Great Pumpkin

The Great Pumpkin is an alleged holiday figure in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.

The Great Pumpkin is a holiday figure (comparable to Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny) in whom only Linus van Pelt believes. Every year, Linus sits in a pumpkin patch on Halloween night waiting for the Great Pumpkin to appear. Invariably, the Great Pumpkin fails to turn up, but a humiliated but undefeated Linus vows to wait for him again the following Halloween. The Great Pumpkin was first mentioned by Linus in Peanuts in 1959, but the premise was reworked by Schulz many times throughout the run of the strip, and also inspired the 1966 animated television special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and had a brief mention in You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown (in which the mention of it almost blows Linus' chances in a school election). The best-known quote regarding Linus and the Great Pumpkin, originally from the comic strip but made famous by the TV special, is: "There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin."

While Schulz usually avoided outright politics, he enjoyed his Great Pumpkin strips and also enjoyed incorporating religious references in many of his comics and animated cartoons.

Peculiarly - given that the Great Pumpkin is supposedly believed in only by Linus - the strips of October 29 and November 1, 1961 make mention of officially reported Great Pumpkin sightings in Connecticut, Texas and New Jersey.

The Great Pumpkin has been a symbol of strong faith and foolish faith, leading to vastly different interpretations of creator Charles Schulz's own faith. As described in the book on Schulz's religious views, A Charlie Brown Religion, Schulz's views were very personal and often misinterpreted. Linus' seemingly unshakable belief in the Great Pumpkin, and his desire to foster the same belief in others, has been interpreted as a parody of Christian evangelism by some observers. Others have seen Linus' belief in the Great Pumpkin as symbolic of the struggles faced by anyone with beliefs or practices that are not shared by the majority.

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