Jack-o'-Lanterns

Jack-o'-Lanterns

What Is a Jack-o'-Lantern? Carved pumpkins are called jack-o'- lanterns. Jack-o'-lanterns are used to decorate for Halloween. People started carving jack-o'-lanterns more than a hundred years ago. At first, people didn't carve pumpkins. They used other vegetables instead.

An old fable from Ireland may tell how people began carving jack-o'-lanterns. The fable is about a man named Stingy Jack, who liked to play tricks on everyone. When he died, he was cursed to walk in darkness forever. He carved a turnip and put a light inside. His ghost was known as " Jack of the Lantern, " and then " Jack-o'-lantern. "

Modern Jack-o'-Lanterns The Stingy Jack fable later became part of a night called All Hallows' Eve. In Europe, people lit fires and dressed up to keep away ghosts.

In Ireland and England, people carved scary faces on vegetables and placed a light inside. All Hallows' Eve later became known as Halloween.

When jack-o'-lantern carving was brought to the United States, people started using pumpkins. About 1. 5 billion pounds (more than 680 million kg) of pumpkins are grown in the United States each year.