![]() ![]() The devil leaves Jack with nothing other than a burning piece of coal, and Jack wanders aimlessly for the rest of eternity: just a ghost and his floating light. ![]() In many versions of the story, the frustrates the devil so much that upon his death, he is locked out from the gates of Hell. Often called “Stingy” Jack, he spends much of his life tricking the devil. The story, which has several different iterations, can be traced back to as long ago as 1551, Bannatyne says, and is quite sinister indeed. The pumpkin would soon become the new canvas for carving jack-o’-lanterns.įor many of the early Irish immigrants coming to America, according to Stack, maintaining traditions like Halloween and carving jack-o’-lanterns was a way to stay connected to their loved ones back home in Ireland.So, where did the name Jack come from? There are a few steps in this story, and the etymology of “jack-o’-lantern” is almost unrelated to its modern meaning and tradition.Īccording to one prominent theory, the “Jack” in question is the subject of an old folktale. As Irish immigrants came to the United States to escape famine in the 19th century, they became introduced to a round, orange gourd native to the Americas: the pumpkin. Unbeknownst to the original creators of the jack-o’-lantern, their tradition of carving frightening faces into turnips would also evolve. Samhain morphed into Halloween, and the myth of Stingy Jack and the use of jack-o’-lanterns to scare off his evil spirit arose. Unbeknownst to the ancient Celts, their fall tradition of Samhain and of keeping evil spirits at bay would evolve throughout the centuries. (Sepia Times/Universal Images Group / Getty Images) Night of the living deadĪ child stands next to a jack-o'-lantern holding the American flag. With crudely-cut eyes and mouths, their faces seemed fully capable of truly frightening both the living and the dead. The turnips, donning their frightful faces, were then displayed near windows and doors in hopes of scaring away the soul of Stingy Jack or other evil spirits that might be wandering around, said Stack.īut unlike the spooky-yet-cute jack-o’-lanterns we’re familiar with today, the earliest jack-o’-lanterns appeared quite macabre. 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. This is a model of a Hallowe’en ‘ghost turnip’ taken into the Collection in 1943 from Fintown in Co Donegal.Īccording to Stack, people in Ireland began to create their own jack-o’-lanterns as far back as around the 17th century. Scary lanterns were made using potatoes and turnips. 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. 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. Close-up of a jack-o'-lantern carved for Halloween night. ![]()
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