The Origins of Jack O'Lantern in Halloween
August 2nd 2010 05:29
Halloween is celebrated by just about everyone in the United States that now there are even baby Halloween costumes available if parents want to take their toddlers along trick or treating. The festival is very popular but still people do not know the origins of certain traditions. Here is the story of Jack O'Lantern and how it is connected with Halloween
The legendary Jack of Irish folklore was a mean fellow and even managed to trick the devil a few times. The story goes that Jack was not able to pay for the drinks he was having with the devil and managed to convince the Lord of Darkness to change into a coin. Now instead of paying with the coin, Jack placed the coin adjacent to a silver cross so that the devil could not change to his original form. Jack later freed the devil after he had extracted a promise from the devil that he would not take his soul at death and would not create trouble for him for a year.
The next year Jack managed to cajole the devil into climbing a tree for picking a fruit and then trapped him on top by carving a cross on the bark. On this occasion Jack extracted a promise for ten years of not bothering him.
When Jack died God did not accept him into Heaven and the Devil could not consign him to hell due to the first promise. Jack now had to spend the rest of eternity roaming earth and was not able to find his way because of the darkness. The devil is said to have given Jack a piece of coal which was burning and Jack put this into a carved turnip so that he could carry it.
Jack's evil spirit is said to be roaming the earth even now and the Irish named it Jack of the Lantern which later became Jack O'Lantern. To frighten him away people started making these lanterns with scary faces and when the Irish migrated to United States they brought this tradition along. The only difference was now people used pumpkin instead of turnip as it was very easy to carve.
The legendary Jack of Irish folklore was a mean fellow and even managed to trick the devil a few times. The story goes that Jack was not able to pay for the drinks he was having with the devil and managed to convince the Lord of Darkness to change into a coin. Now instead of paying with the coin, Jack placed the coin adjacent to a silver cross so that the devil could not change to his original form. Jack later freed the devil after he had extracted a promise from the devil that he would not take his soul at death and would not create trouble for him for a year.
The next year Jack managed to cajole the devil into climbing a tree for picking a fruit and then trapped him on top by carving a cross on the bark. On this occasion Jack extracted a promise for ten years of not bothering him.
When Jack died God did not accept him into Heaven and the Devil could not consign him to hell due to the first promise. Jack now had to spend the rest of eternity roaming earth and was not able to find his way because of the darkness. The devil is said to have given Jack a piece of coal which was burning and Jack put this into a carved turnip so that he could carry it.
Jack's evil spirit is said to be roaming the earth even now and the Irish named it Jack of the Lantern which later became Jack O'Lantern. To frighten him away people started making these lanterns with scary faces and when the Irish migrated to United States they brought this tradition along. The only difference was now people used pumpkin instead of turnip as it was very easy to carve.
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