Hollow? Who’s This?

The Jack-O’-Lantern tradition started in Ireland in the early 1900’s when people would hollow out and carve scary faces in potatoes and turnips to ward off evil spirits. The most prominent of these spirits was called, “Stingy Jack” and he would come to call on All Hallows Eve.

Although I’m not a strong believer in spirits or demons, I did break up with someone once for always calling me “Pumpkin”. While I knew it was just a term of endearment I couldn’t help but feel like the contents of my head were slowly being scooped out.

In any case if you decide to make a Jack O’Lantern I hope that you and your family will explore the wide range of creative possibilities. With a good set of pumpkin carving tools you can do some very detailed work including recreating celebrities, politicians and historical figures.

My son did an excellent job making a very convincing “Trumpkin”. It certainly didn’t hurt that it was already orange.