Pumpkin Carving History

The origins of the word “pumpkin” came from the Greek word for “large melon” which is “pepon.” The French changed it to “pompon,” the English changed it to “pumpion,” Shakespeare changed it to “pumpion,” and the American colonists changed it to “pumpkin” when it was first used in “The Legend of sleepy Hollow,” “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater,” and “Cinderella.”

The history of pumpkin carving at Halloween dates back to a centuries old Irish legend that talks about a man named Stingy Jack who invited the Devil to have a drink with him. As his name infers, Stingy Jack was too stingy to pay for his drink and convinced the Devil to temporarily turn himself into a coin that Stingy Jack would use to buy their drinks. The Devil agreed and turned himself into a coin but Stingy Jack decided to keep the coin. To prevent the Devil from turning himself back to his original form, Stingy Jack put the coin in the pocket where he also carried a silver cross. Eventually, Stingy Jack freed the Devil under two provisions: a) the Devil will not bother Stingy Jack for a full year; and b) when Stingy Jack dies, the Devil will not claim his soul. The following year Stingy Jack tricked the Devil to climb up a tree to pick some fruits but while he was up there, Stingy Jack carved a cross into the bark of the tree and the Devil could not come down until he promised not to bother Stingy Jack for another ten years.

When Stingy Jack finally died, God would not let him into heaven because of his seedy character. The Devil kept his word and would not allow Stingy Jack into hell but gave him a burning coal and sent him off into the dark night to roam the Earth for ever more. Initially, the Irish referred to the ghost of Stingy Jack as “Jack of the Lantern” but then it simply became “Jack O’Lantern.”

People in Ireland and Scotland carved scary faces into turnips and potatoes and lit candles under them. They then placed these lanterns on their windowsills and near their doors to scare Stingy Jack away as well as other evil spirits. Large beets were used in England in the same way and with the same intent.

When the Irish, the Scottish and the English came to the New World, they discovered that the larger native fruit, the pumpkin, made a better jack o’lantern.

Interestingly enough, although the tradition of carving lanterns from vegetables throughout the British Isles has been prevalent for centuries the term “jack-o’-lantern” does not appear in literature until 1837 and is not specifically associated with Halloween until 1866 and both of these events occurred in North America not in the British Isles as might be expected.

The carved pumpkin was associated in America with the harvest season, long before it became the unmistakable symbol of Halloween, and the poet John Greenleaf Whittier who was born in 1807 wrote the following poem in 1850:

 The Pumpkin

 Oh!—fruit love 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!

Keene, New Hampshire held the world record for most jack-o’-lanterns carved and lit in one place for many years. However, Camp Sunshine, comprised of children with life threatening illnesses and their families set a new world record when 30,128 jack-o’-lanterns were lit simultaneously on the Boston Common in 2006.

Posted in Pumpkin Stencils