We love pumpkins. We love carving them, making pies out of them, and sometimes shooting them out of cannons. If you haven’t tried the latter, you should. But have you ever wondered how the pumpkin has become the quintessential symbol for Halloween? And why do we proceed to take a sharp object and stab, rip [...]

We love pumpkins. We love carving them, making pies out of them, and sometimes shooting them out of cannons. If you haven’t tried the latter, you should. But have you ever wondered how the pumpkin has become the quintessential symbol for Halloween? And why do we proceed to take a sharp object and stab, rip and gut the poor thing within an inch of its life only to stick a lit candle inside to have it burn all through the night? Well, we wondered the exact same thing. And this is what we found out.

The history of the Jack O’ Lantern actually comes from Irish folklore centered around a certain trickster who went by the name of Stingy Jack. Legend has it that Stingy Jack decided it would be a good idea to meet up with the Devil at a local pub and throw back a few. After they both decided they had enough for the night, Stingy Jack had no intentions of actually paying for the brews so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin and use that to pay for the drinks instead. The Devil fell for this trick and upon transforming himself into cold hard cash, Jack promptly put the evil money into his pants pocket where it lay next to a silver cross. The cross prevented the Devil from turning back. Jack made the Devil promise to leave him alone for one year and to not take his soul when he dies. The Devil agreed and was able to transform back.

A year passes and Mr. Devil decided to see how our good buddy Jack has been holding up. After a few minutes of “What’s up?” conversation, Jack convinced the Devil to climb a tree outside his house to get some fruit. Not sure why, but the Devil agreed and climbed to the top of the tree to reach the fruit upon which Jack carved a cross in the trunk of the tree preventing the Devil coming back down. Jack then made another deal with El Bado to not bother him from the next 10 years. The Devil agreed and Jack let him back down.

Not too long after this, Jack died.

Jack’s first stop was Heaven but God would not let him past the Pearly Gates for being such a trickster. So Jack went down to Hell, but the Devil kept true to his word and would not claim his soul. Jack had nowhere to go and was left in complete darkness. The Devil gave Jack a little burning ember from the flames of Hell so it would never go out. Jack quickly carved out a hole in a turnip (which was supposed to have been his favorite food) and placed the burning ember within. He roamed the earth ever since searching for rest and a home.

He went on to be known as Jack of the Lantern and in time just, Jack O’ Lantern.

When this tradition hit America, the turnip was replaced with a more indigenous and familiar food, the pumpkin.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone!

Original source : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rd2-blog/~3/OanWRMg…