HERB - the period pumpkin

[SCOTT A WAGGONER]

I think I read or heard something about carving holes into a turnip
(which I realize isn't very big)
inserting candles and using them as lanterns
that later became faces
when the practice came to America pumpkins were used because they are
bigger
not sure where the practice originated from, however.
Unfortunately I hear too many stories about all kinds of neat things and
don't have the sense
to document anything
so I don't remember the source from whence this came

butternut squash sounds good as a period pumpkin although not very big
I look for the biggest pumpkins for Halloween
Ooh, I'm getting chills already
Raven

On Wed, 29 Apr 1998 02:39:25 EDT RAISYA <RAISYA at aol.com> writes:
>I've been working on figuring out what the period pumpkin is, and I'd 
>like to
>hear from other people.
>
>There's an illumination of the period pumpkin in the 14th century 
>TACUINUM
>SANITATIS.  Both the leaves and fruit of the plant look like a 
>butternut
>squash.  The modern pumpkin and most squash belong to Cucurbita pepo 
>and
>Cucurbita maxima which originated in N. and S. America, while the 
>butternut
>squash belongs to Cucurbita moschata.  I haven't found anything 
>suggesting
>where the C. moschata originate, but these species rarely cross.  
>Something
>else that seems to support C. moschata being Old world is that the 
>squash
>borer, a serious pest of the other 2 species, rarely attacks C. 
>moschata
>squash.
>
>I think the butternut squash makes the most sense, but maybe there's 
>something
>I haven't come across.  Has anyone else looked into this?
>
>Thanks!
>Raisya Khorivovna
>============================================================================
>Go to http://www.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list 
>tasks.
>

_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

============================================================================
Go to http://www.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.