Introduction
Welcome to your “how-to” guide for carving a great pumpkin for Halloween! In the next few pages you will find a step by step guide on how to turn your ordinary pumpkin into a spooky Halloween Jack-o-lantern. We will guide you from start to finish; starting with what you will need to get started right up to lighting the candle for your finished Jack-o-lantern. We will also provide you with a little background information on where the tradition of pumpkin carving in celebration of Halloween originated from.
Objective
It is my goal to give a step-by-step guide on carving a pumpkin for Halloween.
The History of Pumpkin Carving
When you think of Halloween what crosses your mind? Most likely candy, costumes, ghosts, goblins, and pumpkins! But why do we carve pumpkins? Where did this tradition originate from?
Most people don't know that Halloween is actually based on an ancient Celtic holiday known as Samhain, meaning: "summer's end". The holiday is celebrated at the end of the Celtic year, starting at sundown on October 31st and going through to sundown November 1st. The holiday was invented as a night to honor loved ones that had passed on. The Celtics believed that the curtain between the deceased’s world and ours was at its thinnest point on this night. So, on this magical night they carved turnips or gourds and set them on their porches and lit them with burning coal (later replaced by a candle) to welcome deceased loved ones into their home, and offer protection against unwelcome spirits. Later on when these European settlers came to America they discovered what we know as the pumpkin. They realized that the pumpkin was larger and easier to carve so they replaced the gourds and turnips with the pumpkin. Halloween was not really celebrated in America and Canada until the late 1800’s, but has been a growing tradition ever since.
Getting Started
What you will Need
1.) Select a pumpkin in a shape, weight, size, that...