Good Morning,
Well we did it! Jumped into Halloween with both sandals, so to speak. In last weeks letter I was talking about the history and roots of the holiday, but I left out the much important “kid factor”. After all without the kids, it would be just some stuffy ol’ “All Hallows Eve” and not much fun unless that kind of thing floats your boat. Of course with all the “Goth” around, there probably are a few that would be clam happy, but that stuff is way too serious for me. For Jeanie and I, it was a “trip” back to the early 70s and a time of less responsibilities let’s say. It didn’t take much to feel right at home in our garb, actually, kind of scary when you think about it. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but stepping back into an earlier time is always kind of fun and certainly an escape from present. [BTW, those are pants I bought in the 70s.]
So, the now “Annual Pumpkin (Cucurbita) Carve” at the Jr. Longs went very off well and all of the
candidates for Jack-O-Lantern, in the end, received their candles to light up the night with some pretty weird faces. It had been a while since I had reached my hand inside of a pumpkin, but when I did, it all came back. All the “gooshy” mass of strings and seeds generously splayed around the inside cavity then wrapping your hand around a glob of the damp “innards” and feeling it ooze out between your fingers as you pull and tug to free it from the walls, is an experience like few others. Unless you clean out the inside yourself, it is hard to cliam it, as your own. I consider it a “Rite of Passage” leading to the next steps of carving a personality unique to your alter ego.
It may be interesting to do a study paralleling Jack-O-Lantern carvers with their creations. I wonder what that would reveal. If you make a scary face, does that mean you are somehow scared inside? Does a happy face reflect a happy person or is it covering up something else? How about a sinister face, or a comic face, or no face at all, but a design? Second thought, maybe it would be better not to analyze this too much and just go with it.
With close to 20 pumpkins in the fray, one can only imagine the variety of faces and personalities ultimately represented. Sure it is messy and sure you are going to get “pumpkin guts” on you, but your reward is a ephemeral creation that you can call your own, unique to this world, simply because you made it with your own hands. To some, these may be little things, but even the little things add up and after all, when you think about it, life is made up of the “little things”.
Tonight, our Jack-O-Lanterns will grace our front stoop and while there are rarely any Trick-or-Treaters in our neighborhood, they will greet whoever frequents our door.
Happy Halloween and let the kid out tonight.
Love, Dad
Photo Credits: Mine