Of Pumpkins

Most people have heard the legend of the Jack O’Lantern; nevermind that originally there were no pumpkins in Europe and this legend must be a recent one. Jack, a blacksmith, was drinking one night in a pub and ran into the Devil. Jack offered the Devil his soul in exchange for a drink, so the Devil turned himself into a sixpence that Jack could use to pay the bartender. Jack put the sixpence in his pocket instead, and the Devil could not escape because Jack has a cross in his pocket. Jack made the Devil promise not to take his soul for ten years before he would release him. Ten years later Jack and the Devil met on a country road. Jack asked the Devil to help him get an apple off a tree, and then he would go peacefully. The Devil agreed, since he figured he had nothing to lose, and hopped up on Jack’s shoulders to grab the apple. Jack quickly pulled out his knife and cut a cross in the trunk of the tree, which trapped the Devil up there. Jack then made the Devil promise never to claim Jack’s soul.

When Jack finally died, Heaven wouldn’t take him because of his sinful life. However, when he went down to Hell, the Devil also turned him away, because he had promised never to take Jack’s soul. Jack asked where he was supposed to go, and the Devil told him to go back where he came from, and since Jack pleaded for something to light his way, the Devil threw a live coal at him. Jack put the coal inside a turnip he was eating so that the wind would not blow it out. Ever since, Jack has been doomed to wander in darkness with his lantern until “Judgment Day.” Jack of the lantern became known as the symbol of a damned soul.

The custom of the Jack O’Lantern has its roots in 5th century Ireland, where the people would light candles inside of turnips to scare away spirits. They believed that on Samhain, which was the last night of their year, those who had died that year could return to haunt the living, as well as fairies wanting to wreak mischief. The lights inside the carved turnips were supposed to scare the spirits and fairies away.

A myth from the Taino people of Puerto Rico blames the pumpkin for making their land an island. Supposedly, Puerto Rico was once a mountain in the middle of a huge plain. Some magic seeds planted on the mountain produced a lush forest on that mountaintop, and a vine sprang forth which bore a beautiful golden flower. This flower, in turn, produced a pumpkin. Two men found the pumpkin and began to argue over it; while struggling they drop the pumpkin. It rolls down the mountain and bursts open on a rock. The sea springs forth from inside the pumpkin, forever making Puerto Rico an island. There is a similar myth from India concerning the pumpkin being responsible for the oceans; in that myth, though, a man puts the body of his only son into a pumpkin after the boy dies. From this pumpkin sprang fish and whales and later a deluge which covered the earth.

A rather disgusting myth from Korea is about General Pumpkin. The only son of a rich man had a great appetite for pumpkins, and his parents spoiled him by giving him as many pumpkins as he could eat. He ate pumpkin cakes, pumpkin puddings, pumpkin soup, pumpkin porridge, and still he wanted more pumpkins. He became huge and fat. His parents went broke trying to feed him enough pumpkins. The pumpkins also had the unfortunate side effect of making the boy flatulent, and the villagers were tired of his stench, so they drove him from the village.

He wandered from village to village begging pumpkins, and would work in exchange for them, but he lost every job in a few days when his employers found what an extraordinarily filthy glutton he was. One day he came to a big Buddhist temple in the mountains. This temple was quite wealthy, but there was a band of robbers who would frequently victimize the temple. The head priest at the temple asked the pumpkin eater to help guard the temple against the robbers. The boy asked for his usual payment: as much pumpkin as he could eat. While the priests were preparing this pumpkin feast, the robber chief came in disguise to the temple and asked if there was a party. The priests told him that General Pumpkin was there. The robber chief thought perhaps that the General had brought many soldiers with him since the priests were making so much pumpkin, but the priests told him that the General was going to eat it all himself. This made the robber chief want to get a closer look at the General, so he decided to spend the night at the temple. Unfortunately, one of the priests recognized the robber chief, and told General Pumpkin. He told the priests to go and hide. The band of robbers gathered outside and tried to break in, but General Pumpkin let loose such a horrible stench and deafening sound that the robbers were startled. A gale came along and blew down the brick wall surrounding the temple, and all the robbers including their chief were crushed under the falling bricks.

The head priest thanked General Pumpkin and told him he could stay as long as he liked. He lived there for many years, and had all the pumpkins he wanted. The priests planted a large field with pumpkins so that they could feed him, and he grew old living at the temple. One day the three sons of a rich man came to him to ask his help in defeating a white tiger which killed their father. They fed him pumpkin delicacies, hoping he would break wind just once. The three sons donned their armored and went outside to challenge the tiger to come out and fight. The tiny white tiger came out, and the three sons and it began to fight. General Pumpkin watched the fight through a small hole in the wall, and was so horrified by what he saw that he fainted. When he fell, he violently and loudly broke wind , and the tiger was paralyzed with fear from the sound and the smell that it was pierced by a bamboo stake. When the three sons came back inside they found the old man lying dead in the room surrounded with excrement.

Pumpkins are used to represent a man in a sacrificial ceremony for the malignant disease-bringing goddess Mari. Bosnian gypsies believe that pumpkins can turn into vampires. Indians ate squash and pumpkin seeds as a worm expellant and whole squash as a cure for snakebite. We mostly eat pumpkin pie and toasted pumpkin seeds.