Today's series of posts are dedicated to a central figure of Halloween: the carved as (or painted) jack- o' -lantern squash. Jack Santino, my main source of reference as is shown in these posts, considers the carved squash as: " personal statements made in a participatory group or community situation, using culturally valued and shared symbols, most of which are centuries old".(p.2) In his paper, Santino refers to different interpretations of the pumpkin, from nostalgia about rural life to the story of Jack as is best known in Europe and hence extended meanings to cover life and death. Santino writes: "The pumpkin is carved and given a face. This is especially obvious when the jack-o'-lantern is seen in the dark, lit by a candle within. It then takes on a much more eerie, ambivalent, and frightening demeanor. Other than by carving, the pumpkin is transformed by means of painting or by using other vegetables as appendages. Houses may feature cutouts and paper representations of the jack-o'-lantern, either homemade or store bought, and of other Halloween figures as well. In fact, the transformation of pumpkin into jack-o'-lantern also extends to the growing number of "harvest figures," which may or may not be built upon a vegetable or organic base" (pp 15-16). He also stresses : "a cultural act is performed upon the vegetable: it is carved into a jack-o'-lantern, given an identity, and is thus connected to the other- world and the supernatural. The jack-o'-lantern, as we have seen, is one of a number of marginal creatures associated with death and the underworld[..]" (p. 16).
Having received such information from European lore and anthropological interpretations, let us wander around stores and front garden decorations and record as wide a range as possible in which jack-o'-lantern appears. I have divided my own photographs to several sections: a)postcards b) wood carved to jack-o'-lantern c) other material and elaborate forms d) public displays in gardens.
Here follow sections a and b
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