Of Halloween and Pumpkins!
- A Crazy Little Bird Told Me
- Oct 12, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 13, 2025
So, here I was, staring at my plastic scary pumpkins, and suddenly wondered: why are pumpkins associated with Halloween? Why not bananas? And, why do we carve them into scary faces?
Yes, I finally gave in and purchased Halloween decorations, and yes, those are plastic ones, because I really don’t want to deal with the mess of carving a real pumpkin and having it slowly rot in my house. Don’t judge me (much)!
Back to my very intriguing question, why, oh why, scary looking carved pumpkins?
I guess we can’t talk about pumpkins, without talking about Halloween, at least a little bit.
The origin of that celebration is still somewhat debated, but I think we can agree that it is a mix of Christian and Celtic customs.
The English word 'Halloween' comes from "All Hallows' Eve", being the evening before the Christian holy days of All Hallows' Day (All Saints' Day) on 1 November and All Souls' Day on 2 November. These three days are collectively called All Hallowtide, a time when Western Christians honour all saints and pray for recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven.
Halloween customs are also typically associated to the Gaelic festival Samhain, beginning the evening before 1 November (remember a day ended and began at sunset, not at sunrise, for the Celts!) that marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year.
Alright, I think I am tracking with the origin of Halloween, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, add a little bit of 21st century madness; shake, don't stir and booyah! But how did we get from that to crazy scary costumes and pumpkin carvings?
Well, this is where folklore traditions from Ireland and Britain come in!
Part of Samhain celebrations involved household festivities such as divination rituals and games intended to foretell one's future, especially regarding death and marriage. Apples and nuts were often used, and customs included apple bobbing, nut roasting, scrying or mirror-gazing, pouring molten lead or egg whites into water, dream interpretation, and so on.
The festivities also involved people going house-to-house in scary disguise, usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food, impersonating the souls of the dead and receiving offerings on their behalf, similar to 'souling' (the medieval precursor to trick-or-treating, which revolved around the giving of a small round cake in exchange for prayers for the souls of the givers and their dead relatives).
It was believed that during Samhain, the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned and impersonating souls, and/or wearing a disguise, was a way to protect oneself against such spirits.
From there, following the mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century, Halloween became a major holiday in North America, gradually assimilated into mainstream society by the early 20th century, with trick-or-treating becoming a widespread practice by the 1930s.
Alright, so we know how the celebration started, how being scary was a protection against bad juju, but why a carved pumpkin?
Well, this gets us to Jack-O’-Lantern, the name given to such carvings.
Let me go through few fun facts first, so that I can get it out of my system.
First, in Britain and Ireland, people used to carve any root vegetables, such as mangelwurzel, rutabaga or turnip. Pumpkin became the veggie of choice for Jack-O’-Lantern carving in the mid to late 19th century, when American immigrants started using them because they were softer and larger, and therefore easier to carve.
I am looking at a turnip right now, and wondering how on earth do you carve a scary face in something that small? Shaking my head people!
Second, let me give you a very short history of pumpkins, just because I can: pumpkin seeds can be traced back to Central America over 7,500 years ago and were first cultivated in what is now known as Mexico. In the age of exploration, pumpkins or ‘pompions’ as they were known then, made their way across the Atlantic to Europe, with potato, tobacco and chocolate, and was first introduced to Tudor England by the French in the 16th century.
As a side note, I think pompions is a rather cute name for a pumpkin!
Reverting back to the questions at hand: who was Jack, and how did he become Jack-O’-Lantern?
There are several tales out there, but in brief, a man called Jack (Stingy Jack to be exact, if one believe the 18th century Irish folktale) trapped the devil and only agreed to release him if the devil promised not to take his soul to hell. The devil agreed and regained his freedom.
When Jack died though, his soul was too sinful to go to Heaven, and he couldn’t go to Hell. When he asked the devil where to go, the devil mockingly tossed him a burning coal, to light his way. Jack placed the coal in a carved turnips (which were his favourite food apparently) and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or Jack-O’-Lantern. I guess this is a prime example of be careful what you wish for!
In folklore, Jack-O’-Lantern is also said to represent a "soul who has been denied entry into both heaven and hell". I feel an article on ghosts coming my way, don’t you?
Let’s summarise:
Why a pumpkin? Because it is the most practical root vegetable to carve.
Why a carved pumpkin? Because you need holes for the coal to light the way to lost souls and for Jack to look for his resting place.
Why a scary carved pumpkin for Halloween? To trick bad spirits and protect oneself, particularly on the shortest night of the year, when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest! Well either that, or Jack found a scary looking carved turnip by mere luck?
While there is a logic behind the madness, I would still like to point out that one could wonder whether making a “shelter” for lost souls will bring said souls in your life rather than protect you from them. Just food for thoughts here, not judging!
I am also left wondering, why the lantern had to be a root vegetable and couldn't simply be, well, a lantern? Might I be overthinking this whole thing, and people just wanted something to do during those long winter nights, and have tales of scary things bumping in the night?
Either way, it is this time of the year, so get on carving peeps!!
Sources:
