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Why Do We Carve Pumpkins at Halloween?

Every October, many people in America carve a pumpkin.

They cut off the top and take out the inside.

Then they carve a face on the skin and put a candle inside.

This lantern is called a jack-o'-lantern.

But the first jack-o'-lanterns were not made from pumpkins.

In the 1800s, people in Ireland and Britain carved turnips.

A turnip is a round vegetable that grows under the ground.

People hollowed them out, carved strange faces on them, and used them as lanterns.

Some people said the lanterns stood for spirits.

Others used them to keep evil spirits away.

The name jack-o'-lantern was first used for strange lights that flickered over bogs.

There is also an old Irish story about a man called Stingy Jack.

In the story, Jack tricked even the Devil.

In the end, he has to walk the earth with only a hollowed turnip to light his way.

Later, many people who knew this custom moved to America.

They brought the custom of carving vegetables with them.

In America, people carved pumpkins instead of turnips.

At first, a carved pumpkin was a sign of the harvest season in general.

Later, it became a symbol of Halloween.

In 1866, a newspaper in Kingston, Canada, wrote about young people making heads from pumpkins with candles inside.

So when you see a jack-o'-lantern this month, remember that it started as a turnip.