Jack o Lanterns come from an Irish legend 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.”
In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own
versions of Jack’s lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and
placing them into windows or near doors to keep the Devil and other wandering
evil spirits away since they had no claim on Jack. In England, large beets are used. Immigrants
from these countries brought the jack o’lantern tradition with them when they
came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to
America, make perfect jack-o’-lanterns.
