Despite being small, hairy and coarsely shaped, the turnips in Ireland still served as a useful medium for these early jack-o’-lanterns. Like Jack’s lantern, many of these inspired creations were made by carving faces into turnips. Turn up for turnipsĪccording to Stack, people in Ireland began to create their own jack-o’-lanterns as far back as around the 17th century. “So if you’re out at night, late at night, and you see a creepy light on the horizon, it could be the jack-o’-lantern out walking, stuck between the two worlds,” Stack said. Stingy Jack became known as “Jack of the Lantern” and eventually “ jack-o’-lantern.” This name would also come to describe the phenomenon of lights flickering over marshes at night. Jack put this ember into a hollowed-out turnip, which he used as a lantern to light his way as he wandered the Earth for eternity. Legend says the devil gave Jack a bright, glowing ember from the fires of hell. Jack’s one consolation, ironically, came from the devil himself.īest Jack-O’-Lantern designs of the Halloween season “He was condemned to roam the earth, stuck between both heaven and hell,” said Stack. So when Jack was dying for the third time, the devil refused to take his soul, and since Jack led a life of misery and cruelty, God wouldn’t take him either. Irish who moved to America found the pumpkin a great substitute for turnips. Both times, Jack was dying, and when the devil came for his soul, Jack tricked him into giving him several more years of life. He then turned his sights to a much more prominent target – the devil. “There were different versions, but basically they all agree that he was grumpy, possibly less than wholesome in his appetites and he was mean, stingy, but also kind of mischievous.”Īccording to Stack, Stingy Jack played tricks on his neighbors, family and friends. “The story is based on the story of a man called ‘Stingy Jack’ (pronounced “stin-jee jak”),” said Elizabeth Stack, the Executive Director of the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany, New York. While those words could be used to affectionately describe a few of our own family and friends, Irish legend has it they can also aptly describe the namesake of the jack-o’-lantern. With glowing, jagged eyes and a crooked smile, the jack-o’-lantern is one of the most recognizable faces of Halloween.īehind that face is a story - a story about ancient traditions and Irish American culture.Īs with any story involving culture, this one about the jack-o’-lantern is a bit complex, filled with as many knots and tangles as the stringy netting of seeds inside a pumpkin.īut before diving into those complexities, let’s first acquaint ourselves with the man, the myth and the Godforsaken namesake of the beloved Halloween icon: Jack. ![]() Not from a horror film: When insects turn into ‘zombies’ Your Halloween weather forecast from coast to ghost
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