Maybe I should, but I don’t feel terribly bad about “cheating” by recycling reruns of seasonal themes (like the Autumn Foliage Friday Fun). So we’ll begin with a brief review about Halloween from what we learned last year.
THEN we’ll move on to the new stuff.
We Can Thank the Irish for Halloween
Samhain was a sacred Celtic festival that marked the end of the Celtic calendar year. Celts believed that during Samhain the wall between their present-day world and the afterlife became porous enough to allow spirits to get through. (You taking notes on that “wall” feature, Donald?) To befuddle the marauding apparitions that may be wandering their streets, it was a common practice for the Celts to disguise themselves in costumes and masks so as to escape the spirits’ attention. And at the same time, to cover all their bases, they would put out special food treats to placate the phantoms.
As part of the celebration of Samhain, fires were lit to ensure the sun would return after the coming long, hard winter. And Druid priests would throw the bones of cattle into the flames – hence, “bone fire” which then morphed into “bonfire.”
Catholics had a three-day Hallowmas holiday close to the Samhain celebration time that was designed to honor and pray for the recently deceased. And in the hopes of winning pagan converts over to Catholicism, in the early part of the 11th century the Pope decreed Hallowmas would coincide with Samhain, lasting from Oct. 31 (All Hallow’s Eve) until Nov. 2.
“All Hallow’s Eve” then evolved into “All Hallow’s Even” – and by the 18th century it was commonly referred to as “Hallowe’en.”
The Irish also provide the legend behind our ubiquitous Jack-o’-Lanterns at this time of year. They’re named after an Irish drunkard known as Stingy Jack, infamous for duping folks into buying him a drink.
The folklore is that Stingy Jack tricked the Devil into paying for a libation by having the Devil turn himself into a coin. But Jack just happened to then put this transformed-coin of the Devil into his pocket that also held a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from returning to his original self.
To remove the silver cross from his pocket, and thus allow the Devil to transform back, Jack made Lucifer promise he would not take him to Hades when he died. But when Jack finally did pass, God (who was not a bit pleased with Jack’s chumminess with the Devil) refused him entry into Heaven at St. Peter’s Gates.
So Stingy Jack was forced to wander the earth at night with a burning lump of coal as his only source of light. Jack placed his lump of coal in a makeshift lantern made from a turnip or rutabaga carved with openings mimicking his face to emit the lump of coal’s light. So Stingy Jack became “Jack of the Lantern” or “Jack o’ Lantern”.
When the Irish moved to America turnips were hard to find – but pumpkins were plentiful. So they switched their tradition of carving faces into pumpkins which they used to keep Jack and other troubled spirits away.
But pumpkin- (and other vegetable, fruit and more) carving has been raised to an art form by Angel Boraliev who is from Bulgaria. He’s (with a name of “Angel” I double-checked – and he’s a he) a professional decorative carver for hotels in Bulgaria.
He put up a page on Bored Panda (where you can view all 26 Halloween carvings) to prove that pumpkin- (along with squash) carvings don’t have to be scary – but can be quite beautiful. So let’s enjoy a few (Right-click or scroll-click, if your mouse has that feature, on one to open in a new window as a full-size photo. Or just click on one them and it’ll open as full-size. Click back/return to get back to the others) …
I could learn very little about Angel himself or how he does it. All I could locate was this YouTube video of him carving a rose – and he said it took him just 8 minutes – but don’t worry, it’s sped up:
So “Happy Halloween” from all of us cats ready to go Trick-Or-Treating!
13 Responses to “Friday Fun: The Art of Pumpkin Carving Taken to a New Level”
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Angel Boraliev of Bulgaria: A Skilled Master Carver as evidenced from the video and photos is wonderfully displayed. Very Nice!
Thanks for the history of Halloween. Learned something new here with your descriptive storytelling.
Do enjoy your “Halloween” in whatever manner you celebrate it.
.
I knew the history, but the variety of beautiful pumpkin carvings and the existence of bat shitty kitty are new to me. Thanks Nameless!!
Cross posted to Care2 HERE
His number 7 made me think, “M. C. Escher pineapple!” He doesn’t say, and some one at Bored Panda said “Dragon Egg.” Cool either way. Some designs look kind of Islamic – not a criticism – Islamic abstracts are incredibly gorgeous.
P.S. Well, there’s always Angel Romero, for a male Angel.
P.P.S. I will never get tired of looking at BatCat!
Wonderful history and video!
Just love the cat!
Angel Boraliev is very accomplished and extremely talented. Love his work!
As to the history of Hallowe’en, I was very familiar with it. We were actually taught it in school — mind that was a very long time ago!
As to bat shitty kitty, you may have found this picture too, but I also sent it to you a few years ago when you asked for some contributions for Hallowe’en. I love the little puddy!
Here are some more cute animal pics for Hallowe’en.
Of course, cats, or probably more accurately, kittens are my favourites.
And especially for Lona:
Happy Hallowe‘en!
Thanks Nameless!
Highly likely, given your impeccable taste, the “Vampire Putty” came from you – so “Thanks!”.
Not to be nit-picky Nameless, but that should be “Vampire Puddy” as “Putty” is something kids play with or can be the stuff you put around your tub where it meets the wall so that it does not leak.
One can always go with “pootie.”
Thanks, Lynn. The hedgehog ‘count’ is absolutely adorable!
Another wonderful contribution to my continuing learnings, Nameless. Thank you so much. The pumpkin carvings are so beautiful and delicate.
Halloween is becoming more popular with young people here too, but without the background and folklore it is the cheap, commercialized version of it. Something that has sadly become implied with ‘Americanism’.
We used to have our “own” type of Halloween in the Low Lands on the 11th of November, on Sint-Maarten (Saint Martin’s day), dating back to the Druids and very much the same incorporation into the Catholic ritual to convert the pagans, but this time connecting it to the patron saint of beggars. Sint-Maarten was the feast for beggars, who were given something extra when they went from door to door to help them through the harsh winter months. Later it were the (poor) children who went from door to door to collect their sweets.
In the south Low Lands it was also the time to have the paupers taste the new wine as Pieter Brueghel depicted in his own inimitable way (1566):
What a great review of the Halloween traditions/history of this holiday!
My family participated the Catholic days, (growing up), of All Soul’s Day-November 1st, and then All Saint’s Day/November 2nd, and participating in the Church functions. Halloween was a given to us kids back then. 😉
We don’t get any kids coming and knockin’ on our door anymore. Most activities are downtown, and a couple sub-divisions downtown have children who still go door to door. It’s always fun to go and see what the little ones are wearing, and see their excitement during this holiday. That’s what makes it special for them, and for the parent’s memories.
The pumpkins are beautifully carved, and I enjoyed the video too. Enjoyed the kitty cat pics too.
Thank you, Nameless for your post, and Joanne for cross posting.