September 2009 
September 3, Thursday, Ghost Festival (Kui chieh) : China.
FOOD AND DRINK
Chicken dishes, such as Chinese Crispy Chicken, are typical because chicken blood is considered to drive away ghosts. Duck and other poultry dishes are sometimes served as well.
September 7, Monday, Labor Day : Canada, 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 16, Wednesday, Independence Day (El Día de Independencia) : Mexico.
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 19, Saturday, Rosh Hashanah (rawsh-ha-shaw-naw) (rhymes with cautious fauna) (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 28, Monday, Yom Kippur (yom-kîpoor) (Day of Atonement) : 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.