A couple years ago a some great jack-o-lantern carvings showed up on the world wide web. A finely carved pumpkin but nothing too had to do. Two eyes, a nose, and a wide, gaping mouth that was in most ways unextraordinary.

The thing that made this design great was, the carver took the inside gook of the pumpkin and arranged it so that it looked like the pumpkin was throwing up. 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.

Here is a second winning jack-o-lantern carving design. Carve a fierce looking jack-o-lantern. Give him narrow, angry eyes and a gaping maw with sharp fangs. Next your carve a small pumpkin with a very frightened look and stick it in the large pumpkins mouth. The smaller jack-o-lantern looks like it is being eaten by the larger one. When done correctly, you add a bit of malicious delight to 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. Soon there after jack died. No big surprise, Jack’s life had been too sinful to go to heaven; but the Mr D. said he would not to take his soul, and so he could not go to hell either. Jack now had no home, nowhere to go. From the flames of hell, the Devil gave Jack an ever glowing ember to light his way. 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.

Remember this tale when you dream up your own jack-o-lantern carving ideas!

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