A smiling pumpkin was carved in Kamloops.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Sierra Lewis
October 31, 2024 - 6:00 AM
Many residents in Kamloops and the Okanagan have gone to work carving pumpkins for Halloween and come up with some creative designs.
Either the scary or artistic variety, jack-o-lanterns have been flickering on Halloween nights for centuries and long become popular spooky fixtures books and movies like Sleepy Hollow and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Long ago in England, jack-o-lantern was a term for night watchmen who carried lanterns and by the 1800s came to mean "a carved pumpkin used as a lantern," according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
During that time the name also applied to phosphorescent lights created by gases from decaying plants in the marshes, but it isn’t clear how the name came to be applied to a hollowed-out pumpkin.
There are several theories, including one that associated lit up hollow pumpkins with a Celtic practise where turnips were hollowed out and carved with faces, then illuminated by coal or candles to ward off evil spirits. Immigrants brought the custom to North America and used pumpkins instead.
This evil looking pumpkin was carved in Kamloops.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Candice Day
Another theory suggests the practise originated in an Irish folklore story that involves a man named Jack who is also the devil. Jack’s soul wanders the Earth aimlessly carrying a lit-up turnip.
READ MORE: iN VIDEO: Kelowna woman creates community joy with her Halloween display
A third theory suggests jack-o-lanterns originated with pranksters in the U.S. in the 1800s, who carved scary faces in pumpkins and lit them up to scare people with at night. The prank pumpkins were called jack-o-lanterns because they resembled the phosphorescent lights seen in marshy areas.
Regardless of their mysterious beginnings, jack-o-lanterns are a special part of Halloween fun and a much-loved tradition.
Did you carve an awesome jack-o-lantern this year? Send a photo to news@infonews.ca.
Staff at Meadow Vista Honey Wines in the Okanagan carved a bee in this pumpkin.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Facebook/ Meadow Vista Honey Wines
Kamloops resident Sierra Lewis carved this creepy jack-o-lantern.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Sierra Lewis
Jack-o-lanterns were lit up in a row at the Okanagan's Meadow Vista Honey Wines.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Facebook/ Meadow Vista Honey Wines
A family in Princeton carved a whole lot of jack-o-lanterns.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Lacey Robb
A group in Kelowna had spooky fun with jack-o-lanterns in the woods.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Ashlee Marissa Shaw
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