Last night we decided to be true to our American roots and got creative with a pumpkin. When I first moved to Europe in the 90s, Halloween-style pumpkins were nowhere to be found, but this year we were able to pick up one at our local farmers market for only €3 (it was even labeled as a “Halloween-Kürbis”). Luckily the walk back to our apartment wasn’t too long, because this guy was heavy.
I’m wondering if our German neighbors would know what to do with such a thing. Perhaps next year we could offer a pumpkin-carving workshop?
As adorable as our little jack-o-lantern turned out, my favorite part was roasting his seeds. Yum.
Happy Halloween!
I love him!
In our last Hallowe’en in France, we had a pumpkin carving party for our French and other international friends. Not all knew what sort of gourd to bring – it’s amazing, we discovered, what you can make out of a squash. Also amazing how people’s personalities and cultural background informs their jack o’lanterns.
@CN – Thanks! I love him too.
@Mark – That sounds fabulous. I think we would have had a carving party of our own if the idea had come to us a bit earlier. Perhaps next year… Also, now you have me wondering what our jack-o-lantern says about our personalities and social background. We don’t come from one-toothed families, I swear.
I’m reading “Bemused/bewildered reaction to something” in that pumpkin. Perhaps it’s seeing Cowboys und Indianer for the first time?
Completely forgot to carve a pumpkin this year. Such a bad American. But I agree, a carving party would be a great idea. Have to remember for next year.
Halloween is much more popular around here. Two of our neighbors had jack-o-lanterns and there were a few more a couple of streets over. That’s about 100% increase over last year. We even had some trick or treaters.
My son’s very German kindergarten actually had a pumpkin carving day this year. Unfortunately, it was the same day as WEBMU, so we couldn’t go.
We had trick or treaters for the first time this year. Well, come to think of it we had them last year as well but they didn’t bother ringing the doorbell, they just threw eggs all over the front of our building.
And I roasted pumpkin seeds for the first time a couple of weeks ago as well: I can’t believe I’d never thought of it before – they’re so tasty!
Impressed with all these reports of pumpkin-carving and trick-or-treating coming in from around Germany!
@Mark – The look we were going for was “cultured shocked.” Nailed it.
Aweseom face!