The Irish brought the Jack O'Lantern to
The Jack O'Lantern legend goes back hundreds of years in Irish History.
As the story goes, Stingy Jack was a miserable, old drunk who liked to play
tricks on everyone: family, friends, his mother and even the Devil himself.
One day, he tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree. As soon as he
did,
Stingy Jack Placed crosses around the trunk of the tree. Unable to get down
the
tree, Stingy Jack made the Devil promise him not to take his soul when he
died.
When Jack finally died, he went to the pearly gates of Heaven and was told
he was
too mean and too cruel and had led a miserable and worthless life on earth.
He
was not allowed to enter heaven. He then went down to Hell and the Devil.
The Devil
kept his promise and would not allow him to enter Hell. Now Jack was scared
and had
nowhere to go but to wander about forever in the darkness between heaven and
hell. He
asked the Devil how he could leave as there was no light. The Devil tossed
him an ember
from the flames of Hell to help him light his way. Jack placed the ember in
a hollowed out
Turnip, one of his favorite foods which he always carried around with him
whenever he
could steal one. For that day on, Stingy Jack roamed the earth without a resting
place.
On all Hallow's eve, the Irish hollowed out Turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes
and beets
and placed a light in them to ward off evil spirits and keep Stingy Jack away.
These were
the original Jack O'Lanterns. In the 1800's a couple of waves of Irish immigrants
came to
America
to carve out. So they used pumpkins for Jack O'Lanterns.
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