Jack-o'-lanterns Were Originally Made from Turnips, Not Pumpkins: The Story of Stingy Jack

There is a story in Ireland that once there was a drunkard named Stingy Jack. He was cunning and stingy, and he even tricked the Devil.

One time, the Devil came to take his soul, and Jack said, let me have one last drink. The Devil turned into a coin to pay for the drink, and Jack grabbed it and stuffed it into his pocket, where there was a cross, so the Devil couldn't get out. The Devil had to agree: for ten years, he wouldn't bother Jack or take his soul.

There is another version where Jack tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree, and while the Devil was up there, Jack carved a cross into the trunk, so the Devil couldn't come down and had to agree to another condition.

Ten years later, Jack died. Heaven wouldn't take him because he was too bad in life; Hell wouldn't take him either because the Devil had promised him. So he had to wander in the darkness. The Devil pitied him and threw him a burning coal. Jack put the coal inside a hollowed-out turnip to use as a lantern, carrying it with him, walking forever on the road.

So on Samhain, the Irish would hollow out turnips, potatoes, or beets, carve faces into them, put candles inside, and place them at the door so that wandering ghosts would see them, think they were their own kind, and not come in.

Later, Irish immigrants went to America and found that pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve, so they switched to pumpkins.

In Somerset, England, there is a "Lantern Night" on the last Thursday of October every year, when children carry lanterns made from hollowed-out beets, singing as they go from house to house. The lanterns are made of beets, not pumpkins.

#Folklore #网络转载 #欧洲民俗