Before pumpkins were associated with Halloween, we carved something a lot less orange… and a lot smellier.
The Legend of ‘Stingy Jack’
The legend of the Jack O’ Lanterns started in 18th-century Ireland.
There was a grumpy blacksmith called Stingy Jack who invited the devil for a drink, and then refused to pay. Jack gets the devil to turn into a coin so he can pay for the drinks, but tricks him and puts the coin in his pocket with a cross necklace, so the devil cannot go back to his original form.
Jack strikes a deal with the devil, saying that he will not be bothered for a year, and should he die, the devil will not claim him. A year later, the devil came back, and Jack tricked him again into climbing a tree to pick fruit. Once the devil was high enough up the tree, Jack carved a cross so the devil couldn’t come back down.
A new deal was struck.
The devil again wouldn’t claim Jack if he were to die, and Jack would be left alone for 10 years.
When Jack dies, the devil keeps his word and refuses to allow Jack into Hell. However, God also refuses to claim Jack. This causes him to walk alone in eternal darkness for years and years. The devil sends him away to live out the rest of his death with only a burning coal to light his path.
Jack finds a turnip and carves it to set the coal in so it becomes a lantern. This earns him the nickname “Jack of the Lantern” and then just “Jack O’ Lantern”
Origin of Jack O’ Lanterns As We Know Them
In both Ireland and Scotland, people started carving scary faces into turnips to scare off Stingy Jack. They would place the turnips in their windowsill or near doors to scare away Jack and other evil spirits.
In England, they use large beets instead of turnips.
When immigrants from these countries came to America, they brought their vegetable-carving traditions with them, which changed America’s pumpkin carving from a pastime to one uniquely engraved in Halloween traditions.
Sources
“How Jack O’Lanterns Originated in Irish Myth | HISTORY.” History.com, 25 October 2019, https://www.history.com/articles/history-of-the-jack-o-lantern-irish-origins.
“The Jaw-Dropping History of the Jack-O’-Lantern: A Tale of Turnips, Samhain, and Severed Heads.” Irish Myths, 19 September 2021, https://irishmyths.com/2021/09/19/jack-o-lantern-history/.
