All About Halloween Pumpkins

Halloween is celebrated on the night of October 31 to November 1. The very first association that arises at the mention of Halloween is a large, bright orange vegetable, on which the monster's eyes and mouth glow. Why the pumpkin has become the main symbol of this amazing holiday and how to create frightening figures from this fruit with your own hands, we will briefly tell you in our review.

In its current form, Halloween is considered a relatively young holiday. However, its roots go back to the ancient rites of the Celts in Scotland and Ireland. Celtic tribes inhabited European countries over 3000 years ago. They conditionally divided their year into two halves - summer and winter. The end of the summer period and the transition to winter was celebrated on October 31st.

The Celts sincerely believed that this is a special night when all the inhabitants of the afterlife enter the real world. To drive away evil spirits, the distant ancestors of the modern British and Americans dressed up in the skins of wild animals, burned fires and left vegetable fruits with monstrous faces carved on them on the doorstep. Initially, they took turnips for this, but gradually this role was assigned to the pumpkin. It was she who was named Jack's lamp - it is believed that she protects the home, driving away all unkind ghosts from him.

The tradition of making lamps from orange fruits originates from the ancient Celtic custom of making lamps that allow the souls of the dead to find their way to purgatory. The use of this fruit is not accidental, since at all times it has remained available and cheap.For the first time, Jack's lanterns began to be left near the door of the house on All Saints' night in the 19th century, already in the 20th century the custom was added to dress in the costumes of terrible monsters, knock on the doors of houses and beg for treats with a shout: "Sweet or nasty." This phrase perfectly matches the purpose of the holiday - to protect oneself from evil spirits and to appease them.

Nowadays, Halloween is popular far beyond the borders of the English-speaking countries. From the terrible pagan holiday of ancient times to the present day, only amusing traditions have remained.

Why is the Halloween pumpkin called Jack's Lantern? There is a legend about a man who bore the nickname Miserly Jack. According to legend, once he invited the Devil himself to a bar. He was a very greedy and tight-fisted person. He did not want to pay for the drink, so he persuaded the unclean person to turn into a coin so that the Miser could pay for drinks with it. However, as soon as the demon turned into money, the man immediately wished to keep the coin with him and put it near the silver cross so that the unclean person could not return to his true appearance.

After some time, the Miser decided to free the demon. But he demanded that the unclean should not disturb him for at least 12 months, and if during this time the man dies, he should not take his soul for himself. A year later, Jack and the Devil met again. But the man again managed to force the demon to climb a tall tree in order to pick a juicy fruit. While the Devil was on the branches, the Miser carved a cross into the bark with a knife so that the unclean person could not go down. For the sake of returning freedom, the Devil promised Jack not to come to him for another ten years.

As the years passed, Jack fell ill and left this world. According to legend, God commanded not to let this deceased into paradise. But the Devil, remembering the promise not to take his soul, did not let Jack end up in hell. He released the Miser into the pitch darkness with only one coal. To light his way, Jack placed a burning ember in a carved turnip. From that moment on, he walks on the ground.

It was this tradition that gave rise to the custom of making Jack's lantern. The inhabitants of Scotland and Ireland used potatoes and turnips for this - they were placed near doors and windows to scare away evil spirits led by Miser Jack from their home.

In anticipation of the unusual celebration, the counters of retail outlets, pavilions of cafeterias and large shopping complexes are gradually filled with images of ghosts surrounded by pumpkins. They can be plastic, ceramic, glass and real fruits. It is not for nothing that the pumpkin received the title of "Queen of Halloween", it is simply impossible to imagine the most mystical day of the year without it. Nowadays, the custom of celebrating All Saints Day and its eternal bright orange companion are gaining more and more popularity. Not so long ago, the tradition has spread in our country.

Today restaurants, bars and nightclubs host all kinds of entertainment programs. Even schools and linguistic centers where English is taught are introduced to the traditions of Halloween. Towards the end of October, costumes of zombies, spirits, ghosts, as well as pumpkins of all types and sizes appear on the shelves. But if you are planning to arrange a holiday for children and adults at home, you can try to cook the pumpkin yourself. There is absolutely nothing difficult about this. All you need is just a pumpkin, a candle or a flashlight, a strong knife and a little imagination. Let's dwell on how to choose the right fruit and create a mystical masterpiece from it.

The most important thing when choosing a vegetable is to pick up a healthy fruit without signs of rot and damage, otherwise such a pumpkin will not serve you for long. It is better to give preference to vegetables of bright orange saturated colors. Be sure to pay attention to the shape of the fruit. It is desirable that the bottom of the vegetable be slightly flattened, so it will be more stable, will not stagger and fall. Prepare a candle. Small, tea products will suit you.

Building Jack's lantern won't be too difficult.

• Start by cutting off the top of the vegetable. To begin with, make a slight incision near the tail with a sharp knife. Take out the entire cut out part.
• Gently scoop the pulp and seeds from the inside of the pumpkin with a spoon to create space for the candles.
• After you have completely removed the pulp, use a spoon to flatten the walls and carefully cut off any irregularities.
• The most difficult thing is ahead - to make the face of a Halloween monster. To make the eyes and mouth of the creepy fruit really scary and monstrous, first draw the face with a pen or attach ready-made templates. Only after you have found the best option, you can take up the knife.

Several life hacks:

• to make the horror pumpkin pleasing to the eye for as long as possible, go through the places of the cuts with Vaseline or Vaseline oil;
• if you notice that the holiday pumpkin has begun to wilt, place it in water for 5-7 hours;
• if you rub the inside of the fruit with nutmeg, ground cinnamon, then Jack's lantern will not only flicker mysteriously, but also exude a magical smell;
• be sure to provide several small holes in the upper part of the pumpkin - you can make them with an awl, this will allow the heated air to go up unhindered, otherwise it will begin to fry the pulp, which will eventually lead to deformation of the skin of the fruit;
• in order for the candles placed inside the fruit to burn longer, they must be placed in the freezer for a couple of hours.

When you have removed all unnecessary from the pumpkin, place candles in it, light it and enjoy your festive masterpiece. In conclusion, you can varnish the pumpkin, paint it, this is at the discretion of the master himself. By tradition, on Halloween, the pumpkin is depicted as a monster face. However, these days, when pumpkin is nothing more than fun, you can give your face any expression you want.

Often they even create whole thematic compositions. For example, they make out a family of pumpkins, consisting of angry and cheerful fruits. Next to them there is always a place for frightened fruits, laughing and winking, toothy faces evoke constant delight.

According to traditions in Western countries, children are mainly responsible for making pumpkins. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that funny Pokemon, minions and other cartoon characters often look from the doorstep of their homes. In this case, it is not necessary to exactly copy the image of your beloved character, one inherent detail will be enough.

So, for Ernie and Bert from the cartoon epic "Sesame Street" these will be forelocks, rounded noses and thick eyebrows. If this decor seems too difficult to you, then you can simply draw a funny face using acrylic paints.

One of the most sought-after Halloween looks is the mummy, which is often the case for pumpkins. You don't have to be a carving expert to create such a fun figurine. It is enough just to wrap the fruit with a bandage, draw on the mouth over it and glue the eyes cut out of cardboard.

However, if you are going to depict a luminous lantern, then you still need to make some basic holes. All the rest of the preparatory work will be the same as when creating the lamp (wash, peel, remove the pulp and cut out the muzzle).

The holiday pumpkin looks very organic in the form of a zombie. For this character, the most important thing is to create the appearance of a flowing brain, it is with him that you have to tinker. As with the standard pumpkin design, the fruit must be thoroughly washed, peeled and cut through the eyes, mouth and nose.

Then the most difficult thing begins - the peel in the upper part of the vegetable is carefully removed, leaving a small layer of pulp. Then, with the help of any thin object, for example a pen or a nail file, they depict folds and ornate cerebral convolutions. The Halloween queen is ready.

A pumpkin in the shape of a witch's dwelling looks very impressive. And if you have the time, energy and a sufficient amount of fruits, you can build a whole Witch's street out of vegetables. At the same time, making a hut is even easier than Jack's lantern. It is enough just to apply a pattern to the skin of the fruit and carefully cut out the windows, doors and other elements of the composition.

If all of the above ideas seem trivial, then try to make a steaming horror pumpkin, for this, purchase glycerin at the pharmacy and prepare a tin can. As in all previous recipes, the fruit is cleaned from the inside, a face is cut out on it and a lighted candle is placed inside. The tin can is cut in two, leaving small legs - you should get something like an aroma lamp.

This design is used to cover the candle from above. Glycerin is poured into the depression. As it heats up, it will smoke, creating a truly demonic effect. A pumpkin with a pattern flickering in the dark looks good. You can draw it yourself or use a template. The easiest way is to prepare a paper stencil, fix it on the pumpkin with electrical tape, and then walk with a sharp awl along the edging of the picture - only after that you can take up the knife. Keep in mind: the more intricate your pattern is, the thinner the walls of the Halloween pumpkin should be.

Finally, here are some interesting facts about Halloween and Jack's Lanterns.

• The first mention of All Saints' Day dates back to around 4000 BC. NS. This means that the tradition of celebrating Halloween today has existed for more than 6 thousand years.
• The main color scheme of Halloween is black and orange. The black color symbolizes night and death. And orange represents the end of the harvest.
• The absolute record for creating pumpkin figures belongs to Stephen Clark. It is known that he completed this task in just 24 seconds.
• According to analysts' estimates, Americans spend $ 2 billion annually on purchases for the celebration of Halloween, and this does not include the purchase of sweets. These statistics allow All Saints' Day to stand on a par with major festivals and become one of the leaders in the list of the most commercial events in the world.
• Every year in the USA a solid prize is drawn among the authors of Jack's most creative orange vegetable lantern. The winner receives $ 25,000.
• The largest vegetable prepared for Halloween is the 1,446 lb pumpkin. It was grown on a farm in Canada.
• In the city of Boston, the record was recorded for the number of Jack's lanterns lit at a time. A total of 30128 lanterns were burning there.
• According to some legends, if you look in the mirror at Halloween midnight, you will see your own death there. However, in a number of countries, in exactly the same way, young unmarried girls try to discern the features of the future husband in the reflection.