1/15/2024 0 Comments Carved turnip jack o lanternStingy Jack was often said to be a blacksmith with a taste for mischief and booze. Sometime around the 18th century, Irish folklore about a cunning and unsavory character had worked its way into the fold, as well. Observers of the holidays still wore disguises to hide from the wandering souls and carved jack-o-lanterns to deter them. 1 and All Hallows’ Eve (or Halloween) fell on Oct. Many of the traditions of Samhain were carried on when the Roman Catholic Church moved All Saints Day to Nov. Typically, beets, turnips and potatoes were used because they were abundant after the harvest. So people dressed in costumes and carved sinister faces into root vegetables to ward off restless souls. On the eve of the festival, it was believed the spirits of the dead could return home to mingle with the living. 1 in ancient Britain and Ireland, marking the end of summer and the beginning of the new year. The connection between the tiny produce heads and Halloween actually didn’t take root until they were incorporated into the Celtic festival of Samhain, which inspired many of the traditions of modern-day Halloween. Some historians believe it’s rooted in the practice of head veneration or potentially represented war trophies, symbolizing the heads of one’s enemies. The custom of carving faces into vegetables dates back thousands of years in some northern European Celtic cultures. That’s right, early jack-o-lanterns were carved from root vegetables. But did you know the original jack-o-lanterns weren’t even carved out of pumpkins? The pumpkin possibilities are endless, as are the concepts for creatively creepy jack-o-lanterns. Earlier this harvest season, I came across molds that can be used to encase immature pumpkins and produce the face of Frankenstein’s monster and other ghoulish likenesses. Oblong pumpkins, round pumpkins and even gourds can be used. We choose pumpkins of all different shapes, sizes and colors to be our canvases. Some like to carve scary faces, others carve silly faces and the more artistic among us carve incredible depictions of movie scenes or characters from popular Halloween and horror movies. Carving jack-o-lanterns is a popular Halloween tradition.
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