Plastic-pumpkin Parade

Were you one of those kids who carried a plastic pumpkin on Halloween?

A month before Halloween, stores start selling these plastic pumpkins, patterned after real carved pumpkins: those orange things which have ghoulish faces and with with a black handle so they can be carried like bags.  

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Then on Halloween, these gourd-like plastic orange fruits also appear in porches and windows of many homes. They are usually brightened by candles or little bulbs. 

Children wearing costumes of all kinds—mostly ghosts, vampires, monsters, and witches—carry them as they go from house to house. Eventually these plastic pumpkins are filled with candies and other goodies.

The carved pumpkin is more popularly known as “Jack-o’-lantern.” How on earth did the carved pumpkin come about?  I read up on it and discovered two versions of its origin.

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The first one is the story of “Jack-o’-lantern.” This is an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack who invited the devil to have a drink with him. But because Jack was so stingy, he refused to pay for the drinks.

He instead convinced the devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. But after the devil made himself into a coin, Jack decided to keep the coin and put it in his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the devil from changing back into his original form.

Jack freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not claim Jacks’ soul after he dies.   

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The next year, the devil visited Jack again. This time, Jack tricked the devil into climbing up a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While the devil was up there, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark. The devil could not come down until he promised Jack not to bother him again.

When Jack died, God would not accept him into heaven.

The Devil, on the other hand, kept his word not to claim Jack’s soul and wouldn’t accept Jack into hell.  So he shooed Jack’s soul off into the dark night with a burning coal to light his way. 

Jack put the coal inside a carved-out giant turnip and has been roaming the Earth with it ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack o’ Lantern.”

The Irish immigrants brought this tradition to the US where they found large pumpkins better for carving than large turnips.

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The second origin of the carved pumpkin is about the Celts. They warded off evil spirits during Samuin (a festival where many of the traditions of Halloween come from).   The Celts would hollow out large turnips, then carve faces on them and place candles inside.  

The turnips were placed on windows sills to keep evil spirits from entering a home, or carried around as lanterns.  In the 19th century, this tradition merged with the US tradition of carving pumpkins on Halloween.   

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I have nothing against plastic pumpkins or costumes. But I certainly prefer children to be associated with everything good and beautiful, and not with the bad and the ugly.  

In the Bible, we read that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by a God who is all good and full of love. As a children’s book author, I am careful about depicting children other than the way they are created by the Lord of all.

My constant wish every Halloween, therefore, is that children would honor God instead of celebrating or having fun out of evil spirits. 

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