The Post Quiz: Pumpkin Lore - Answers

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Don't you love it when the jack-o'-lanterns peek out at you from the dark?

Pumpkin Lore: Answers

A strip of four images showing how to prepare the perfect Halloween lantern

Do you have a sugar rush from all that Halloween candy? Sober up with some pumpkin pie.

  1. Although the average pumpkin is a puny 13 pounds, they've been known to weigh a tonne. True. There are giant pumpkins. They are used as tributes to the Great Pumpkin, no doubt.
  2. Pumpkins are unhealthy, and should not be eaten. False. They are high in potassium and other Good Stuff. Eat them.
  3. Pumpkins are high-calorie. False. Pumpkins are 90% water, with Good Stuff added.
  4. Pumpkins can have sex with themselves, but only if bees are around. True. They have both male and female flowers, so there.
  5. Pumpkins used to be used to remove freckles. True. (We don't know if it worked.)
  6. American Indians made doormats out of dried pumpkins. True. American Indians are very inventive, and linoleum wasn't invented yet.
  7. It is illegal to smash pumpkins in Delaware. False. Are you kidding? It's the Pumpkin Chunkin' capital of the US. Trebuchets, anyone?
  8. The word 'pumpkin' was made popular by the fairy tale Cinderella. True. Perrault made up the pumpkin coach, and it fired imaginations.
  9. Pumpkin flowers are poisonous. False. They're edible.
  10. A short story about a witch and a pumpkin-headed scarecrow was banned in New England in 1852. False. Hawthorne's short story, 'Feathertop', was a big hit. It's a moral tale with a plot similar to Philip K Dick's 'Imposter', only plus witch and minus explosion.

Enjoy your jack-o'-lantern. And don't forget to bake some pumpkin pies for the Bake-Off.

One of Clive the Flying Ostrich's Halloween pumpkin carvings
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Dmitri Gheorgheni

26.10.15 Front Page

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