Jack o' Lanterns

Jack o' Lanterns

What Is a Jack-o'-Lantern? Some of them look spooky. Some of them look funny. Some of them look like detailed works of art. Who would have guessed that so much could be done with pumpkins? Carved pumpkins are called jack-o'-lanterns. A festive sight on doorsteps, porches, and in windows, jack-o'-lanterns are popular decorations around Halloween. When a light is placed inside the pumpkin's hollow center, the jack-o'-lantern glows in the autumn night.

Children and adults alike enjoy turning pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns. Simple jack-o'- lanterns may have triangle eyes and a toothy grin. Other jack-o'-lanterns are carved with frightening faces. Some artists carve out detailed and festive designs. People started carving pumpkins more than a hundred years ago. Legends say the jack-o'-lantern tradition began even earlier, though, in Ireland. People in Ireland carved their jack-o'-lanterns out of turnips or potatoes.

Why did the Irish start this tradition, and where did the name jack-o'-lantern come from, anyway? Many fables exist about its origins. One of the more commonly known fables from the nineteenth century tells of a man named Stingy Jack. The legend says that Stingy Jack was cheap, which is how he earned his nickname. He also liked to play tricks on everyone. Stingy Jack was so mischievous that when he died, he was cursed to roam the land forever. He had to spend eternity alone in the darkness. He carved a turnip and put a light inside to guide him. The Irish called his ghost “ Jack of the Lantern" and then simply " Jack-o'-lantern. "

Modern Jack-o'-Lanterns Eventually, the Stingy Jack tradition became part of a night called All Hallows' Eve. People throughout Europe lit bonfires and wore costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In Ireland, people hollowed out turnips and potatoes and carved scary faces on the vegetables. They placed a light inside to keep mischievous spirits like Stingy Jack away from their homes. These were the original jack-o'-lanterns. Soon, people in Scotland and England started to follow the custom of carving vegetables on this night. The English used hollowed-out beets for their jack-o'-lanterns. All Hallows' Eve later became known as Halloween.

When Irish, English, and Scottish people immigrated to the United States, they brought the jack-o'-lantern tradition with them. They soon found that pumpkins, grown in the United States, worked well as jack-o'-lanterns. By the 1920s, pumpkin carving became widespread across America. Today, carving jack-o'-lanterns is an important part of Halloween, just like trick-or-treating and wearing costumes. Every autumn, people visit pumpkin patches, farms, and vegetable stands to pick just the right pumpkin. About 1. 5 billion pounds (more than 680 million kg) of pumpkins are grown in the United States each year.