I spend most of the 30th of October scrawling different faces on paper. When I finally pick, I transfer the face onto the carved out pumpkin with a marker. I cut the shapes and select the candle and my Jack O’ Lantern is born, destined to sit outside the house and light the sidewalk.
However, if this were ancient Europe, my Jack O’ Lantern would be destined to ward off evil spirits, such as Stingy Jack.
According to the History Channel (http://www.history.com/topics/jack-olantern-history), Stingy Jack is an Irish Legend whom invited the devil to drink with him. The devil consented and they had a drink together but Jack didn’t want to pay for their drinks, so he convinced to devil to transform into a coin which he kept in his pocket beside a silver cross, preventing the devil from transforming back.
He finally did let the devil transform back, but only after he’d convinced the devil to leave him alone for a whole year and not claim his soul.
When the year was up, the devil returned to see him, but he convinced the devil to pick some fruit for him, and then drew a cross on the tree. The devil was then trapped in the tree until he agreed to leave Jack alone for ten more years.
Shortly after that Jack died and God wouldn’t let him into heaven, and he’d prevented himself from going to hell so he was stuck wandering earth. The devil gave him a single coal to light his way, which he placed into a carved out turnip and has supposedly been wandering the earth ever since.
So thus, it became traditional for European countries to carve Jack O’ Lanterns out of squashes and turnips until they discovered that the American pumpkin was perfect for the Lanterns.
No comments:
Post a Comment