Pumpkins Are Trending
October 21, 2015 | Originally published in the Laconia Daily Sun
For most of the year pumpkin is an ingredient. Something we purchase and use in baking: pies, muffins and breads, primarily. Then as Halloween, or Hallow’s Eve, approaches the lowly pumpkin, a plant that is in the squash family and probably native to North America, is adored and adorned. The orange color and handsome round shape complement the gold, red and yellow leaves that have transformed the trees.
The history of Halloween and the jack-o-lantern is fascinating and can be traced back to Celtic traditions in Ireland and Scotland. There are people who believe the jack-o-lantern comes alive for a few hours on Halloween and should be immediately destroyed when the candle is snuffed out at the end of the evening.
In the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella there isn’t a fairy godmother or a pumpkin.
Cinderella falls under the spell of a wicked stepmother. However Cinderella prevails and at the end of the story is married to the prince. It was in the French version of the tale, published by Charles Perrault in 1697, that the idea of a pumpkin being turned into a golden carriage is introduced. If you recall, mice were turned into horses, a rat into a coachman and lizards into footmen.
In Manhattan, over the last few years, Halloween has become a time to decorate your home. Large brownstones are covered with flying bats, ghosts that float in the wind and cobwebs that are stretched from the roof to the street. It can be frightening walking down some blocks, wondering what might be lurking in your path. Looking out through my window I am confronted with an enormous spider and a skull over the door.
Since the pumpkin seems to inspire decoration, cooking and magic, one can only anticipate, with curiosity, how Laconia will be transformed during the first annual Pumpkin Festival. Wafting through the air will be the scent of baking. Pumpkins on porches and steps will be carefully arranged. Probably orange colored clothing will be worn. My advice: If you have a pumpkin near your door I would keep a careful eye on it over the next few days …you might find a golden carriage in your driveway one morning.