Carving Jack
Written by Suzanne on October 14, 2008I’m off to a pumpkin patch today to choose a pumpkin worthy of Halloween carving. Ultimately the kiddo will get the final choice but I’ll help decide the carving design. When I was young there was Happy, Scary, Angry, and Surprised Jack O Lantern. These days, carving a pumpkin goes from traditional to elaborate.
Pop culture carved a niche into the Jack O Lantern tradition, now we can choose from a variety of designs and patterns, ranging from Captain Jack Sparrow, to the profile of Jack Kerouac.
According to Wikipedia, the carved pumpkin was a symbol of the harvest in North America before becoming an emblem for Halloween.
The poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who was born in 1807, wrote in “The Pumpkin” (1850):
Oh!—fruit loved of boyhood!—the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
I’d love to check out this year’s The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze in New York. The blaze of 4,000 carved pumpkins is a glowing art walk in the historic Hudson Valley.
If you’d like to create interesting pumpkin art check out:
October 14th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
A person must have to be pretty artistic to carve those elaborate pumpkins. The most elaborate thing I can do to a pumpkin is manage to carve some teeth into the mouth. I’ll have to check out the links you gave and see if I can learn something new. I have to admit that my favorite way of carving a pumpkin is carving myself a slice of pumpkin pie.
October 14th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
That’s true. I never carve pumpkins but we used to make like triangle shaped eyes and a mouth with some teeth in it. I prefer to eat pumpkin pie, muffins, etc.
October 16th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
So I was almost born on Halloween (the day before to be exact)… And you know what…I’ve never carved out a pumpkin! Is that wrong? But my nephews always get excited about picking one out and carving it up to decorating for halloween.