The legend of Jack O’Lantern – literally, Jack of the Lantern – was born in Ireland in the 17th century, and is linked to the story of a dissolute blacksmith, a certain Stingy Jack, who deceived the devil twice. For this reason his soul was damned, and the blacksmith was condemned to wander forever holding a burning coal stuck inside a turnip, a very common vegetable in Ireland, as the only light on his path of eternal darkness, continually searching for a place to rest. Thanks to this story, the Irish began to carve faces into turnips, which represented the tormented soul of Stingy Jack and all the other damned souls who wandered the world on the night when the veil between the living and the dead was lifted.
At the turn of the twentieth century, when many Irish emigrated to America, the carving of turnips was replaced with that of pumpkins, which were more easily found in those areas and were easier to carve than turnips.
Today, the Jack O’Lantern pumpkin is the official symbol of Halloween, a much-loved and unmissable decoration outside the doors of those who want to welcome “night travelers” who come knocking to “trick or treat”.
The true story of Jack O’Lantern: the legend of Stingy Jack and the first challenge to the devil
The story of Jack O’Lantern is linked to Irish folklore of the 17th century: in that period, in the Anglo-Saxon world, “Jack” was used to call a male person whose name was not exactly known. The protagonist of this story was a certain Stingy Jack, “Stingy Jack”, who was a blacksmith by profession, but who often stuck to the bottle and used to deceive others and get into trouble. His soul was already destined for hell due to his debauchery, but one evening, Stingy Jack gave himself the final blow when he found himself drinking with the devil and challenged him to turn into a coin to pay the bill. The devil accepted, but Stingy Jack took the coin and instead of paying put it in his purse, next to a silver cross: the presence of this sacred object prevented the devil from regaining his form. Satan, of course, bargained: if Stingy Jack removed the cross from his purse, he would not claim his soul for the next ten years.
Stingy Jack tricks the devil for the second time: the tradition of carving turnips is born
When the devil showed up at his door again, he challenged him again to pick an apple from a tree on which, however, he had engraved a cross: the devil climbed up to take the fruit, but could no longer come down. Satan bargained with Stingy Jack again: he had to give him back his freedom and he would be spared damnation in the fires of hell, and Jack agreed.
During his life, the blacksmith committed several sins, and upon death he was accepted neither into heaven nor hell. With nowhere to go, Stingy Jack tried to pity the devil, telling him that everything was dark and cold around him and he would rather have the hot hellfire. The devil threw a burning ember at him, and Jack placed it inside a turnip he had with him, thus creating a luminous lantern, from which the name Jack O’Lantern comes. Thus was born the tradition of carving turnips decorated as if they were damned faces – called, at the time, “Ghost Turnips” – to represent Jack wandering through a cold and lonely eternity.
The story of the soul of Jack the Lantern was told above all to children (but also to adults) to warn them about dissolute behavior, but also to explain the phenomenon of will-o’-the-wisps, flames that often appeared at burials, because they were due to the chemical reaction between the gases produced by the decomposition of organic matter and the oxygen in the air.
The Halloween pumpkin tradition today
The light lantern that was initially a turnip, transformed into a pumpkin lantern when Irish immigrants arrived in America between the 19th and 20th centuries. The Irish, already accustomed to carving turnips to represent Jack O’Lantern, discovered pumpkins, common crops in the North American area, and realized that it was easier to carve those, because they were much softer. The historical sources available speak of an 1892 article that appeared in the newspaper Atlanta Constitution which describes the success of a Halloween party with pumpkins decorated in the shape of scary faces.
Today, the pumpkin, especially in the American world, is a much-loved tradition: it is displayed outside houses as a Halloween decoration already weeks before its celebration, and its light invites children and adults who wander between houses during the most sinister night of the year to approach and enter, as a sign of good neighbourliness. From America the custom has spread throughout the world, becoming a custom phenomenon that has its origins in folklore.
