Carved Pumpkin / Schnittkürbis

As I mentioned a couple days ago, Halloween is not an Austrian tradition, so we were surprised when pumpkins meant for carving appeared in Hofer a few weeks ago. It is the only store where we've seen them. There were probably about 15 of these pumpkins in Hofer at the beginning. Slowly they've been disappearing from the shelf. We bought 4 of them. There are still three left, although I don't think anyone will buy them. They have patchy white spots on them and seem to be melting into the shelf, their skins looking soft and saggy.

Pumpkin carving is so not a thing here, that the pumpkins come with a little instruction booklet, heavily taped onto the pumpkin, with a bonus tea light candle included. In case you are having trouble carving your pumpkin this year, here are the directions (with illustrations to assist!)...

Carving Directions:
1) With a stable knife, cut around the stem and make a lid.

2) Lift out the innards of the pumpkin with a spoon.

3) With a pen, draw the outline of the face you want to cut out.

4) Cut the pumpkin face with a sharp knife.

5) Put the tea light in the pumpkin, light it, and put the lid on top.

6) Now the pumpkin lantern is lit and ready.

Tip: Painted pumpkins are also funny!