Why Do We Carve Pumpkins On Halloween?
We're sure many of you have carved the gruesome face into a pumpkin and displayed it in your front window or porch during the season of Halloween. Pumpkins have been a staple of Halloween, perhaps even a symbol for the spookiest night of the year. But have you ever wondered why the carving of a pumpkin is for display? It seems like a pretty random thing to do. However, if we trace it back through history, we can see how this particular practice took shape and how it evolved into what it is now.
The carving of vegetables is a lot more common than you might think. For example, the Maori of the Maori tribes would use gourds to carve lanterns, a tradition that has taken place for the past seven hundred years. Interestingly enough, the Maori word "Gourd" can also use to describe a lampshade.
It is believed that the customer using pumpkins began in Ireland back in the 19th century. At that time, people in Gaelic areas often used turnips and candles as lanterns and painted grotesque faces on fruits and vegetables to scare people during Halloween.
Halloween was also the festival of soul. In a festival that marked the end of the harvest and also the beginning of winter. It was seen as a time with supernatural beings, and the souls of the dead roamed the earth.
These lanterns represented the supernatural creatures that appeared on Halloween night at that moment. Additionally, they were used as a protective talisman to ward off evil spirits.
In other cases, Lanterns are carved with grotesque faces, used to scare away unwanted neighbors, and sometimes sit on the windowsill to prevent potential intruders. It is also suggested that the lantern originally represented the Christian soul locked in infernal, reminding people that if they are not loyal to God, their fate will be the same.
Hopkins is also popular because of literature. The most famous is Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." This story depicts a headless horseman with a pumpkin in place of his head.
You may have also heard of pumpkins referred to as jack-o'-lanterns, a term that originated from an 18th-century Irish folklore tale about a man named stingy Jack. Jack was a lazy blacksmith who was lazy while was smart enough to con the devil once. Jack has deceived Satan and ripped him off his power with the cross and trapping him. Finally, Jack lets Satan go free, but only after Satan agrees never to take his soul away.
Many years later, when Jack died, he was denied entry into heaven given his sinful ways and was sent down to hell. However, when he arrived in hell, Satan wanted nothing to do with Jack. Therefore, Jack was is forbidden to enter hell. He had nowhere to go and was cursed to roam the earth.
Satan tossed Jack a lump of burning coal to light his way as he roamed the earth for eternity. Jack carved out a turnip, for which he placed the coal inside to use as a makeshift lantern, wandering to search for a final resting place. It's this entity that would become known as the Jack of the lantern or simply jack-o'-lantern.
We hope you guys enjoyed the blog and learned a bit about why we use pumpkins at Halloween. Anyway, Meetu Hair takes this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Halloween! Try not to mess with the occult stuff too much; stay safe out there. Trick-or-treaters, until the next time.
