I don't go in much for Halloween as a holiday.

Having no kids is the main reason I suppose, but I do like carving pumpkins.

So I did some reading and learned a bit about the big orange vegetable (it's actually a type of squash) and the origins of its modern, American appeal is an interesting story.

Firstly, the pumpkin itself:

The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed in at 1689 lbs. and was nurtured from a seed by one Joe Jutras, just this year, in Scituate, Rhode Island.

That...is a lot of pie my friend.

Pumpkins are orange because they contain massive amounts of a substance called lutein (the same stuff that is in spinach and red peppers).

Lutein is very good for your eyes.

As an example of pumpkin culture clash, in Korea and Japan, the word translating to "pumpkin" is a slang term for an unattractive woman, while in the American South and Midwest, the term is sometimes used as an endearment.

The use of pumpkins as lanterns at Halloween is based on an ancient Celtic custom brought to America by Irish immigrants.

All Hallows Eve on October 31 marked the end of the old Celtic calendar year. On that night hollowed-out turnips, beets and rutabagas with a candle inside were placed on windowsills and porches to welcome home spirits of deceased ancestors and ward off evil spirits and a restless soul called "Stingy Jack."

As the legend goes, (and you may wish to read this out loud in your best Irish brogue) Stingy Jack was a miserable, old blacksmith who loved playing tricks on anyone and everyone.

One dark, rainy All Hallows Eve, Jack ran into the Devil himself in a local pub. Jack tricked the Devil by offering his soul in exchange for one last drink. The Devil quickly turned himself into a sixpence to pay the bartender, but Jack snatched the coin up straightaway and deposited it into his pocket next to a silver cross that he was carrying. Thus, the Devil could not change himself back and Jack refused to allow the Devil to go free until the Devil had promised not to claim Jack's soul for ten years.

The Devil was forced to agree, and ten years later Jack again came across the Devil again while out walking on a country road.

The Devil tried collecting what he was due, but Jack thinking quickly, said, "I'll go with ye, but before I do, would you be so kind as to be fetchin' me an apple from that tree?" The Devil, thinking he had nothing to lose, jumped up into the tree to retrieve the fruit, but no sooner than he had turned around, Jack had placed crosses all around the trunk of the tree, thus trapping the Devil once again.

This time, Jack made the Devil promise that he would not take his soul when he finally died and seeing no way around this predicament, the Devil again begrudgingly agreed.

When Stingy Jack eventually passed away several years later, he went to the Gates of Heaven, but was refused entrance because of his life of drinking and because he had been so tight-fisted and deceitful.

So, Jack then went down to Hell to see the Devil and find out whether it were possible to gain entrance there, but the Devil kept the promise that had been made years earlier, and would not let him enter.

"But where can I go?" asked Jack. "Back to where you came from!" replied the Devil. But the way back was windy and very dark and Stingy Jack pleaded with the Devil to at least provide him with a light to help find his way.

The Devil, as a final gesture, tossed Jack an ember straight from the fires of Hell.

Jack placed the ember in a hollowed-out turnip...one of Jack's favorite foods, which he always carried around with him whenever he could steal one.

From that day forward, Stingy Jack has been doomed to roam the earth without a resting place and with only his lit turnip to light the way in the darkness.

The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as "Jack of the Lantern," and then, simply "Jack O'Lantern."

In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack's lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits.

In England, large beets are used.

Immigrants from these countries brought the jack o'lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States.

They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make perfect jack o'lanterns.