Halloween approaches, and we have spent the evening carving pumpkins in Barcelona. The picture above shows off the result (we are pretty proud of our jack-o’-lanterns to be honest). We have been doing this fun ritual since we came back from the United States. We eat chestnuts while carving pumpkins, so we guess we have been celebrating Castaween (Castanyada + Halloween) for a long time now.
If you are spending Halloween in Barcelona, or you have moved to the city a couple of months ago and want to keep celebrating this fun tradition, here we share some useful information.
What is the origin of the jack-o’-lantern?
Even though we have always linked lighted scary pumpkins to Halloween and to the United States, we find its origins in another country: Ireland. This lantern made from hollowed-out pumpkin finds its tradition in an Irish myth about a ghostly figure named “Jack of the Lantern”. So it was actually the Irish migrants who imported this tradition to the United States.
Carving pumpkings in Barcelona: Where to buy the carving tool kit in Barcelona to create your jack-o’-lantern?
If you need to get the tools to design the coolest pumpkin, you might end up in a supermarket asking for the “Halloween” section. Spoiler: you won’t find any Halloween toolkit there. Spoiler 2: If you decide to ask the store clerk where to find it, they might give you a weird look which means “what the heck is this guy looking for”, or even “where do you come from?”. That happened to me in two different stores, and it was pretty funny.
So, where to easily find the pumpkin carving toolkit in Barcelona? Here is where: PARTY FIESTA store, there are a couple of these stores in Barcelona. You will also find lots of decoration for Halloween parties as well as beautiful treat or trick baskets for kids.
Where to go get the pumpkins in Barcelona? Is there any pumpkin patch?
We don’t have pumpkin patches here in Barcelona, but you can get your special pumpkin in the many local greengroceries or local markets in Barcelona (better than in the mega stores, so that way we can all support small businesses). From our experience, it can get a bit difficult to find one of those big pumpkins though, so in case you won’t find them, keep in mind Carrefour as an option (hopefully the last option).
Even though you won’t get that Halloween mood everywhere as it happens in the US, you can still hold this special festivity at home with your family (as we do). You can also celebrate La Castanyada, which is what we celebrate here in Catalonia on these days. What about taking the most of both festivities? :-)
We suggest you to keep reading the article La Castanyada in Barcelona, the ritual of eating chestnuts in the street to get in the mood of Castaween. Because why not take the most of both festivities? ;-)