Pumpkin

Until this day, northeastern Slovenia, in particular the regions of Prlekija and Prekmurje, has remained dotted with small, family-operated pumpkinseed oil mills. While most of them are not widely known, one has been making a name for itself across the globe for years.

The locals of the village of Çamlıca in the northwestern province of Edirne's Keşan district celebrated the Halloween-like horror festival of Bocuk late on Jan. 28, wearing scary dresses and make up.

Koleda, 1,000-year-old tradition of the Balkans, has been celebrated in a village of the northwestern province of Kırklareli's Babaeski district, with villagers wearing strange clothes frightening people by knocking on the windows of their houses.

The horror nights are held under different names by people in various settlements of Thrace in the coldest days of winter.

Korkut Yetgin, a farmer who grows 1,500 tons of ornamental pumpkin on his 500-decare field in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, receives high demand from the Netherlands and Russia as Halloween approaches.

For Turkey's "Microangelo," any tiny, discarded item could be the canvas for his next mini masterpiece, from a matchstick to a pumpkin seed.            

The United States today celebrates Thanksgiving. This is the oldest and most celebrated holiday, gathering family and friends together.

Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in memory of the first settlers in Massachusetts in 1621. According to the legends, the winter was severe and the food did not reach.

Statistical agency Eurostat said in a Halloween message on Monday that Bulgaria harvested over 132,000 tonnes of pumpkins and squash last year - the largest amount of any EU member state.

"Almost 12 thousand hectares are dedicated to this crop [in Bulgaria]," Eurostat said.

Bulgaria is a leader in the European Union for pumpkin production. This became clear from Eurostat data, published before the Halloween holiday.

The American Community Schools in Athens will be opening its campus for the annual Traditional Halloween Carnival, from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, October 27. The event will feature games, food, the Elementary Pumpkin Patch and a haunted house. Admission costs 10 euros and all proceeds will go toward the school's clubs and activities.

How many years will it take for China to become a "superpower"? This was the first question that came to my mind when I recently noticed in the supermarket that the even the pumpkin seeds I bought had been imported from China.