-aking a Halloween Jack-o’-lantern is a fun thing to do with children in the run up to Halloween (31st October). Though keep them under close supervision when so doing.

What is a Jack-o’-Lantern?

As Spid finds out in Spid the Spider Gets Spooked at Halloween, Halloween is based on the Celtic festival Samhain. Halloween traditions include the making of jack-o’-lanterns – carving scary faces out of pumpkins.  Though scary faces weren’t originally carved from pumpkins. The tradition originates from an Irish myth about Stingy Jack, who tricked the Devil for his monetary gain. However, when Jack died, God didn’t allow him into heaven, and the Devil didn’t let him into hell. So Jack had to roam the earth for eternity. And as a result, the Irish carved scary faces out of turnips to frighten away Jack’s wandering soul. Then when Irish immigrants moved to the USA, they carved jack-o’-lanterns from pumpkins as these were plentiful in the region.

Pumpkins in popular culture

Today, with the rise of modern agriculture, and a greater availability of produce to choose from, the pumpkin is no longer a food staple or necessity. Though it remains symbolic of the farm and harvest and increasingly expressed in US Thanksgiving as well as global Halloween festivities, as means of helping urbanised consumers hold onto their agrarian heritage.

Why are some people afraid of spiders?

As well as decorating pumpkins with scary faces, some folk create images of spiders, or make models of spiders in their webs.  Our fear of spiders, so called arachnophobia, is a result of evolutionary psychology.  Back in our early evolution, coming into contact with venomous spiders was much more common than it is today. So our fear of spiders developed as a survival instinct! It comes from the oldest part of our brain, the Amygdala, the so called reptilian brain. This is responsible for 90% of decision making and controls our fight or flight response. It also operates at super-fast speeds. Though our fear of spiders is misplaced. Though is perpetuated by popular myth, like scary movies such as Arachnophobia.  However, the reality is that of out of 38,000 spider species in the world, only 0.1-0.3 percent pose a threat to humans, and spider bites rarely cause death.  Nevertheless, to help you make a Halloween Jack-o’-lantern to impress your friends, Spid has posed for a stencil image, though as we know, he is very friendly ;-).

How to make a Halloween Jack-o’-lantern

First, if you don’t have a pumpkin in your vegetable garden, buy one at your local supermarket or greengrocer!

Second, download our free-to-use pumpkin carving stencil and fix this to the front of your pumpkin.  Feel free to amend or redraw the template if you wish!  Perhaps to make the face scarier!!

Third, find a use a small easy-to-maneuver knife to cut a round hole in the top of the pumpkin c. 10cm diameter across. Then remove all of the seeds and hollow out the inside of the pumpkin. It is fine to remove a reasonable amount of flesh to make pumpkin soup! As a sharp object, and scoop is best for this activity, keep children under close supervision. Show and help them hold and use a knife. Always hold by the handle with the blade face down, and always press down and away from your fingers and body! Save the seeds for planting next year by washing, drying, and storing them in an envelope in a cool place.

Fourth, cut holes in the face of the pumpkin. Our templates include designs for Spid’s face, a spider’s web and a bat.

Finally, after carving your pumpkin, insert a night light, replace the top or lid, and then place the pumpkin on your doorstep or window ledge. Keeping it in a cold place to prolong its life. With safety in mind, do not place the pumpkin near flammable objects such as curtains!

Here’s a Spid o’ Lantern that we made earlier!

We created a two-tone effect by completely and partially cutting holes.

Halloween jack o'lantern

Halloween jack o'lantern with Spid the Spider face

  • Download our free-to-use Halloween pumpkin stencils
  • Download our free-to-use Halloween pumpkin stencils

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