Pumpkin King’s Season

by The Flamingo

The Flamingo loves to celebrate all kinds of occasions, from birthdays and name days to big religious celebrations and not so holy ones as well. I really don’t care if they appeal to my cultural heritage or are borrowed, if they are superficial or meaningful. The fact is, if I have a small reason to celebrate, I do it, life is short after all. You can’t have too many happy moments.

My favorite part of a celebration is preparing for it. Being a creature of habit, I like doing things a certain way, it’s what gives me pleasure, balance and a sense of safety. Of course, I try new things as well, but I don’t discard my main old habits.

The pumpkin season is upon us. This time of the year is one of my favorites. I enjoy painting the October colours the most, the weather is still on the warm side and the delicious fall vegetables are the main star in all of my autumnal dishes. Of course, since having my kid, all of the splendor of this month increased by adding fun stuff to do, traditions we created together. Here are stuff we like doing together as a family during the Halloween season:

• Coming October 1st, we decorate our living environment a little bit, to increase our awareness of the season and warm up our house. We switch the summer garland hanging on the door for a more festive autumn-y one. Also some old fashioned decorations are in order like scarecrows, black cats and painted pumpkins. 

• Next stop during the first week is a farm with lots and lots of seasonal fun. My kid loves jumping of the haystacks, feeding the goats and the ducks, wandering through the mazes, driving a tractor and of course picking pumpkins to carve and some for soups and for baking as well. The Americans have the best pumpkin patch farms I’ve seen so far. If you don’t have a big farm in your area, then take a nature road trip. Show your child the changing season with all its peculiarities, make them mindful of what is going on around them. The pumpkins can also be bought together as a family event at the marketplace. 

• We begin reading before bedtime all of my son’s most “scary” and not so scary Halloweeny books. I can recommend for kids under 7 years old the very funny series of “George’s Amazing Adventures” by Adam and Charlotte Guillain. Also the “Pumpkin soup” series by Helen Cooper is very autumnal and beautifully painted. 

• Watching cartoons with the Halloween theme is also a given. The Disney ones are for sure the best, like Bing Crosby’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, “Nightmare before Christmas” and “Monsters, Inc.”. This year he got a new Disney movie as a present, another one in his favorite series “Winnie the Pooh”, one with the “trick or treat” theme. For adults only, I can recommend my favorite Halloween movie I watch every year, Johnny Deep and Tim Burton’s version of “Sleepy Hollow”. Actually all of Tim Burton’s movies are very “seasonal”, but this one is my favorite, because of its delicious humor in spite of the gloomy atmosphere and some really scary and bloody scenes. Also for adults, in the same “pumpkin king spirit” as above, the novel “The Headless Horseman” in the version of Thomas Mayne Reid or Washington Irving is very appropriate. 

• Towards the end of the season, we begin carving our pumpkins in different shapes of Jack O Lanterns. You can buy a carving kit and different patterns, or you can just carve it with a normal knife and let your imagination run wild. 

• The Pumpkin King’s season must end with a Halloween party for kids and maybe, if you’re into fancy dressing, also for adults. We usually try to select the kid’s costume together with him at the beginning of October, so he can fully anticipate the party and the character he will be performing. If the kindergarten or school doesn’t organize a Halloween party, then throw one yourself and invite all of your child’s friends. It’s very unusual to see trick or treat-ers in other countries beyond the United States. But this can also be organized in the event. 

• The Germans and the Swiss also have nice seasonal events in November. In Germany they carve lanterns from paper in different shapes and go out at night in groups singing on the streets with their lanterns lit. It’s called “Laternenfest” (The festival of lanterns) or St. Martin’s Night. The Swiss have a similar festival but with lanterns carved from big radishes and turnips. It’s called “Räbechibli”. This year is out first time attending such a festival in Zürich Canton and we are very excited to add something new to our traditions.

I return now to the process of creating my scrumptious pumpkin soup and wish you all my readers a Happy Halloween or happy autumnal activities and delights! 

Photos from Flamingo‘s archive.