It is slightly odd (or maybe it isn’t) that the symbols for the United States major political parties are animals that tend to not get much respect. They can thank political cartoonist Thomas Nash, who publish a cartoon in Harper’s Weekly on November 7, 1874 that lampoon a very bizarre story that ran in the New York Herald.
The story, a complete hoax, said that the animals in the Central Park Zoo had escaped and were terrorizing the wild animals in the Park. He drew an ass to symbolize the Herald wearing a lion’s skin frightening away the animals in Central Park. Bringing in the current political situation, he drew an elephant to represent the Republican vote – not the Republican party - which was scared of a possible third term try from possibility for President Ulysses S. Grant.
The Republicans did badly in that November’s election and in a cartoon on November 21, 1874, Nast published a cartoon showing the elephant in a trap. Other cartoonists picked up the symbol, and the elephant soon ceased to be the vote and became the party itself. The jackass, now referred to as the donkey, made the transition from representing the Herald to representing the Democratic party that had frightened the elephant.

Considered a general flag day in Finland, Finnish Swedish Heritage Day is a time to celebrate the two cultures and their two languages. It falls on November 6 to mark honor King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden who died in the Battle of Lutzen in 1632.
The holiday was started in 1908 as a way to highlight the native language of the Swedes and their right to speak their language in Finland. Swedish-speaking Finns amount to almost 300,000 people or almost 6 percent of the total population. Live in the coastal areas of southern and western Finland.
Many celebrations of Finnish Swedish Heritage Day are held in Finnish schools. The song Modersmålets sång is sung, celebrating the mother tongue. Click here to listen to the choir of the “Åbolands sång och musikförbund” sing “Modersmålets sång” in Swedish.
Hur härligt sången klingar på älskat modersmål!
Han tröst i sorgen bringar, han skärper sinnets stål.
Vi hört den sången ljuda i ljuvlig barndomstid,
och en gång skall han bjuda åt oss i graven frid!
Du sköna sång, vårt bästa arv från tidevarv till tidevarv:
ljud högt, ljud fritt från strand till strand i tusen sjöars land!

Vad ädelt fädren tänkte, vad skönt de drömt en gång,
det allt de åt oss skänkte i modersmålets sång.
Hur våra öden randas den sången är oss kär.
Vår själ i honom andas, vår rikedom han är!
Du sköna sång, vårt bästa arv från tidevarv till tidevarv:
ljud högt, ljud fritt från strand till strand i tusen sjöars land!

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot…

On November 5,1605, Guy Fawkes and a small band of conspirators planned to blow up King James I and the English Parliament. Fortunately the plot was discovered and Fawkes was found in the cellar of the Houses of Parliament surrounded by casks of gunpowder. After being tortured he was executed for treason.

Guy Fawkes is central to the popular movie “V for Vendetta”, which was a comic book series that appeared in the 1980s, written by Alan Moore and illustrated mostly by David Lloyd.

People in England and New Zealand celebrate the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot with Bonfire Night celebrations on the night of Nov. 5. The revelers traditionally bake potatoes in the bonfire and also munch on black toffee made with dark molasses. Parkin, a cake made with the same black treacle is also a specialty.
Ingredients
2 c flour

2 t baking powder

2 t ginger

1/2 cup sugar (optional)

1 cup oats

1 cup milk

1/3 cup margarine

1 cup molasses and honey mixed (in England this would be treacle and golden syrup)

Directions
Mix together the flour, baking powder, and ginger as well as sugar if desired. Soak oats in milk for 1/2 hour. Melt margarine and add molasses and honey. Combine wet ingredients and add to dry. Pour into a 9″ x 11″ pan. Bake at 325F for 45 minutes or until it starts to come away from the sides of the pan.

My 4-H group made a batch of the best rolled out cookies I’ve ever had. It’s an easy recipe and no chilling the dough for an hour, just mix and start using! I had them roll out between pieces of parchment paper so there was no sticking.
They decorated them in honor of Mexico’s Day of the Dead.
Roll-out Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour
Directions
Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add baking pwder and flour, one cup at a time. The dough should be stiff and you may need to blend the last of the flour by hand.
Do not chill dough. Roll out and cut out using your favorite cookie cutters. Dip cutters in flour to keep them from sticking to the dough.
Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 6 to 10 minutes, depending on your oven and how brown you like them.

There’s a lot of celebrating the deceased in the beginning of November, with Mexico’s Day of the Dead and Portugal’s Dia de Finados. But all of these holidays have their roots in the Roman Catholic celebrations of All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day.
All Saints’ Day is also known as All Hallows’ Day or Hallowmas and falls on the day after All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween). It is a Holy Day of Obligation, meaning that all Catholics are required to go to church on that day. As part of the day, Catholics should remember all saints and martyrs throughout Christian history. Remembering saints and martyrs and dedicating a specific day to them each year has been a Christian tradition since the 4th century AD, but it wasn’t until 609AD that Pope Boniface IV designated May 13th to remember all martyrs. Over 200 years later, in 837AD, Pope Gregory IV extended the festival to remember all the saints and designated November 1st as the date.
All Souls’ Day is an opportunity for Anglicans and Roman Catholics to commemorate the faithful departed and began at the end of the 10th century. They day is spent remembering and praying for the souls of people who are in Purgatory - the place where those who have died atone for their less grave sins before moving on to Heaven. Traditions include the offering of Requiem Mass for the dead, visiting family graves and reflecting on lost loved ones. In Mexico, on el dia de los muertos (Day of the Dead), people take picnics to their family graves and leave food out for their dead relatives.

For pageantry and tradition, you can’t beat Mexico’s version of Halloween, El Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. Actually it’s more like three days, as the holiday begins the night of October 31 and continuing on November 1 with All Saints Day and November 2 with All Soul’s Day. Because the country is so Catholic, these are some of the most important days of the year, and they treat them with respect and reverence. Mexicans use these days to remember family and friends who have passed away. They visit and decorate graves, spend time reminiscing and of course gather living family and friends for meals and celebrations. November 1 focuses on children who have died, and November 2, on adults.
Rituals associated with this holiday include setting up altars in the home and spreading out food and flowers for the dead. Orange chrysanthemums are used for both their color and their scent. Vibrantly colored sugar skulls are sold in markets are made in homes with a mixture of sugar and merangine powder. Here’s a link to step by step instruction if you want to try this at home.
Other traditional foods include baked candied pumpkin and Pan de Muerto, a sweet loaf with extra dough fashioned into pieces resembling bones. The bread is baked, glazed and decorated with colored sugar.
Ingredients
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup (half a stick) margarine or butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup very warm water
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
1/2 teaspoon anise seed
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons sugar
Directions
Bring milk to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in margarine or butter, 1/4 cup sugar and salt.
In large bowl, mix yeast with warm water until dissolved and let stand 5 minutes. Add the milk mixture.
Separate the yolk and white of one egg. Add the yolk to the yeast mixture, but save the white for later. Add flour to the yeast and egg. Blend well until dough ball is formed.
Flour a pastry board or work surface very well and place the dough in center. Knead until smooth. Return to large bowl and cover with dish towel. Let rise in warm place for 90 minutes.
Grease a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Knead dough again on floured surface. Divide the dough into fourths and set one fourth aside. Roll the remaining 3 pieces into “ropes.” On greased baking sheet, pinch 3 rope ends together and braid. Finish by pinching ends together on opposite side. Divide the remaining dough in half and form 2 “bones.” Cross and lay them atop braided loaf.
Cover bread with dish towel and let rise for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix anise seed, cinnamon and 2 teaspoons sugar together. In another bowl, beat egg white lightly.
When 30 minutes are up, brush top of bread with egg white and sprinkle with sugar mixture, except on cross bones. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

You probably already know all the pop culture about Halloween, the trick or treating, the ghosts and goblins, the costumes and food. But did you know that the holiday has its roots in a Celtic festival celebrating the last harvest on October 31? The night of Samhain (literally “summer’s end”) is called Oíche Shamhna in Irish and and Oidhche Shamhna in Scots Gaelic. To hear clips of how to say this in traditional Gaelic, visit Irish Sayings.com.
In modern Ireland and Scotland, the name by which Halloween is known in the Gaelic language is still Oíche/Oidhche Shamhna. It is still the custom in some areas to set a place for the dead at the Samhain feast, and to tell tales of the ancestors on that night.
The Romans play a part in our modern Halloween also. They had their own feast of the dead, the Lemuria. With the rise of Chrsitianity, the festival in November became All Hallows’ Day on November 1st followed by All Souls’ Day, on November 2nd. Over time, the night of October 31 came to be called All Hallow’s Eve, and eventually became the secular holiday known as Halloween.
Anyone who went to Catholic school knows the joys of spending the next day with all that candy, because on November 1 the schools were closed for the Holy Day of Obligation, All Saints Day.
Bring out the harvest theme of Halloween with these easy Baked Mini Pumpkins.
Ingredients:
4 mini pumpkins
4 tsp butter
4 tsp maple syrup
4 tsp chopped toasted pecans
Cinnamon
Directions:
Cut off pumpkin tops; set aside. Scoop out seeds and stringy portions; discard. Divide butter and maple syrup among pumpkins.
In shallow baking dish, bake pumpkins in 375F oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until tender but still hold their shape. (Or microwave at High for 8 to 12 minutes, rotating once.)
Sprinkle cavities evenly with pecans and cinnamon to taste. Replace tops.

This is not a night for ghosts and goblins, but a night for all those mortals who like to make a little trouble. The eve of Halloween has long been considered Mischief Night, with local kids playing “tricks” on neighbors, like ringing doorbells and running away and TPing (toilet papering) the trees. In recent years the holiday has been banned in many places as the event grew from mischief to malicious, with fires and vandalism becoming increasing prevalent.
Mischief night is a tradition in England, Scotland, Ireland, and the United States. There are many names for it, such as Miggy Night, Goosey Night, Tick-Tack night, Corn night, Trick night in England and Gate Night and Mat Night in Canada.

The Great Depression, a defining time for the United States in the early part of the 20th Century, began with a bang on Oct. 24, 1929, a day that became known as “Black Thursday”. On that day the slow slide on value of stock came to a screeching halt, as many investor tried to pull their money out of the market. The full force of this catastrophic event was felt throughout the next decade, as the banking industry collapsed when they could not get their loans repaid and businesses failed because they could not get new loans.
It is difficult to teach economics to students who think that money is as close as their parents wallet. Most of what happens in the banking and mortgage industry is not black and white, but money is an important subject to learn, if for nothing else than knowing what mistakes not to make. PBS has a great website on “The First Measured Century”, which outlines US history from the wave of immigration in the early 1900s to the economy of the 1980s. The section on the Great Depression is very comprehensive.

Here’s a great way to celebrate a national holiday, encourage people to take a long walk! That’s how they do it in Austria, where National Day is celebrate to commemorate the October 26, 1955 that country was official incorporated after having been occupied by foreign powers during World War II. Now it has become a national “fitness day” with many people all over Austria taking long walks. The Parlament building and all national museums are open and visits are free to the public. Stores are closed.
Austria is know for its wein, but when it comes to celebrating, go for dessert! This recipe is for traditional Kaiserschmarren, or Empiror’s Pancake. It was originally made for Emperor Francis Joseph I and became a Austrian speciality.
Ingredients
1 cup sifted flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
½ cup milk
2 cup heavy cream
½ tablespoons butter, melted
½ cup butter
½ cup raisins soaked in water (or rum!) for 30 minutes
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sugar

Plum Compote
5 ounces granulated sugar
5 ounces water
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1 ½ lbs pitted and sliced red plums

Directions for the Kaiserschmarren:
Sift flour, sugar and salt together. Whip eggs until light and frothy; beat in milk and cream and melted butter. Turn flour mixture into beaten egg and whip until you have smooth batter.
Grease a 6″ or 8″ skillet with a little butter and when moderately hot, pour in just enough batter to cover bottom of skillet with a paper thin layer. To do this, pour batter, then quickly tilt and rotate pan so batter runs over it evenly. Cook over moderate heat until pancake is golden brown on underside; turn and brown second side. Remove to a heated platter. Continue frying pancakes this way until batter has been used.
With two forks, tear pancakes into small pieces, approximately 1″ to 1 1/2″ squares or rectangles will do. Melt 1/2 cup butter in a 10″ skillet and add soaked, well drained raisins and cinnamon. Put cut pancakes into this sauce and sprinkle with 1 cup sugar. Toss lightly over low heat so that it becomes evenly distributed. Do this quickly, as sugar should not melt but retain some of its grainy texture. Serve immediately. Makes 16-20 pancakes.

For the Plum Compote:
In a saucepan, bring the sugar, water, cinnamon, and star anise to a boil.
Gently mix in the plums, reduce heat and allow to cook for 5 minutes, covered.
Serve warm or at room temperature as a dipping suace for the Kaiserschmarren