What is a Jack O’lantern?

A jack-o’-lantern is a carved pumpkin, turnip, or other root vegetable lantern associated with Halloween. Its name comes from the phenomenon of a strange light flickering over peat bogs, called will-o’-the-wisp or jack o’lantern.

The Irish brought the tradition of carving pumpkins into Jack O’Lanterns to North America. The original Jack O’Lantern was not a pumpkin. Pumpkins did not exist in Ireland. Ancient Celtic cultures in Ireland carved turnips on All Hallow’s Eve, and placed an ember in them, to ward off evil spirits.

Another version of the history of the word “Jack o’lantern” comes from the Legend of Stingy Jack.

The Legend of “Stingy Jack”

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People have been making jack-o’-lanterns at Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form.

Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.

Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He 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 been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’Lantern.”

Spooky Word List

What’s Halloween without some spooky words? How many of these do you know?

 

Afraid Apparition Bat Bloodcurdling Bloody Bones Broomstick Cackle Cadaver Carved Casket Cauldron Cemetery Cobweb Coffin Corpse Creepy Decapitated Decomposing Eerie Fangs Frightening

Ghost Ghoulish Goblin Gory Grim Reaper Gruesome Haunted Horrifying Howling Jack-O-Lantern Lurking Macabre Magic Mausoleum Morbid Mummy Occult Owl Petrified Phantom Poltergeist Scary

Scream Shadow Skeleton Skull Specter Spell Spider Spirit Spooky Superstition Tomb Trick or treat Undead Unearthly Unnerving Vampire Warlock Werewolf Witch Wizard Wraith Zombie