Jack o'Lantern Pumpkins

Ceramic Jack O' Lantern
Cookie Jar (12 Inches)

The Halloween Pumpkin Head

When we think of Halloween (or Holloween) today one of the first images that comes to mind is probably the Jack o'Lantern : a pumpkin head carved from a hollowed out pumpkin, often containing a candle to light up its eerie grin.

Although we associate the spooky Jack o'Lantern with a carved pumpkin head, the original Irish version was probably carved from a turnip or a potato. The custom travelled to America where the pumpkin was found to be the perfect source for carving the Jack o'Lantern. In the years that followed the American cultural tradition was then exported back to Ireland and the rest of the world so that the carved pumpkin head is now the dominant Halloween night symbol.

Many people happily carve pumpkin heads every Halloween without having any idea why they're doing it. That's fair enough, it's good fun. However if you want to know a little more about the Jack o'Lantern folklore, read on.

The Origin of the Jack O'Lantern

Jack o' Lantern appears to originate in Irish folklore. As with all good folk tales, there are numerous versions of the Jack o'Lantern legend. In most of these "Jack" was a tight-fisted Irishman who objected to parting with money.

In some versions of the legend, Jack cheats and tricks the Devil who then refuses to let him in to Hell when he dies. In others Jack aids the Devil in exchange for a promise not to take his soul to Hell.

Either way, the deal backfires. God decides that a mean-spirited trickster like Jack is not suitable for Heaven. Jack's soul is thus left with no place to go. He is forced to wander the mortal world for eternity, allowed only a lamp lit by a single glowing lump of coal.

What does that tale have to do with Halloween night? Probably nothing directly. However given the Celtic Samhain tradition and the belief that Halloween represented a time when spirits could "cross over", a trickster like Jack of the Lantern would have been one to ward against.

PS: Some people prefer the spellings pumkin head and jackolantern. Neither of these are in my dictionary.