>This is very mysterious to me--the idea of human beings looking at a turnip and thinking, "Oh, that would make such a great lantern, perfect for Halloween!" Bizarre. There's got to be a lot more to the story.

Well, I suppose that a group of parents got together, over a cup of tea and wondered how to amuse the children and decorate the house as the nights drew in. "We have nothing," said one peasant "how about giving the children a few sharp knives and vegetables to play with," said one, "those new fangled potatoes are a bit too precious," said another, "all we really have are a few old turnips, see what they can do with those ..."

Isn't necessity the mother of invention!