Halloween is around the corner so I thought better late than ignorant…
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”JACK O’LANTERN” COMES FROM THE IRISH LEGEND OF STINGY JACK
Legend has it that Stingy Jack invited the devil to have a drink with him, but Jack didn’t want to pay for the drink, so he convinced the devil to turn himself into a coin. Instead of buying the drink, he pocketed the coin and kept it close to a silver cross in his house, preventing the devil from taking shape again.
He promised to let the devil go as long as he would leave Jack alone for a year – and that if Jack died, the devil wouldn’t claim his soul.
After a year, Jack tricked the devil again to leave him alone and not claim his soul. When Jack died, God didn’t want such a conniving person in heaven and the devil, true to his word, would not allow him into hell.
Jack was sent off into the night with only a burning coal to light his path. He placed the coal inside a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the earth ever since.
People in Ireland and Scotland began creating their own creations of Jack’s lanterns out of turnips, beets and potatoes. The tradition traveled to the United States along with the immigrants and people began to use pumpkins, native to North America, for the lanterns instead.
Having children dress up in costumes and go door-to-door like little beggars demanding treats is kind of weird. Like several other Halloween activities, the tradition can be traced back to the Middle Ages and the rituals of Samhain.
It was believed that phantoms walked the earth on the night of Samhain, so people would dress up in costumes in an effort to repel the spirits.
As the Catholic Church started supplanting pagan festivals with their own holidays (like All Souls’ Day), the act of souling became popular, and poor children and adults would go door-to-door dressed as spirits accepting food in exchange for prayers.
HALLOWEEN ORIGINATED FROM AN ANCIENT CELTIC FESTIVAL
According to History.com, the Halloween we know today can trace its roots back to the ancient Celtic end-of-harvest festival of Samhain. During Samhain, people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off evil spirits.
In the eighth century, in an effort to spread Christianity, Pope Gregory III decreed November 1 as All Saints’ Day and incorporated some of the rituals of Samhain. All Saints’ Day was also called All Hallows and the night before, when the traditional Samhain festival used to take place in Celtic regions, was called All Hallows’ Eve.
While Halloween may be big in the USA, it seems it’s roots are in the UK
Our house had a green with houses on other side with no vehicular traffic. That perfect for the children and their mums for Halloween We had scores of the little gems. We miss that.
I don’t remember doing anything at all for Halloween.My parents were very religious and would have considered it all superstitious nonsense which is quite ironic when you come to think about it.
So interesting, Minx. Now I’m trying to figure out why the holiday is so big in the US. This article says that the UK is following the US lead. I wonder why it didn’t take hold in the UK and is now (well in 2015) gaining popularity.
What a lot of interesting stuff, thank you everyone
I think it has always been a U.K. thing, connected to Samhain, All Saints Day and All Souls’ Day, but the US developed it as their own
My mum and granny used to make Soul Cakes, like a currant biscuit with a cross on the top In the Middle Ages children went from house to house asking for them on All Saints day so perhaps that’s where trick or treating came from
I think the traditional U.K. lanterns were turnips, hard to carve but much more creepy when lit
We get a lot of young children & their parents visit most years. When my daughters were younger, we used to split in two. The girls went out with one of us, the other remained here, to hand out treats. Last year was the first time, in 22 years of living here, that we have done nothing.
As a kid, I grew up in a small farming village & we used sugar beet. We did not do trick or treating, but kept the lantern until Nov 5th, when we had top end of the village bonfire. Farmers & householders got rid of all their flammable rubbish. An area was cordoned off & we took our own fireworks & let them off there.
