A Season of Gratitude
For the next four weeks, The Worthy Educator is displaying a pumpkin on its landing page to commemorate this season of gratitude. Pumpkins are traditional symbols of both Halloween and Thanksgiving because they mature during the autumn harvest, connecting to rich cultural histories of seasonal abundance.
The Halloween tradition comes from the Irish folktale of Stingy Jack, who tricked the Devil and was barred from both Heaven and Hell, condemned to wander the Earth with a single burning coal for light. In Ireland and Scotland, people originally carved scary faces into turnips, potatoes, and beets and placed glowing embers inside them to ward off Stingy Jack's spirit and any other wandering ghosts.
These practices arrived with Irish immigrants coming to North America in the 19th century, where they found native pumpkins much larger, softer, and easier to carve than small, tough turnips and gourds. Carved as jack-o'-lanterns, they were meant keep dark spirits away and welcome neighbors to trick-or-treat.
For Thanksgiving, pumpkins naturally became physical symbols of agricultural wealth, generosity, and a successful harvest, as early settlers learned from Native Americans that pumpkins were a reliable, nutrient-rich food source. They are part of Thanksgiving celebrations since its inception in the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Virginia, and they continued to be part of the tradition when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a national holiday beginning in 1863.
Finally, the display of the Worthy Pumpkin honors our founder and friend, Walter McKenzie, who celebrates his birthday on Halloween. We are grateful for all of his efforts to support our work and enrich our lives as we celebrate the good things in this world across cultures and continents the final two months of the calendar year.
