Parksville Traditional Halloween Nightime Pumpkin Walk
Using pumpkins as lanterns during Halloween is based on an ancient Celtic custom brought to America by Irish immigrants. All Hallows Even was celebrated on 31 October and marked the New Year of the Celtic calendar year and the Festival of Samhain. On that night hollowed-out turnips, beets and rutabagas with candles inside them were placed on windowsills and porches to welcome home the spirits of deceased ancestors and ward off evil spirits and a restless soul called "Stingy Jack," hence the name "Jack-o-lantern". Pumpkins have historically been pollinated by the native squash bee Peponapis pruinosa, but this bee has declined, probably due to pesticide sensitivity, and today most commercial plantings are pollinated by honeybees. One hive per acre (4,000 m² per hive) is recommended by the United States of America (US) Department of Agriculture. If there are inadequate bees for pollination, gardeners often have to hand pollinate. Inadequately pollinated pumpkins usually start growing but abort before full development. An opportunistic fungus is also sometimes blamed for abortions. Pumpkins are capable of growing extremely large with the proper attention and care. The world record pumpkin weighs 1689 lbs. The 2007 record pumpkin was grown in Rhode Island and weighed at the Topsfield Fair GPC in Topsfield, Massachusetts The growth of enormous pumpkins being cultivated by hybridizing their seeds. The largest pumpkins are Cucurbita maxima. They were culminated from the hubbard squash genotype, crossed with kabocha-pumpkin types by enthusiast farmers through intermittent effort since the early 1800s. As such germplasm is commercially provocative, a legal right was granted for the rounder phenotypes, levying them as constituting a variety, with the appellation "Atlantic Giant." Processually this phenotype graduated back into the public domain, except now it had the name Atlantic Giant on its record
Size: 3733px × 5620px
Location: Parksville Vancouver Island BC Canada
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 31st, activity, autumn, avenue, canada, children, corridoor, dark, evening, families, family, halloween, marked, night, october, passage, path, pumpkin, route, track, trail, walk, walkway, woodland
