The best pumpkin carving I’ve ever seen made its way around the internet several years ago. It was a jack-o-lantern of expert, but unexceptional carving. Two eyes, a nose, and a wide, gaping mouth that was in most ways unextraordinary.
What made this the best pumpkin carving was that whoever did it took the scooped out innards of the pumpkin and arranged them in a way that made it seem that the jack-o-lantern was caught in mid-vomit. Instead of looking like it was wide-eyed with surprise, you’d see that it was wide-eyed with nausea perhaps from drinking too much Halloween punch. It cracks me up every time I think about it.
Another of the best pumpkin carving ideas I can remember is in the same vein. Carve a fierce looking jack-o-lantern. Give him narrow, angry eyes and a gaping maw with sharp fangs. Then, in one side of the mouth stick a smaller pumpkin with a frightened, horrified look on its face. Done properly this should look like the larger jack-o-lantern is eating the samller one, a bit of malicious delight on All Hallow’s Eve.
And it’s important to note that jack-o-lanterns are an important part of the Halloween tradition, and have been for centuries. According to wikipedia, the origin of the jack-o-lantern is as follows:
Another version of the myth says that Jack was getting chased by some villagers from whom he had stolen, when he met the Devil, who claimed it was time for him to die. However, the thief stalled his death by tempting the Devil with a chance to bedevil the church-going villagers chasing him. Jack told the Devil to turn into a coin with which he would pay for the stolen goods (the Devil could take on any shape he wanted); later, when the coin/Devil disappeared, the Christian villagers would fight over who had stolen it. The Devil agreed to this plan. He turned himself into a silver coin and jumped into Jack’s wallet, only to find himself next to a cross Jack had also picked up in the village. Jack had closed the wallet tight, and the cross stripped the Devil of his powers; and so he was trapped. In both myths, Jack only lets the Devil go when he agrees never to take his soul. After a while the thief died, as all living things do. Of course, his life had been too sinful for Jack to go to heaven; however, the Devil had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from hell as well. Jack now had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and the Devil mockingly tossed him an ember that would never burn out from the flames of hell. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which was his favourite food), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as “Jack of the Lantern”, or Jack-o’-Lantern.
So don’t forget that when looking for the best pumpkin carving ideas, either!
