Chances are Juliana Jackson, the 11-week-old daughter of Theresa and John Jackson, has no idea what a pumpkin is, but Juliana poses in front of the large fruit as her parents take pictures and begin to teach her a part of their tradition.
Halloween, they said, is an important pastime in both their lives.
“I have good memories of carving the pumpkin and cleaning it up, and mama making pie with it afterwards,” Theresa Jackson said. “It’s important to
carry on traditions.”
The Jacksons brought Juliana on Oct. 16 to the University United Methodist Church’s annual pumpkin patch. The pumpkin patch is a fundraiser that has been going on for five years, said the church’s director of children’s ministry Cindy Hall.
The church, located on Dalrymple drive across from the International Cultural Center, sells pumpkins every day to support its youth program.
Hall said the youth group, which mans the pumpkin patch, made more than $5,000 last year on the pumpkin patch. The money goes toward youth programs such as this summer’s choir tour and future mission trips.
Matt Rawle, the youth director for University United Methodist Church said the pumpkin patch isn’t just about making money, but about bringing people together.
“The pumpkin patch is about the community,” Rawle said. “Not just the LSU Community, but the community in general. It’s important for children to come and take part in the patch.”
Rawle said the patch gets a lot of customers with small children and LSU students, including some student organizations that buy pumpkins by the truckload.
Average Fruit, Bigger Meaning
Carl Motsenbacker, an associate professor of horticulture, said he tried to grow pumpkins as a child, and they grow much like a common fruit.
“There is actually a male and a female flower for pumpkins,” Mostenbacker said. “The female flower has a fruit behind the flower, and every morning the flower will open, allowing a bee to come by and transfer the male pollen to the female pollen.”
Pumpkins actually are related to squash, and have three different species, Mostenbacker said. The most common is the Jack-O-Lantern type, or the carving pumpkin. However, this species is not the best to use for making pumpkin pie.
“A different type of squash-pumpkin is used for pumpkin pie. It has more flavor,” Mostenbacker said.
Mostenbacker said pumpkins have been used since 2000 B.C., by natives in Peru. In North America, Native Americans used them for food and decorations, and settlers picked up on this tradition.
“What often happens with a lot of crops is they come from one area and are transplanted to another area,” Mostenbacker said. “The settlers brought them to Europe and they became part of their society.”
Mostenbacker said pumpkins don’t grow as well in the South because of the heat, so most of the pumpkins around Baton Rouge are imported from other states.
There are several smaller varieties of pumpkin that grow in Louisiana, such as the Creole Pumpkin, which has a reddish tint. However, the LSU Ag Center successfully grew a 198-pound pumpkin five years ago.
Blair Kelly, a homemaker whose children attend the University Lab School, came to the pumpkin patch while waiting for her children to get out of school.
“My kids love them. It’s kind of a family tradition,” Kelly said. “It doesn’t matter how much goop and mess it makes. In this X-box world, it gives us something to do together.”
Kelly said she was going to go somewhere else to buy her pumpkins, but decided to support the church and its youth by purchasing them from the patch.
Rawle said the church tries to encourage the community by inviting local preschools to come and hear stories and take pictures at the pumpkin patch.
“It brings people together, regardless of denomination,” Rawle said. “Pumpkins represent a kind of universal holiday.”
The Legend Continues
But the Jack-O-Lantern wasn’t created for celebratory purposes or any kind of holiday.
According to historychannel.com, the Jack-O-Lantern originated from a centuries-old Irish myth about a man who went by the name of “Stingy Jack.”
According to legend, Stingy Jack tricked the Devil twice. Jack finally convinced the Devil to climb up a tree, which he then carved a cross into, forcing the Devil to agree not to take his soul when he died.
When Jack finally died, God would not accept him into heaven because of his indiscretions on Earth. The Devil kept his promise as well, sending Jack away from hell with only a burning coal to guide him.
Jack put the coal inside a turnip he had been eating and roamed the earth, earning the name “Jack of the Lantern,” or simply “Jack O’Lantern.”
Irish and Scottish folk then started the tradition of carving scarier versions of Jack’s lantern into turnips or potatoes to keep Stingy Jack away.
Immigrants carried this tradition to the United States and discovered an orange fruit that Native Americans had been using for centuries, the pumpkin, which was perfect for Jack-O-Lanterns.
“Pumpkins are of American origin. The Indians used them for food as well as decoration,” Mostenbacker said. “Some believe that pumpkins were used at the first Thanksgiving, and the settlers picked it up from there.”