Happy Fall from my baby boy, Winston the Basset Hound. He's trying to run off with my pumpkin lid. :-)
Should Christians carve pumpkins? As with Yoga, I can only share what I believe to be true after researching the topic myself.
Where it started, "The Celts would hollow out turnips, then carve faces in them and place
candles inside. The turnips were then either placed in the windows, to
keep evil spirits from entering a home, or carried around as lanterns.
This tradition eventually melded with the North American tradition of
carving pumpkins. At this point, the carving of pumpkins, which had
been around in North America before Halloween was popularly introduced,
became associated almost exclusively with Halloween (around the 19th
century)."
So why were American's carving pumpkins if it was not for
Halloween as many mistakenly think? The answer is, for lanterns. A
hollowed out pumpkin made a great lantern on the table or on a stick in the yard and even down a road to light up the night before
electricity. I don't have a problem making a cute fall lantern every October. When the Irish came to America and saw how much better pumpkins were for lanterns they stopped using potatoes, beets and turnips and began using American pumpkins, since then we only hear about the "dark side" of carving pumpkins and completely forget that pumpkins were carved as lanterns, not faces to welcome the dead.
Carving a fall lantern or carving a Jack-o'-lantern or demon face would be the same difference as a Christian stretching vs a Christian participating in yoga. They look similar but completely different.
The legend of Stingy Jack is sorta creepy, you can read it HERE along with the Celtic tradition of using glowing jack-o-lanterns, to welcome deceased loved ones and protect against malevolent spirits. Though I did carve faces into my pumpkins as a kid, I will not allow my future kids to participate, or even go trick or treating.
However, I love the idea of going to the pumpkin patch, and making fall lanterns with my family. Then sitting outside on a crisp cool night, sipping something warm and enjoying our lanterns, sharing our thankfulness and making memories together.
