By now you’ve probably carved up a few Jack-O-Lanterns for your front porch. But why do we carve pumpkins anyway? Where did that come from?
The modern holiday we know as Halloween really started way back with the Irish festival, “Samhain,’ which was meant to recognize the transition from summer into winter.
During the festival people would have bonfires and it was believed that evil spirits lurked in the surrounding shadows near the fire. To keep the evil spirits away they would carve scary faces into hollowed out pumpkins, turnips, and various other crops. Then they would place them in the windows and along the road.
Now, they are mostly used as decoration. But always good to know that they could be keeping away a few evil doers at the same time.