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The Irish brought the tradition of the Jack O' Lantern to America. The Jack O' Lantern legend goes back hundreds of years in Irish History. As the story goes, there was a stingy drunkard of an Irish blacksmith named Jack who played tricks on everyone: his family, his friends, & even the Devil himself. One day, Jack tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree.
Once the Devil climbed up the apple tree, Jack hurriedly placed crosses around the trunk of the tree. The Devil was then unable to get down the tree. Jack made the Devil promise him not to take his soul when he died. Once the devil promised not to take his soul, Jack removed the crosses and let the Devil down.
Many years later, when Jack finally died, he went to the pearly gates of Heaven & was told by Saint Peter that he was too mean, too cruel, had led a miserable & worthless life on Earth. He was not allowed to enter heaven. Instead he went to hell to hang with the devil. The devil kept his promise & denied Jack entrance into hell.
Now Jack was scared & had nowhere to go but to wander about forever in the darkness between heaven & 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.
From that day onward, Jack roamed the earth without a resting place, lighting his way as he went with his "Jack O' Lantern". As the years went by some bright soul figure out that it would be easier to get the light into the pumpkin rather than trying to squeeze it into a turnip. |
The Jack O' Lantern
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Bon fires were originally called "bone fires" as the feasting that accompanied the Celtic celebration of fire including throwing the bones of the meat as offerings upon the fires that burned to cook the food as well as to keep warm this chilly night. The Druids would build the bonfires out of their sacred oak trees. Each household let their own fires go cold to be rekindled from the bone fire to ensure unity in the villages.
The ash from the bone fires were spread about over the fields to protect & bless the land for coming years. Supposedly, the largest and most important Druid bone fire was at Usinach, in the middle of Ireland. Another theory for letting their fires die out on this night was that a home without a fire was not a home the spirits wanted to occupy. Lighting of candles replaced the actual bon fire.
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