The Jack-O-Lantern came about from an old Irish folktale about "a stingy drunkard of an Irish blacksmith named Jack" who outwits the devil.
At the end of the rather involved tale, Jack is denied entrance into heaven and hell and doomed to walk the earth until Judgement Day with only a turnip housing a burning coal to light his way (hence the name jack's lantern, later changed to jack-o'-lantern).
The upshot of the tale was that people would dress up in costumes, leave treats, and carve turnip lanterns to both appease and scare away wandering spirits on All Hallow's Eve.
When the Irish Potato Famine devastated Ireland, over 700,000 fled to America, bringing the carved-turnip custom with them. Unfortunately, turnips were not as readily available in their new home. Pumpkins, however, could be found in abundance and were a whole lot bigger and easier to carve.
Matt: WRONG
Record: 49-29
2 comments:
Those turnips are damn scary!
WOW! See what being Irish does for ya? I beat Matt...whoever the hell he is!
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