Pumpkin Faces
When I was a boy Halloween was an entire season, as long as Summer and more colorful than Christmas. A childhood holiday filled with orange and brown, yellow and amber, pumpkins and Autumn leaves, bright moons and starry nights. Going out in costume was not all there was to Halloween.
Weeks before, we went to a pumpkin farm and rummaged for the perfect shape and size. Then we traced out the pattern on the pumpkin face where we would cut out some demonic expression suitable for scaring away the goblins. Then the actual surgery and the placing of the candles inside. Where to position our grotesque friend? It had to be a different spot each year. Of course, each holiday we became more and more accomplished at our carving and cutting. 25 years ago, I taught my sons the ancient art of pumpkin carving. Now I teach it to my granddaughter and in the fullness of time she will teach it to her children and grandchildren.
Here are some pumpkins to spark the imagination (click on image to scan through gallery).
And in this manner we pass on the most important thing you can give a child: colorful memories. My parents are no longer alive but when I recall the memories of my mom and dad it is of a time when all things were young and filled with bright colors and fragrant smells. The first carnival I ever went to I was 4 years old. I remember the carousel with the metallic colors of the horses and the oily smell of sparks from the train engines pulling a carload of children. I remember the smell of vanilla ice cream and the beauty of its buttery texture, its perfect spherical shape and the cold shimmer floating above it. I remember going here and there holding unto both my parents' hands trying to choose which ride to go on next.
We came to America in 1949 and from that day on my parents celebrated whatever holidays I brought home from school. Days before Lincoln's Birthday (February 12th) I brought home silhouette cutouts of his profile. Of course the first holiday that schools in those days would celebrate was Halloween. The classrooms and hallways would be filled with all sorts of artwork and drawings and leaves glued on poster-paper and spider webs and orange-colored card-boards with pumpkin cutouts. This went on for a month before actual Halloween. When we fail to celebrate Halloween we fail as parents to give our children memories.
Here is an entry in the World of Warcraft 2005 Pumpkin Carving Contest:
Adults sometimes spoil the holiday with costumes in bad taste; here is Bill Maher’s Steve Irwin Halloween Costume:

And if that doesn't bother you, Samantha Burns links to some Offensive Costumes For Halloween.
And now here is my own pumpkin cutout that took me over 30 pumpkins and a few hundred hours of microsurgery and painstaking effort (hint: it should look like a favorite movie star of mine):
Others Plodding through Pumpkin Patches or wearing Costumes:
The Clash of Civilizations,
Halloween : Less Pagan, More Money-Makin'So, again, in October, our economy stimulated by the sharp upspike in candy, costume, and party sales - and there's a chance for everyone to enjoy a bit of family and neighborly togetherness. And if you want, lay a bet on Frankenstein costumes - they're a classic. So I think many in the Jewish community need to ease up a little. It's only candy. And MOST of it is kosher.
If you wait long enough you can pick up pumpkins cheaply:
History Mike,
Pumpkin Picking in Northwest Ohio(Toledo, OH) We completed an annual family ritual today, driving out to our favorite pumpkin patch on Albon Road and the turnpike.
Given the fact that Halloween is almost upon us, the proprietor of the farm had dropped his prices to $1 for every pumpkin we picked.
My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy - Trick-or-Treat!, Excerpt: Treat the Gunny and nobody gets hurt tricked. You know I’ve got plenty of tricks up my sleeve, don’t you?
Feisty Republican Whore - XXX Halloween action this weekend!!!, Excerpt: Hey, gentleman and prostitutes! It's Halloween, which means Feisty R. Whore is dressing up and acting a fool all weekend and/or vomitting profusely depending on if I can successfully avoid the wop.
Little Miss Attila points us to some Extreme Pumpkin-Carving.
A tip of the turban to Rashbre Central for leading us to Extreme Pumpkins.
Find other bloggers discussing these technorati tags: ancient art, autumn leaves, bright moons, certain, cutouts, fullness of time, halloween, images, memories of my mom and dad, metallic colors, parents, perfect shape, photo, pumpkin carving, pumpkin face, pumpkin farm, spherical shape, starry nights, train engines, vanilla ice cream
Blogs linked here: Mark My Words, bullwinkle blog, Third World County, committees of correspondence, dumb ox
TrackBacks from Old System
- Post Halloween blues from bagel blogger
For those that celebrated Halloween and for the kiddies that ate too much trick or treat Candy I thought this picture was pretty apt. [Read More]Tracked on November 1, 2006 10:22 PM
- Bad-Ass Pumpkin-Carving from little miss attila
Bernie was kind enough to link me from one of the nicest collections of artistically carved pumpkins I've ever seen. Seriously good shit. [Read More]Tracked on November 1, 2006 10:25 PM
Comments from Old Comment System
- Hey Bernie! Great pumpkin pics! I especially like the Scarlet! How long did that take you? Wow. Great job. And thanks for the link - will link to these great pics!
Comment by: N.B. Goldstein
on October 31, 2006 11:16 AM
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