Several varieties of squash on display at a local market in Samatan (southwestern France), November 9, 2020. GEORGES GOBET / AFP
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s every year, the eve of All Saints' Day brings back those grimacing faces carved into pumpkins or squash. Children are especially delighted by the thrill, and even more so by running from door to door with the terrifying threat: "Trick or treat!"
This ritual, however, often leads to confusion. The name "Halloween" itself comes from terms meaning "the eve of all saints." Yet there is nothing Christian about this pagan folklore, inherited from a Celtic festival. And the head of the wretched, wandering figure Jack-o'-lantern was not always carved from one of these round, orange fruits. In Ireland, it was once fashioned from a turnip.
Halloween also brings about botanical misunderstandings. Zucchini, pumpkin, squash, ornamental gourd and calabash, cucumber and gherkin, melon and watermelon… This plant family, the cucurbits, includes around 800 species, often grouped under the French term courges (squash). Most originate from tropical and subtropical regions.
