Can I Carve a Pumpkin? Let's find out!

Carving a pumpkin for Halloween is a fun tradition - and the modern iteration of what we've come to know and love as "Jack O'Lanterns" has an equally interesting and fun history. The original Jack O'Lanterns weren't even pumpkins, they were actually turnips! Since turnips and potatoes were plentiful in Ireland, they were the vegetable of choice to be carved and illuminated.

The name comes from Stingy Jack, a folktale in Ireland about a wicked man who tricked the devil into not claiming his soul. Since he wasn't allowed in Heaven either, he now allegedly roams the earth as an evil spirit with only a piece of burning coal in a turnip lantern to light his way.

Hence the name...Stingy Jack....Jack of the Lantern....you see where this is going.

In Ireland and Scotland, people began carving frightening faces into turnips and placing candles within them to ward away Stingy Jack or other malevolent spirits that roamed the earth while the veil was thin. When Irish and Scottish immigrants came to the Americas, they discovered that pumpkins were the perfect gourd for continuing the tradition.

Now that the history lesson is over, it's time to get to carving my own Jack O'Lantern. To be honest, I haven't carved a pumpkin in years and I was stoked when D suggested we stay in last weekend (while it snowed, boo.) to make our own carvings.

First things first, you have to cut a hole in the top and scoop out all the pumpkin guts. This is the most disgusting part to me, because I can't stand the way a raw pumpkin smells on the inside. For some inexplicable reason, D seemed really into the scent. What a weirdo, amirite? 

I'm of the personal belief that Jack O'Lanterns should be scary - if the point is to frighten away nasty spirits, the illuminated face that greets them should be more nasty than they are. So I opted for squinty, piercing eye shapes and a really wicked sharp-toothed grin.

Executing this face was easier than I thought and didn't take nearly as long as D's very cute and friendly pumpkin face. Which is fine, since my Jack O'Lantern will be doing all the heavy lifting in keeping away bad spirits this year... and his can just hang out and look cute. 

I think it turned out pretty well...but we can only be sure once we see them all lit up.

Is pumpkin carving part of your Halloween tradition? When was the last time you made a Jack O'Lantern? Tell me all about your favorite "spooky season" activity in the comment section below!