Be Sure To Have A Carved Pumpkin On Your Porch!

Have you ever wondered why we carve pumpkins?

The history of carving jack-o’-lanterns comes from Ireland in the 1800s.

There was a legend about a man named Stingy Jack that explains the tradition. Stingy Jack was a trickster, and one day he tricked the Devil into promising to not take his soul after he died. When he died, he went to heaven. Of course, he could not be allowed in because of the mean things he did in life, so he was sent to the Devil. The Devil, staying true to his promise, could not let him in, which forced Jack to wander the darkness in between worlds for all eternity. The Devil gave Jack an ember to help him light the way. Jack hollowed out a turnip that he was carrying to serve as a lantern. This was called a jack-o’-lantern.

The festival of Samhain took place at the end of the harvest season in Ireland. You might know it as Halloween. It was designed to welcome the harvest and usher in “the dark half of the year.” This was a time when the barriers between the spirit world and the human world would break down and allow the supernatural to walk among the living. People carved jack-o’-lanterns as a way to protect themselves from evil spirits, especially that prankster Stingy Jack. Since pumpkins and gourds were hard to come by in Ireland in the 19th century, people relied on turnips for their carving needs.

Enjoy the jolliness of the occasion and don’t take in the scary part! Who needs scary? But, be sure to carve your pumpkin and put it out on your porch…it surely will keep you safe!