The vexing answer just might explain why it has become a standard Halloween decoration on table tops or set whole, painted or carved up with a silly or menacing grin on front porches coast to coast.
It belongs to the squash family, which is usually considered to be a vegetable. Except that, botanically speaking, it is a fruit because, well, physically, it is the receptacle for the plant’s seeds. (I know, it’s a delicate subject.)
And, technically speaking, squashes grow hanging from a network of stalks. Well, except that as pumpkins grow they become a tad heavy to hang.
Oddly enough, an acorn squash plant I planted as a ground plant went aerial as its vine (stalk?) grew up a garden fence. Lo and behold it grew acorn squashes hanging on the fence, until I picked them, cooked them and ate them.
Squash are as American as apple pie, errrr make that as American as pumpkin pie. Squash was one of the three sisters planted by Native Americans, including beans and maize (corn). These were usually planted together with the cornstalk providing support for the climbing beans and shade for the squash. Beans provided nitrogen for all three crops.
The funny thing about planting them together is that the beans and squash plants grow up the corn stalks. I currently have a dragon gourd plant that started forming as a low hanging fruit on one of our corn stalks. Eventually, it grew too heavy and pulled its vine back down to the ground. According to my sources the English word “squash” comes from Narragansett word askutasquash, which translates to “a green thing eaten raw.”
Back to pumpkins. The rhyme “Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater” has Peter with domestic difficulties. He “had a wife, but couldn’t keep her; He put her in a pumpkin shell and there he kept her very well.”
What does that mean? Pumpkins are associated with abundance, which could also be associated with America as the New World in the 1800s.
Starving Celtic immigrants arrived with their traditions of carving faces in potatoes and turnips to keep the malevolent spirits at bay on All Hallows Eve, the night that they believed the veil between the worlds of us earthbound creatures and the departed spirits became thin and the spirits could pass through. They were at the time experiencing a famine due to a potato blight.
Just imagine what they thought when they saw the size of that peculiar American squash, pumpkins!
Back to Peter, Peter. A similar verse was published in Scotland in 1825. “Peter, my neeper. Had a wife and he couldn’t keep her. He put her in the wa (?) and let the mice eat her.” I guess that’s what happens during a famine.
So, why do people call babies pumpkins? I’m sure it’s meant as a term of endearment, but really?
It implies being plump, which is not currently considered a good thing. It also implies having jaundiced skin, which could be a sign of a medical problem. Perhaps, the sweet smell of cut pumpkin and the sweet-for-a-squash taste of it added to the endearing qualities of the pumpkin.
So, why did the Celts carve vegetables? They liked the ghosts of their ancestors. And who is this Jack in jack-o’-lantern?
It turns out he was a character who was not good enough to get into the pearly gates of heaven and not bad enough to get into the hot gates of hell.
He was doomed to walk the earth until he could exchange his soul for someone else. The devil tossed him a glowing coal to light his way back. It was too hot to handle, so jack carved out a turnip and used it to carry the coal.
On Halloween night, when the veil between the worlds is thin, you can see Jack and his little light roaming in the night for someone to take his place. But, if you hollow out a turnip, or a pumpkin, and place a light in it, Jack will pass by your house, thinking you are a lost soul, too.
Thus, it was an early, low-tech home security system that has stood the test of time, at least at my house.
SENIOR FAIR AND EXPO: The Woodlands of Shaker Heights will co-sponsor the Shaker Heights Senior Adult Health Fair and Expo, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Community Building, 3450 Lee Road.
Representatives from local hospitals, health care agencies and other businesses will present health and wellness tips, and offer other ways seniors can improve their quality of life. The Shaker Heights Health Department will be administering seasonal flu shots.
Call 216-491-1360 for more information.
MIDSUMMER AT WILEY: Can you turn back the clock? The Heights Youth Theatre is presenting “Midsummer,“ an updated adaptation of the classic “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.“
The show goes on at 7 p.m. Oct. 12-13 and 2 p.m. Oct. 14 at the Wiley Middle School Auditorium, 2181 Miramar Blvd. in University Heights.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $9 for seniors and children under 6. Visit heightsyouththeatre.org for details.
FOBO FUNDRAISER: The Friends of the Beachwood Orchestras invites supporters to its 2012 fundraiser, scheduled for 3-5 p.m. Nov. 11 at WhirlyBall, 5055 Richmond Road in Bedford Heights.
There will be food and a cash bar.
Attendees will be treated to great food and a cash bar, along with WhirlyBall, music from the Beachwood schools orchestras and a silent auction.
Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for students. Students performing as part of the fundraiser will pay a reduced fee of $5.
To RSVP and for any questions, contact email@example.com.
Brian Byrne contributed to this column. To post your event, contact Rusek at least two weeks in advance at firstname.lastname@example.org or 216-986-5474.