In Ireland, many traditional dishes are associated with festivals and feast days from both the Celtic calendar of the Druids and the newer Christian calendar. Colcannon (from the Irish cal ceann fhionn , or "white-headed cabbage"), a mashed potato dish flavored with kale or cabbage, is the main dish of the Halloween (All Hallow's Eve) dinner. Its origins may lie in the need to use up the last leafy vegetables in the fall garden. In keeping with tradition, a carefully wrapped gold ring is placed in one of the bowls and the diner who finds it is likely to marry within the coming year. While a true colcannon is made with cooked, finely chopped kale, cabbage is also used. Like many Irish dishes, it is celebrated in song:

Did you ever eat colcannon
When 'twas made with yellow cream
And the kale and praties blended
Like the picture in a dream?

Did you ever take a forkful
And dip it in the lake
Of heather-flavored butter
That your mother used to make?

Oh, you did, yes you did!
So did he and so did I,
And the more I think about it
Sure, the more I want to cry.

God be with the happy times
When trouble we had not,
And our mothers made Colcannon
In the little three-legged pot.

This week's recipe
Colcannon