with family feasts. Dishes include large bowls of noodles and rice accompanied by dishes of beans, vegetables, dumplings, and chicken and meat dishes. Among these, bulgogi is most important because it is the national celebratory dish of Korea and appears on every, festive occasion. Bulgogi is made from thin strips of tenderloin beef marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, ginger, garlic, scallions, and sesame seeds and cooked in a table-top griddle by the diners. Kimchi, a pungent pickle made from fermented cabbage and chilies, is always served with Korean meals. Mooncakes made of rice, chestnuts, and fruit are also eaten at Chusok.

September 21, Mid-Autumn Moon Festival (Chung-ch'iu). Chinese

This autumn festival gives thanks for the food being stored for winter. Evening outdoor celebrations include poetry recitals, wine drinking, and traditional games centered around finding a good husband. Friends and families visit and eat together, often outdoors.

FOOD AND DRINK

The Chinese place melons and other round, moon-like fruits outdoors as tributes to the moon and offer yellow beans to the "rabbit in the moon." The most typical treat, however, are mooncakes made from a wheat-flour dough, stamped with Chinese characters, and baked to a rich golden brown. In northern China, mooncakes have two fillings—a sugar paste or a date paste. In southern China, the fillings are more varied—they include ham, preserved apricots, sweet bean puree, walnuts, and watermelon seeds.

September 21, Mid-Autumn Moon Festival (Tet Trung Thu). Vietnamese

Like the Chinese Moon Festival, Tet Trung Thu celebrates the harvest. Lantern processions are typical with candies and mooncakes as treats.

September 21, Sukkoth. Jewish

Sukkoth is a harvest holiday, celebrated for nine days. Observance of Sukkoth includes eating meals outdoors in booths made of wood and decorated with fruits and vegetables to signify the huts used by the Israelites during harvest times. Like most Jewish holidays, Sukkoth begins at sundown the day before.

FOOD AND DRINK

The harvest influences all the foods eaten at Sukkoth. Tzimmes, the vegetable stew popular at Rosh Hashanah, may be served. Stuffed vegetables such as eggplant, peppers, and cabbage leaves are also popular choices, as are desserts made with apples or other seasonal fruits. Fruits are strung from the roof of the shelter as a festive decoration, and in America cornstalks are often used as decoration.

In Israel a type of citron (etrog), a fruit like a large thick-skinned lemon, is especially important during Sukkoth because in the ritual it symbolizes God's bounty. Citrons are known in this country only as the candied peel used in fruit cakes and cookies. The most important Sukkoth meals are those on the first and last evenings of the holiday and on the Sabbath that occurs during the holiday.