How the Jack-o-Lantern came to be

This is the history of one of the most known Halloween symbols...the Jack-o-lantern! Now, how did this come to be? Here is the post where you can learn all about it!

This Jack-o-lantern bit probably came from Irish foklore (you know from my History of Halloween post that the Irish came around the 1800s).

(This story has to do with like the Devil and very religious so if you really don't want to read it then skip this post. I wish you could though!)

So the story starts with a guy named Jack (get it Jack, Jack-o-lantern), who is a drunkard and a trickster. He tricked Satan up a tree and carved a cross on the trunk, forcing the Devil to stay up there. Jack then made a deal, if the he promised to never tempt him again he would let him down.

According to the story, after Jack died he was denied entrance into Heaven (because of his evil ways) and Hell(because he tricked the devil). Instead, the devil gave him a glowing ember with which he would light his way through the dark fridgid darkness, and to keep the flame burning longer, he would put it in a hollowed turnip.

The Irish used hollowed turnips as "Jack's Lanterns", but when they came to America, they found that pumpkins were plentiful and used them instead, and so the American "Jack-o-lantern) was born!

How is that for a little history?

~M.A.Chase♥