The Great Pumpkin

By Mary Carter
Eagle Times Correspondent
The early founders of our Twin States would have been dumbstruck by the masses of pumpkins on our porch steps. They would have shuddered at the sight of carved jack-o-lanterns grinning back at them by flickering candlelight. But their reactions would not be for the reasons we think.

In colonial times, pumpkins weren’t meant for decoration. Pumpkins were serious food staples, and not just the “wow” spice flavor of the month for lattes.

It’s believed that pumpkins were first grown in North America 9000 years ago. Pumpkin seeds discovered in Mexico date back to 7000-5550 BC. Indigenous people grew pumpkins alongside corn and beans in a practical method that was known as “The Three Sisters”. The corn created a framework for the beans to grow on. The beans helped to shelter and secure the corn in adverse weather, and the pumpkins stabilized the root systems and blocked weed growth.

Pumpkins appeared in cookbooks as early as 1670 with recipes for main and side dishes. A long-past version of pumpkin pie was made with scooped out shells filled with ginger spice milk and roasted.

Our modern day carved pumpkins were inspired by Irish settlers and, likely, their legend of “Stingy Jack O’Lantern.” As the centuries old tale goes, the deceitful Jack tricked Satan on more than one occasion from taking his soul. But, when Jack died, he was turned away from Heaven for all his misdeeds on earth. Jack then journeyed to the gates of Hell, pleading to be let in. Satan reminded Jack he was bound by a vow never to admit him. Jack was given an ember inside a gourd, and is now doomed to wander the realm between good and evil with a “Jack-o-lantern” to light his way.

The pumpkin plays a prominent role in Washington Irving’s 1820 classic, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Hailed as one of America’s first ghost stories, Sleepy Hollow’s prominent scene is where Brom Bones, tired of schoolmaster Ichabod Crane romancing his girlfriend Katrina, pursues Crane disguised as the dreaded horseman, chucking a pumpkin at Crane in place of a head.

Beloved animator Charles M. Schulz brought the pumpkin to a family entertainment level with his 1966 television special, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” Charlie Brown’s friend Linus is convinced of a Great Pumpkin spirit who rises each Halloween from a pumpkin patch, delivering toys to young believers.

In the 1970s, Braniff airplanes were painted bright orange. Air traffic controllers began saying, “Welcome, Great Pumpkin,” at their approach. Television shows, songwriters, and even video games began paying tribute to Schulz’s fond creation.

Speaking of great pumpkins: an Anoka, Minnesota landscape and horticulture teacher named Travis Gienger set this year’s world record for the largest pumpkin. Gienger’s entry weighed 2,749 pounds — enough, it was estimated, to make nearly 700 pies. According to Guinness World Records, the previous heavyweight champion was a 2,702 pumpkin grown in Italy. Just think of the caffè lattes!