Countdown To Halloween: Jack-o-Lanterns & Celtic Carvings
by Marisa
Whether messily scooping out your pumpkin at home, admiring this year’s carvings around the neighborhood or, ok, using your computer’s mouse to scrawl a pumpkin mask on Facebook, Jack-o-lantern season is upon us. But have you ever wondered how this unusual tradition began?
Jack-o-lanterns were brought to the United States by Irish immigrants during the potato famines of the mid-1800s. In keeping with the ancient Celtic belief that the veil between life and death is thinnest on Samhain, the earliest Jack-o-lanterns were designed both to welcome deceased loved ones and frighten away less welcome spirits. The carving of faces, as opposed to other symbols, stemmed from the Celtic belief that the head housed a person’s immortal soul, and was therefore sacred. Hence, if you must venture out on Samhain night, a Jack-o-lantern (or “kail-runt torch” in Scotland) was intended to fool any spirits that might cross your path. In Ireland, Jack-o-lanterns were carved from hollowed turnips, but as pumpkins were more plentiful in America, the tradition quickly adapted.
So who’s Jack? While the specifics of his legend vary wildly, in essence Jack was a lazy, yet shrewd, Irish farmer who had the poor judgment to try to trick the devil – and by extension, death. (This legend likely arose after Christianity’s arrival in Ireland, as earlier Pagan traditions would have been unlikely to include a devil figure – or to see a harbinger of death as evil.) Of course, the devil, being quite crafty himself, knew that, as all living beings must die, Jack was actually denying himself an after-life. And so the devil threw Jack an ember from the flames of hell, and Jack placed it inside a carved-out turnip to light the path of his purgatory, as he wandered the earth in search of a resting place. (In fairness, there’s also the less creative, mid-eighteenth century definition of a Jack-o-Lantern as simply a night watchman – but what fun is that?)
So this year, as you bring knife to pumpkin (or cyber-knife to Facebook screen), consider the rich history behind your carving – and maybe think twice before forfeiting the traditional protective face for a more contemporary scene or symbol. After all, poor Jack is still roaming!
| 10/27/07
|
Beliefs
