It’s that time of year again where the air gets crisper, the evenings get darker and everyone gets excited for the festive season – forgetting about good old Halloween…
But not today. For today we’re dedicating this blog post to those small orange fruits which light up the streets come hallo-eve: Pumpkins.
Halloween goes by a variety of names including; Halloween, Hallowe’en, All Hallow’s Eve, Allhalloween, All Hallows’ Eve, or All Saints’ Eve, but regardless of the various names it goes by, Halloween is a celebration observed every year on October 31st. The celebrations have evolved throughout the years and vary country-to-country, but the Halloween most celebrated today typically has a spooky theme with many people decorating their houses, dressing up in fancy dress (either as an iconic person or something spooky) and carving pumpkins which usually sit outside a person’s front door with a candle inside.
The tradition of carving on Halloween began back in Ancient Celtic times when Irish people would hollow and carve turnips, before placing embers in them to ward off evil spirits. This came about because of ancient folklore about a chap in the 18th century called Stingy Jack; a clever drunkard who pulled one over on the devil. There are numerous versions of the story, but the most popular re-telling is the version where Jack invited the Devil out to drink with him. Both assumed that, when the tab came the other would take care of it and so when that time came there was sheer awkwardness over who should pay the bill. Jack wanted the Devil to take care of things as he didn’t have any money but the Devil thought Jack should pay his share and so Jack tricked the Devil to transform into a sixpence to pay the bill. The Devil fell for Jack’s trick and once he had transformed into the coin Jack left without paying, took the coin and kept it together with a cross in his pocket so that the devil couldn’t escape.
Eventually Jack decided to let the Devil out under the condition that the Devil wouldn’t come after Jack for a certain period of time. The Devil agreed and at the end of the agreed upon time-frame the Devil went back to Jack for some payback. But Jack tricked the Devil once more by getting him to climb a tree and marking it with a cross so that the Devil was, once again, stuck. Eventually Jack’s conscious caught up with him and he agreed to let the Devil down from the tree if the Devil promised to never claim Jack’s soul for hell. Being stuck, the Devil had no choice and agreed. The two went their separate ways until old age eventually caught up with Jack. When his time came the keeper of the pearly gates rejected him based on his actions during life. As per their tree-agreement the Devil could not allow Jack to enter hell and so Jack was stuck, until it was agreed that Jack would walk his way through purgatory and was given a lump of coal to light his way, which he carried inside a hollowed turnip.
From this story came the Irish tradition of carving turnips. Families would carve their turnips each year and light the inside with embers to ward off Stingy Jack’s mischievous spirit. Eventually the tradition made it’s way over to the Americas and, due to the ease of carving, the tradition evolved into carving pumpkins and not turnips. But as tribute to it’s origins, the name ‘Jack-O-Lantern’ was formed. Since then Halloween has evolved and so has people’s creativity. Now pumpkins are not only hollowed, but hollowed and carved – which is why we’ve rounded up the best of them. All auto-themed of course…
The first pumpkin carving is Mater.
The next pumpkin is a classic by all meanings of the word.
The next carving is very smart…
The next tows the line on pure brilliance…
The next pumpkin carving is of Lightning McQueen
The next carving is LIT
And last, but certainly not least…
If you’ve seen any gourd automotive themed pumpkin carvings which you think should be on the list, be sure to share them in the comments below!
