It's the Great Pumpkin, little wonders!

Halloween is approaching fast and the cold cool air of fall is finally starting to settle down everywhere. 

An image that often comes to people's minds when thinking about fall, Halloween, or Thanksgiving is pumpkins! Pumpkins are everywhere during the fall season and they have become quite the symbol for it, but does anyone know why or when it started?

There's a popular tradition that takes place every Halloween which dates back to hundreds of years ago...jack-o-lantern pumpkin carving!

This particular tradition actually started in Ireland all those years ago, but it wasn't until the Irish immigrated over to America that pumpkins were used. Before they discovered pumpkins, turnips or potatoes were used for carving instead. 

The reason for this carving tradition taking place all those years ago was because they believed that they would ward off the evil fairy spirits that appeared on that day.

Halloween is thought to be a day where the veil between worlds, both living and dead, is the thinnest. These carved lights were placed along the road and gates as ways to warn the spirits against entering and to light the way safely for any traveler.

When pumpkin carving became the norm for Halloween season, different types of pumpkins were bred for the most ideal carvings.

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There are also some other hidden meanings behind the pumpkin besides warding off evil fairies. 

A pumpkin represents three main ideas; abundance and prosperity, dreams, and friendship and connection. 

Abundance and prosperity is represented with the pumpkin as a whole. The pumpkin is the world we live in now and all the seeds within it are blessings waiting to be granted. 

Not only do the pumpkin seeds represent blessings, but they represent dreams as well. Weather they be dreams about what you hope to come true or the dreams you have while your sleeping, they each serve as a new form of possibility. 

The vine of a pumpkin means friendship and connection. The nutrients that the pumpkin absorbs from the ground represents the pumpkin's connection. Literally and figuratively. 

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Pumpkins represent a lot of things, let us know what pumpkins mean to you!