Pumpkin Carving facts
While investigating facts about Pumpkin Carving Ideas and Pumpkin Carving Templates, I found out little known, but curios details like:
The pumpkin carving during Halloween comes from an Irish folktale where a smith called Jack sold his soul to the devil for a beer.
how to preserve pumpkin carving?
In 1780, Benjamin Franklin popularized the idea of carving pumpkins for Halloween, before this they were only used for food.
What to do with pumpkin seeds after carving?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what to do with pumpkin guts after carving. Here are 17 of the best facts about Pumpkin Carving Designs and Pumpkin Carving Patterns I managed to collect.
what to do with pumpkin after carving?
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Long before pumpkin carving became popular, Celtic people in Ireland were carving turnips and lighting them with embers, to ward off evil spirits. This Celtic custom is the historical root of Halloween pumpkin carving.
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Jack o'lanterns were originally carved from turnips not pumpkins
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Carved pumpkins illuminated with candles (known as Jack-o-lantern) are used as inevitable detail of Halloween night in the USA.
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Common Halloween activities today include costume parties, trick-or-treating, apple bobbing, pranks, watching horror films and carving pumpkins.
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Jack O'Lanterns started in 18th century Ireland and were originally carved into turnips. These turnips were used to ward away the evil spirit of a blacksmith named Jack. When the Irish came to America, turnips were hard to find, but pumpkins weren't, and thus the pumpkin carving became tradition
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Some states tax pumpkins differently based on whether the intent is to to carve them or use them for food
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For Halloween in 2002 while on a break from filming X-Men 2, actors Ian McKellen and Alan Cumming dressed up as Gandalf and Floop (from Spy Kids). They gave out candy to trick-or-treaters and McKellen even carved a Nightcrawler pumpkin
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People originally carved faces in turnips, until we discovered pumpkins in the new world, which are a lot easier to carve
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Jack-o-Lanterns were not originally pumpkins. The tradition started in Ireland, where they carved faces into turnips and potatoes based on of the legend of stingy jack. It spread to the British Isles, where they also used beets, and then to America.
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People used to carve turnips before pumpkins.
Why did pumpkin carving start?
You can easily fact check why is pumpkin carving a tradition by examining the linked well-known sources.
The best way to preserve a carved pumpkin is to clean it with bleach, and use a water-repellent lubricant to keep it from drying out. If you plan to eat your pumpkin after carving, skip the bleach and use veggie or olive oil instead
Turnips used to be carved instead of Pumpkins and Gourds thousands of years before that. - source
Goffstown, NH carves out giant pumpkins into boats and has a Regatta every year
