Terriers Test Their Jack-o’-lantern Carving Skills
Three student teams’ whimsical Halloween designs transform pumpkins
Americans love to transform their yards and front porches into illuminated haunted houses, graveyards, and other spooky spots for Halloween—to the tune of an expected $2.7 billion worth of decorations this year, according to the National Retail Federation. But you don’t need to spend much to get in the holiday mood. A few bucks will buy you a good-sized pumpkin that you can transform into something menacing or whimsical.
The tradition of creating jack-o’-lanterns is believed to have begun in Ireland, based on a local folk tale, the legend of “Stingy Jack.” Farmers there also carved out turnips and other root vegetables to create grotesque faces. These “lanterns” were illuminated by candles and were used either to represent spirits or to ward off evil spirits.
Whatever the history, carved pumpkins have become synonymous with Halloween. To mark the holiday, we gave a shout-out to talented Terriers, tasking them to try out their jack-o’-lantern carving skills. In the video above, three pairs of students take on the challenge. Sabrina Ichiho (CGS’19, COM’21) and Allison Luan (CGS’19, Sargent’21) set out to recreate a “Pleading Face” emoji. Jillian Wong (CAS’22) and Jonathan Koenig (CGS’19, CAS’21) went for a more traditional, but appropriately scary, design. And Hyerim Seo (COM’22) and Sonja Caballero (COM’21) paid homage to BU’s mascot, Rhett, with a pumpkin resembling a Boston terrier.
Which jack-o’-lantern design is your favorite? Let us know in the Comment section below.
Comments & Discussion
Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.