Pumpkin chunking (or Punkin' Chunkin' or pumpkin chucking) is hurling a pumpkin by mechanical means over great heights and distances in an attempt to hurl the pumpkin the farthest. Pumpkin chucking competitions, formal and informal, exist throughout the United States in the fall, when pumpkins are harvested , and a European Championship has been held in Bikschote, Belgium since 2004.
In order of increasing effectiveness, the devices include compound slingshots, catapults, trebuchets, and pneumatic air cannons. The last has fired pumpkins as far as 4434.28 feet (1,351 meters).
The range achieved by devices greatly depends on their mass, shape, and size; the yield limits, stiffnesses, pitch, and elevation of the hurler; and the wind speed.
Some pumpkin chunkers grow special firm pumpkins for use as a projectile, since sabots are often prohibited in competitions. These special pumpkins are often not good for eating.
A usual rule is that the pumpkin must remain whole after leaving the device for the chunking to count. Pumpkins that burst after leaving the barrel intact are referred to as "pumpkin pie in the sky").
World Championship
The World Championship Punkin' Chunkin' is name of an annual championship pumpkin-throwing contest held the first weekend after Halloween in Sussex County, Delaware. Competing teams construct and fire a variety of pumpkin-launching devices, including catapults, trebuchets, centrifugal machines, and pneumatic air cannons. Contestants compete in divisions against machines of the same type.
It started in 1986 in Millsboro. Due to the increasing space required as the machines are upgraded to fire the pumpkins farther, the event has moved several times from where it began. About 75 teams competed in the 2007 event, held outside Bridgeville near Coverdale, Delaware. That year the event drew more than 20,000 people and grossed more than $100,000 in ticket sales and associated revenues. More than 70% of that money will be donated to a variety of community organizations.
Each type of machine competes in different categories, including height, fan favorite, straightness, and most importantly, range. Each launcher counts the best of three shots. Launchers typically hurl white pumpkins because they can better withstand the forces of launch than the regular orange ones. Each chunk is then marked with a small, color coded flag by officials in the chunking zone on ATVs. The sole fatality of the contest has been a duck hit by a hurled pumpkin.
There is also a carnival area for spectators with amusement rides, food vendors and pumpkin recipes in a cooking contest.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Pumpkin Chucking
Posted by Green Fairy at 9:02 PM 0 comments
Labels: Pumpkin, pumpkin chucking
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
History of the Jack o'Lantern
A jack-o'-lantern (sometimes also spelled Jack O'Lantern) is typically a carved pumpkin. It is associated chiefly with the holiday Halloween, and was named after the phenomenon of strange light flickering over peat bogs, called ignis fatuus or jack-o'-lantern. In a jack-o'-lantern, typically the top is cut off, and the inside flesh then scooped out; an image, usually a monstrous face, is carved onto the outside surface, and the lid replaced. At night a light (commonly a candle) is placed inside to illuminate the effect. The term is not particularly common outside North America, although the practice of carving lanterns for Halloween is.
Oh!—fruit loved of boyhood!—the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
Another version of the myth says that Jack was getting chased by some villagers from whom he had stolen, when he met the Devil, who claimed it was time for him to die. However, the thief stalled his death by tempting the Devil with a chance to bedevil the church-going villagers chasing him. Jack told the Devil to turn into a coin with which he would pay for the stolen goods (the Devil could take on any shape he wanted); later, when the coin/Devil disappeared, the Christian villagers would fight over who had stolen it. The Devil agreed to this plan. He turned himself into a silver coin and jumped into Jack's wallet, only to find himself next to a cross Jack had also picked up in the village. Jack had closed the wallet tight, and the cross stripped the Devil of his powers; and so he was trapped. In both myths, Jack only lets the Devil go when he agrees never to take his soul. After a while the thief died, as all living things do. Of course, his life had been too sinful for Jack to go to heaven; however, the Devil had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from hell as well. Jack now had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and the Devil mockingly tossed him an ember that would never burn out from the flames of hell. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which was his favourite food), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or Jack-o'-Lantern.
There are variations on the legend: Some versions include a "wise and good man", or even God helping Jack to prevail over the Devil. There are different versions of Jack's bargain with the Devil. Some variations say the deal was only temporary but the Devil, embarrassed and vengeful, refuses Jack entry to hell after Jack dies. Jack is considered a greedy man and is not allowed into either heaven or hell, without any mention of the Devil. Despite the colourful legends, the term jack-o'-lantern originally meant a night watchman, or man with a lantern, with the earliest known use in the mid-17th century; and later, meaning an ignis fatuus or will o' the wisp. In Labrador and Newfoundland, both names "Jacky Lantern" and "Jack the Lantern" refer to the will-o'-the-wisp concept rather than the pumpkin carving aspect.
Posted by Green Fairy at 12:51 AM 0 comments
Labels: Jack-o-lantern
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Vampire, by Victoria France
This image kind of creeps me out, I think I'd be scared to have it on my wall. It is available here: Vampire
.
Posted by Green Fairy at 10:23 PM 0 comments
Labels: Vampire, Victoria France
Monday, November 12, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Kids with Giant Jack o' Lantern
Posted by Green Fairy at 8:27 PM 0 comments
Labels: Jack-o-lantern, Kids
Happy Halloween, Everyone!
Here's wishing you a merry Hallowe'en!
This delightful image is available as a poster.
Posted by Green Fairy at 8:26 PM 2 comments




