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Pumpkin carving is one of the most fun things to do at Halloween time. Turning your pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern for Halloween is known tradition in the United States. In America the pumpkin was first associated with the harvest season long before it became the face of Halloween
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It all started with vegetable carving in the British Isles, then in 1866 pumpkin carving started to become popular in America. The Jack-o-lantern is a carved pumpkin and is directly associated with the holiday of Halloween. The name comes from a strange light that flickers over peat bogs and it is commonly know as ignis fatuus or jack-o-lantern.
Traditionally when carving a pumpkin into a Jack-o-lantern the top is cut off and the inside of the pumpkin is flushed out. There are many options to carving the face on the pumpkin but the most popular is a monster like face. You want to place a light inside the pumpkin after you have finished the carving so at night the Jack-o-lantern will light up. This practice of lighting the Jack-o-lantern is more found in the US than other places in the world.
When carving the pumpkin you want to decide what type of image you want to have on it. There is a wide range of scary face and happy faces alike. The most import thing that you want to do is make an outline before you start carving so that you have an idea of what it will look like. There are also many pumpkin carving kits that you can purchase at your local craft store and these can make it much easier to carve your favorite face.
There are also many folklore stories with the Jack-o-lantern in which there were encounters with jack and the devil and his relationship with the Christian villagers.
Carving the Halloween pumpkin is a great family experience and choosing a pumpkin can then deciding what to carve on it can make your holiday special.
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Author Source: Bryan Burbank
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