Pumpkin Patch Visits In Miami: Origin Of Jack-O’-Lanterns

MIAMI, FL — If you’re planning to turn your best find at a Miami-area pumpkin patch into a jack-o’-lantern, you may be wondering about the origins of the fall tradition.

First, here’s a list of pumpkin patches and fields around Miami:

• Flamingo Road Nursery, 1655 S. Flamingo Road in Davie, hosts its annual Fall Festival from the end of September to the first week of November. This 10-acre garden center transforms into a fall paradise with cornstalks, hay bales, mums, pumpkins, scarecrows and fall colors everywhere you look. Each week features a different theme, including Tomato Fest, Pepper Palooza and Tropical Fruit Celebration.
• Santa’s Garden, 9850 SW 24th Street in Miami, hosts is annual pumpkin patch Oct. 10-31 with free photoshoots, pumpkin carving pony rides, food trucks and more.
• Little Farm, 13401 SW 224th Street in Miami, hosts a fall pumpkin patch with pumpkins, pony rides, a petting farm, harvest market and more.
• Pinto’s Farm, 14890 SW 216th Street in Miami, hosts its annual pumpkin patch Sept. 25 to Oct. 31. Regular admission is $27.99 and includes one pumpkin, a pedal boat ride, a tractor ride, a pony ride, a walk-through to meet farm animals, a magic show and more.
• The Berry Farm, 13720 SW 216th Street in Miami, hosts an annual ongoing Harvest Festival during the fall and a Halloween Harvest Night event on Halloween weekend. Attractions include pumpkins, a corn maze, a tractor ride, games (including corn hole, tic-tac-toe, shuffleboard, and checkers), and a large jumping pillow.

Hollowed-out pumpkins, with carved faces and lighted from the inside by candles, can be seen throughout Miami and across the country during the Halloween season. But the time-honored tradition actually originated in Ireland, with people carving turnips and potatoes rather than pumpkins.

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In fact, the name “jack-o’-lantern” comes from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack, who was said to be a mean-spirited blacksmith who, after tricking the devil, was doomed to spend eternity roaming the earth with a burning coal for light.

“In Ireland and Scotland, people began making their own versions of Jack’s lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits,” History.com wrote.

Irish immigrants brought the tale — and their carving tradition — to America. When they arrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries, they quickly realized that pumpkins were much easier to carve than the vegetables they had been using.

The tradition stuck, and now people in Miami and throughout the country look forward to carving pumpkins each year. Some stick with the classic jack-o-lantern, while others carve witches, owls and vampires into their pumpkins.

“The carved gourds have come to serve as much more than mere decoration,” National Geographic wrote. “Despite their often fearsome look, jack-o’-lanterns now symbolize a welcoming sense of community.”