The legend of the first jack-o'-lantern comes from
Ireland and involves a man called Stingy Jack. The legend has it that Stingy
Jack had a drink with the Devil. Jack, being stingy, didn't want to pay for the
drinks, so he tricked the Devil into turning into a coin. Jack put the coin
inside his pocket next to a sliver cross that prohibited the Devil from
changing back. Stingy Jack was able to get the Devil to promise him that he
would be left alone for a year, and that when Jack died, the Devil would not claim
his soul.
The next year, Jack met the Devil again. This time
Jack tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit.
While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a cross into the tree's bark so the
Devil could not come down until he promised Jack not to bother him for 10 more
years.
Soon after, Jack died. He was too evil to get into
heaven, and the Devil could not take him to hell without breaking his word. So
the Devil sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light
his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has roamed the Earth
with it ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as
"Jack of the Lantern," then simply as "Jack O'Lantern."
In Ireland and Scotland, people began making their
own versions of Jack's lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes
and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack.
Immigrants brought the jack-o'-lantern tradition
with them to the United States, where they began carving Stingy Jack's face
into pumpkins.
I had no idea that's how the pumpkin craving started! It's interesting to know this tradition started in Ireland and because of immigration it expanded to the USA and now all over the world becoming the most recognizable symbol of Halloween! It's similar to the celebration of St. Patrick's Day in Ireland too, because of immigration it has expanded to a lot of other countries!
ResponderEliminarWhat a fun and weird tradition. It's very interesting to know where this massive tradition comes from and it's more interesting to know how it extended to our own country!
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ResponderEliminarI´m really surprised, I would have thought that the jack-o-lanterns came from the USA because there are so popular, we can see them in every Halloween movie and also now in Chile that it is a "celebrated" day we can see them getting popular over here two. But I think it's important to know the meaning of some symbols that we see normally and understand where they came from and (most important) why they appeared.
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