In the fall spirit and with Halloween so recent, EvCC’s International Club hosted a Pumpkin Carving Contest. This contest was held on Oct. 28, 2015 and the winners received a Starbucks gift card as a prize. Costumes were not mandatory to enter and admission was free if students brought food to share with others, or they could pay $5 instead. In addition, The International Club promotes friendship among international students and the college community by sharing customs, ideologies, and cultural diversity.
“We started this contest because when I asked international students about Halloween, they had no idea what it was, and they also said that they had never carved a pumpkin. I did not know what jack-o-lanterns were when I came to this country as an exchange student,” said Adja Fame, program specialist of International Club. Fame also emphasized that she wanted exchange students to learn about more about Halloween because it is more of an American culture that most international students are not familiar with. “It was very exciting to make a jack-o-lantern, I wish I won the contest and won the prize,” said Lucy Kim, an EvCC student who attended the contest.
According to History.com, for several decades, mankind has been carving and making jack-o’-lanterns during Halloween. The practice and name rooted in an Irish myth about Stingy Jack. Jack was a man who invited the Devil to have a drink with him. Just like what his name tells, he did not want to pay for his drinks, so he told the Devil to turn himself into a coin to pay for the drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack kept the money next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil to transform back to his original feature. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack. However, after Jack died, the Devil got so mad at him, he sent Jack’s soul off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since.