A delightful Halloween tradition is the carving of pumpkins. How my kids always enjoyed the gooey insides as we scraped them out onto newspapers. Of course, somehow there was always enough goo to spread well beyond the papers, no matter how many I spread out. We would draw a face and carve it. Place a candle inside and our creation took on a life!

There were years I bought several pumpkins, attempting to do my “Martha Stewart” impression. Unfortunately in my house, I usually ended up looking more like Jimmy Stewart. Oh well. The kids and I had fun.

Carving Jack-O-Lanterns is a Halloween custom that dates back to ancient Ireland. The first Jack-O-Lanterns, though were actually made of turnips, beets or even potatoes, not pumpkins. Pumpkins began to be used later, when Irishmen immigrated to the United States.

There are several version of an Irish legend that tells of a man named Stingy Jack, who convinced the Devil to pay for one last drink before he took his soul. The Devil turned himself into a sixpence and when it came time to pay, instead of paying for the drink Jack pocketed the sixpence and kept it stored beside a silver cross. This prevented the Devil from changing back. Jack made a deal with the Devil before letting him free. The Devil could not harass him for ten years. When the Devil returned, Jack again tricked the Devil and surrounded him with crosses.

When Jack died he was refused entry at the Gates of Heaven. He went to the Gates of Hell and the Devil told him to go away, as Jack had made him promise not to claim his soul. Because it was dark, Jack didn’t want to leave and he couldn’t find his way. The Devil tossed Jack a glowing coal and Jack put it inside a turnip. Ever since with this “Jack O’ Lantern”, Stingy Jack’s lonely soul has been roaming the earth. Other versions tell of Jack’s death while stealing turnips and when he was refused entrance into both heaven and hell, he used a candle to light the turnip he still had with him. Other versions exist as well, I am sure.

The tradition of leaving the pumpkins out is to keep evil spirits away. Personally, I put a lit pumpkin out to delight my adorable little trick or treaters.

Superstitions can be a good thing, if not taken to an extreme. If your lucky shirt helps you remember your lines for an audition, great! Seeing it will boost your confidence, therefore, it has a placeob effect. It is when a superstition leads to obsessive behavior or fears that you might want to examine their value.

  • Take time to learn the history of a superstition.
  • Evaluate how it serves you.
  • Look at the logic behind the superstition.
  • Re-frame how you think about the outcome of “not” adhering to the ritual or belief. (This can be done with the help of neuro-lingusitic programming.)
  • Visualize yourself happy and successful, no matter what!