Every October, I start to get the urge to carve a pumpkin.

It's a tradition that's rooted in legends in ancient civilizations in Ireland and Scotland, and blended with a plant that's distinctively American.

This one looks good.

Let's go carve it.

You know, back when this tradition got started, it wasn't even pumpkins people were carving.

It was turnips.

Save me.

This tradition, like man Halloween traditions, actually started from an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain, which celebrated the changing of the seasons.

It was a time when people felt the boundaries between the living and the dead were at their thinnest.

There was also this legend about a man named Stingy Jack who was cursed to roam the earth for all of eternity with just a single burning coal ember to light his way.

He put that into a turnip.

Whoa.

And he became known by the locals as Jack O'The Lantern, or Jack-o'-lantern.

When Scottish and Irish immigrants came to North America, they brought the traditions of Samhain, which had come to be known as Halloween, along with them, including the tradition of carving Jack-o'-lanterns.

But they added an American twist.

Pumpkins, which are native to North America, are so much easier to carve and more abundant.

I mean, when was the last time you even saw a turnip?

So that's why we carve pumpkins every year.

What do you think about this beauty?

And what about you?

You gonna do a pumpkin, or are you thinking turnip for yourself this year?

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