Jack-O-Lanterns
Pumpkins are often hollowed out and carved into decorative lanterns called jack-o’-lanterns.  Typically, this is done just before Halloween.  It has become a tradition in many families to make a jack-o-lantern and display it during the fall season.
Pumpkin festivals and competitions

Growing the Best / Biggest / Most Special Pumpkin
Pumpkin growers often compete to see whose pumpkins are the most massive or the most unusual. Festivals are often dedicated to the pumpkin and these competitions.

Pumpkin Chucking
Pumpkin chucking is a competitive activity.  Teams build  mechanical devices designed to throw a pumpkin as far as possible. Catapults, trebuchets, ballistas and air cannons are the most common mechanisms. Sometimes there are special varieties of  pumpkins grown in order to improve the chance that the pumpkin will survive the chucking intact.

Cooking & Eating Pumpkins
Pumpkins are very versatile in their uses. Most parts of the pumpkin are edible, including the fleshy shell, the seeds, the leaves, and even the flowers.

Ripe pumpkin can be boiled, baked, steamed, or roasted. The pumpkin is then served as a vegetable or used to make pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup, pumpkin ice cream or some other treat.

In the southwestern states, pumpkin and squash flowers are used to garnish dishes.  Occasionally, the are dredged in a batter then fried in oil.

Pumpkins that are still small and green may be prepared and served in the same way as squash or zucchini.

Other Uses for Pumpkins
Native Americans dried strips of pumpkin and wove them into mats. They also roasted long strips of pumpkin on the open fire and ate them.