Kuri Kinton

Kuri kinton is a classic Japanese New Year dish of mashed sweet potato with chestnuts in chestnut syrup and mirin. The beautiful golden color of the dish symbolizes wealth. (Photo by kazuh. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.)

Hamantaschen

Hamantaschen, the triangular filled cookies baked for the Jewish holiday of Purim, are formed in the shape of the Persian vizer Haman’s three-cornered hat. By eating this symbolic hat, the evil Haman is destroyed. (Photo by Meaghan O’Malley. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.)

Poppy Seeds

Poppy seed-based sweets symbolize abundance and fertility, and thus are very popular for festive occasions like Easter or weddings, but most of all for Christmas or New Year’s Eve, when the tiny seeds augur a plentiful harvest in the new year. (Photo by Martina Rathgens. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.)

Lotus Seeds

Lotus seeds, a traditional symbol of fertility, are often made into a sweet paste to fill dumplings and buns. (Photo by Jason Lam. CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr.)

Gugelhupf

Gugelhupf by the mid-1800s became a symbol of middle-class status with its light, egg-rich crumb, its rosewater flavoring, chopped almonds, and elaborate shape lightly dusted with vanilla sugar. It is also an accepted symbol of friendship, hospitality, mutual esteem, and a part of popular culture throughout Alsace. (Photo by Katrin Morenz. CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr.)

Apples in Honey

In Jewish tradition, a child dips a piece of apple in honey on his or her first day of school to symbolize the sweetness of knowledge. (Photo by Robert Couse-Baker. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.)

Sugar Skulls

Though rarely ever eaten, small sugar skulls made from a process known as alfeñique have become the primary symbol of Dia de los Muertos. (Photo by Jorge Nava. CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr.)

Lussekatter

Lussekatter, originating in Sweden, celebrate Saint Lucia Day. They are baked in the shape of either crowns or rolls called “cats”—coiled dough with a raisin dotting the center to symbolize the blinding of the martyr St. Lucy by her Roman captors. (Photo by Magnus D. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.)

Anguila

Anguila, magnificently stuffed with sweet potato, almond paste, and egg yolk with syrup, and ornamented in the style of Toledan filigree, symbolizes power and wealth. It appears at Christmas surrounded by marzipan figurines and turrón. (Photo by Manuel. CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr.)

Angel Food Cake

The Piñata

The piñata came to symbolize the battle between good and evil. Breaking it open with a decorated stick, participants were rewarded with candies for having vanquished evil and temptation. The shape of the original piñata with its seven-pointed star, one for each of the seven deadly sins, had symbolic value; the candies, fruit, and toys represented earthly pleasures. Thus, the game symbolized blind faith (the blindfolded player) conquering evil. Second, the colorfully decorated pot is a symbol of hope as it hangs overhead—in the heavens. It is only by breaking the pot with virtue (the colorfully decorated stick) that the hope for a reward for good acts can be realized. Finally, as the vessel that holds all good is broken, everyone enjoys the blessings, the reward for leading a good life. (Photo by David Stanley. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.)