Carving pumpkins, do you?

[Mia]

Since I was a child carving pumpkins was something I looked forward to when the weather became colder. Used to use a long bread knife with a serrated blade and my father's bowie knife.

Apparently it began as a tradition among the Irish;

"According to Irish folklore, a man called Jack O’Lantern was sentenced to roam the earth for eternity. A ghostly figure of the night, O’Lantern walks with a burning coal inside of a carved-out turnip to light his way.The original Jack-o-Lanterns, named for Jack O’Lantern of the Irish myth, were actually quite terrifying.They were carved from turnips or beets rather than festive orange pumpkins, and were intended to ward off unwanted visitors."​

These days I carve several pumpkins with different themes, using a small serrated saw made especially for doing this. I use an exacto knife for accuracy to cut the outside skin and a small dremel, when I first began I carved the traditional grinning and scary pumpkin. Now I carve less traditional ones similar to these:

Do you carve pumpkins at Halloween?

 

[The Penguin]

I suck at it but I do love eating pumpkin seeds.

 

[tree]

 

[Mia]

Use a small string of lights to illuminate them at halloween, then I cut and bake the pumpkin until it's soft and make pumpkin pudding and muffins and use it in soup. Freezing the remainder for thanksgiving.

 

[zurb]

Halloween isn't a thing here, so neither is pumpkin carving. I did try it once as a kid, and decided that you need to use one with a hard skin. All the ones we get have papery skins.

 

[76054Pluto]

When I was a kid in the 1970s we used to make lanterns out of turnips rather than pumpkins. However in retrospect the smaller turnips were harder to hollow out so now I use pumpkins. When my niece and nephew were very young I made a pumpkin lantern with a candle inside and they loved it.

 

[The Penguin]

 

[Kirsty]

Nope. I grew up carving turnips. Pumpkins are easier to carve; I've tried it, but I'm not really into the whole Hallowe'en thing.

 

[Catlover614]

I don't like Halloween, but I love pumpkins and the beautiful fall foliage. Here's my favorite carvings;

 

[Catlover614]

 

[Catlover614]

 

[Catlover614]

 

[KillingBMan]

I can't carve pumpkins because I get too anxious, stress and frustrated at trying to get them perfect (which they never are). I now buy a ceramic pumpkin and paint it because if I mess up I can wash it off and start again. There is also the added benefit that it doesn't go rotten and smell bad!

 

[Cinnamon115]

I usually carve a pumpkin every year, although this year the pumpkin I got looked nice without carving it, so I didn't carve it. I've never tried carving an elaborate design, I just stick with a simple one.