Seasonal Exhibit New Year's Foods Around  the World Rosh ha-Shanah Permanent Exhibits Special Exhibits Other Seasonal Exhibits	Foods of  New Year Celebrations Around the World and Around the Calendar Rosh ha-Shanah (Jewish New Year) Photo source--http://commhum.mccneb.edu/tpowers/ Braiding Challah, a popular holiday bread. Photo source--http://www.classiccake.com/menu.html Baking challah for the holidays.  Apples dipped in honey are an important part of theJewish  New Year ritual...as a sign and hope for sweetness in the year to come. This new year (5765) began on September 16 and started ten days of Penitence, which closes with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement on September 25.   Divali & Ramadan Sweets Tony Cenicola/The New York Times This week, in a coincidence of calendars, Hindus and Muslims from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are celebrating the most joyous holidays of the year. Hindus observe the festival of lights, Diwali, or Deepavali, which ushers in the new year; Muslims finish the holy month of Ramadan with Id al-Fitr, which signals the end of the monthlong daytime fast and a return to the sweetness of daily life. The two holidays, Hindus and Muslims here say, are utterly soaked in sugar.The festive piles of pink, green, yellow, orange and white sweets, some shimmering with silver leaf, others snowy with shreds of coconut or crunchy with nuggets of pistachio, are integral to many religious celebrations and social rituals in South Asia. Read the full NY Times article here.   Divali Foods During the observation of Divali, as a form of sacrifice, no meat is prepared. However, a variety of tasty dishes are prepared. During the preparation of the food, no tasting occurs before it is offered to Maha (Mother) Lakshmi – the Goddess of Light for her blessings of prosperity. The offering takes the form of a Pooja. After the offerings are placed next to the picture of the Goddess or a murrti (statue), the offerings are mixed together and then placed into the fire. It is a custom for a small portion of the offering to be returned to the same pots in which the food was prepared as a form of further blessing. Only after this has occurred can anyone partake in the variety of vegetarian dishes. Guests of the family are invited after 6 o'clock where all can enjoy the delightful food. Roti, the most popular of the delicacies, is the base from which most other dishes are prepared. Roti is a light sandwich-bread (similar to pita bread) wrapped around a curry-based filling of vegetables. Varieties of roti are prepare, including paratha (silky, flaked type of pita bread), sada (a solid type of pita bread) and dhalpurie (a soft type of pita bread stuffed with ground, split peas). Curried channa, aloo (potatoes & chick peas), dhal (split peas flavoured with spices) pomme cythere, (golden apple), usually accompany the roti, with extra dishes of specially-prepared pumpkin, bhagi (a type of leaf), chataigne and chutney, saheena (patties prepared with soaked and ground split peas, steamed dasheen leaves and spices), baiganee (a pie made with melongene), karhi and katchorie (round balls made with flour and various powders). Read more about the foods of Divali here. Read about Divali: the Hindu festival of lights here.