So why does pumpkin become a must-have item for Halloween as an ingredient? Let me introduce the relevant knowledge:
First of all, the reason why pumpkins become the protagonist of Halloween.
Why pumpkins become indispensable props can be found in western legends:
Legend has it that there was a man named Jack, who was both stingy and fond of practical jokes. One day, Jack got drunk, played a trick on a demon and made a deal with him. Therefore, after his death, a person with bad conduct and making a deal with the devil can't enter heaven or hell after his death, but can only wander between heaven and earth by a small candle. In order not to blow out the candle, Jack hollowed out the radish in his hand and made a small lantern.
In this way, Jack and the radish lamp in his hand became the symbol of cursed wandering souls. Therefore, before the earliest Halloween, every household placed radish lanterns at the door to drive away these wandering souls.
Later, the Irish found that radishes were scarce in winter, so they replaced radishes with high-yield potatoes or kohlrabi. Britain uses local beets. In this way, this custom spread to the United States, and everyone in the United States found that chubby pumpkins were more suitable as hollow lanterns. So with the passage of time, other materials were eliminated, and finally it became a world of pumpkins, and pumpkin carved lights became one of the most suitable props for Halloween.
Therefore, at first, pumpkins were not used in Halloween, but because pumpkins are cute and more suitable as hollow lanterns, they have been pulled into the new favorite of Halloween and have been used until now.
Second, the significance of Halloween pumpkin lantern:
Because in western legend, the jack-o-lantern is used to disperse wandering souls, but it actually illuminates the road for wandering souls. Therefore, the jack-o-lantern symbolizes light on Halloween. This kind of light can not only scare away ghosts, but also guide people and ghosts into reincarnation. Don't wander around the world and become a lonely ghost.
Third, Halloween pumpkins are actually not the pumpkins we usually eat:
Pumpkin is a very common food at home and abroad, with high nutritional value and good taste. But why do foreigners throw away all the pumpkin lanterns after Halloween? In fact, the reason is not that the pumpkin is dirty, but that there are other reasons. The reason is that the pumpkin used for Halloween is actually a kind of pumpkin that can't be eaten. This kind of pumpkin is called Gauteng pumpkin.
Gauteng pumpkin is the most common ornamental pumpkin in the west. They are specially cultivated for making pumpkin lanterns, so their taste is not particularly good. Their pulp is dull, fibrous and rough, so no one usually eats it.
The characteristic of Gauteng pumpkin is that its skin is thin enough and cheap knives can be easily inserted, which makes ordinary people and children like it very much. They can carve shapes with it at will on Halloween.