Jack-O-Lantern: Why We Carve Pumpkins on Halloween

As Halloween draws closer one starts to wonder just where many of our traditions came from. One of the customs that I have become most curious about is pumpkin carving. Sometimes called the Jack-O-Lantern.

Halloween has clearly developed from a supernatural celebration and seems that many of our holidays develop along with tales of folklore, this being the case with the Jack-O-Lantern as well. I have found several variations of a story called "Jack The Stingy" Here is the most common one that I have found.

Jack the stingy was a lazy man who spent all his spare time drinking at the local pub. When his time came to die and the Devil came for him, he tried to trick the Devil. He told the Devil that he would bet that he could not even turn himself into a shilling. The Devil laughed at him, it was such a simple task. At once the Devil turned himself into a shilling.

Jack freed the Devil only after the Devil agreed not to take his soul for ten more years. However the ten years passed quickly and Jack met the Devil once again while walking alone down a country road. The Devil told Jack that his time was up. Jack agreed to go, only after the Devil climbed an apple tree and got him an apple. Having nothing to lose in this situation the Devil climbed up the tree. Very quickly Jack drew his knife and carved a cross into the trunk of the tree. Jack agreed to free the Devil, if he would agree to never take Jacks soul.

However Jack did eventually die. He met St Peter at the gates of Heaven and St Peter told him that he would not be able to enter Heaven because of his dealings with the Devil. Jack had no choice but to go to the gates of Hell. It was there that he met the Devil again and the Devil told him that he had promised never to take his soul, so he could not enter Hell either.

Jack has been doomed to wander the earth in darkness ever since. The Devil had given him a burning coal to use for light. Jack put the ember into a carved out turnip and carried it with him. This light that he carries began to be known as the Jack-of-the-lantern. And eventually Jack-o-lantern.