Today's Photo of the Week is welcoming Autumn to Brooklyn. Pictured here are two children holding pumpkins outside of the Clinton Hill Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.
Pumpkin carving, as a tradition in America, is believed to have been started when Scottish and Irish immigrants came to the United States in the 19th century. They brought with them the tradition of carving scary faces into turnips, but upon encountering pumpkins for the first time found it a much better canvas! And why were they carving turnips? It all started with another holiday called Samhaim and a legend about a man named Stingy Jack. Samhaim was usually celebrated on Nov. 1 coinciding with the beginning of the winter period. It was believed that during Samhaim souls returned to visit their homes. People set bonfires and wore scary costumes to keep away demons. When the Roman Catholic Church moved All Saints Day to Nov. 1, Samhaim was moved to October 31st and the folklore of Stingy Jack was introduced. According to the story, Stingy Jack once tricked the devil out of money so when he died, the devil didn't want him. Equally unwanted in heaven, Jack roamed the earth for all eternity. Carving faces in turnips and eventually pumpkins was to scare Stingy Jack away.
Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We welcome appointments to research our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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