This is the tale of the first Jack-O-Lantern and the man for whom they were named.
Many, many years ago, in ancient Ireland
there lived a man named Jack. He was
known to be miserably mean and stingy but he was known to love three things:
drinking, turnips, and playing tricks on people. Every night he would make his way to the pub
and drink until morning. During the day,
he would take great delight in playing mean tricks on everybody, and I mean
everybody. He played tricks on his
neighbors, his family, even his mother. One
night, on his way to the pub, he ran across a twisted body lying on the ground. As Jack was investigating the body, it
moved. Slowly, the body stood up and
revealed itself to be the Devil, come to collect Jack’s soul. So Jack thought quickly and asked the Devil
for one last drink. The Devil quickly
agreed and accompanied Jack to the pub.
After the bartender gave Jack his drink, Jack turned to the Devil and
asked him to pay the tab. The Devil then
turned himself into a sixpence. Jack,
however, acted quickly and snatched the sixpence up and put it in his coin
purse where he always carried a cross.
While the Devil was in contact with the cross, he could not change his
form. Jack promised to release the Devil
from the purse as long as he promised not to claim his prize (Jack’s soul) for
10 years. The Devil agreed and they
parted ways.
Jack lived on for
the next 10 years. He was happily
stealing turnips, drinking nightly, and playing mean tricks on everyone. Then the fated day arrived when the Devil was
coming to collect his soul. Remembering
the trick that was played on him, the Devil decided to meet Jack out on the
road instead of at the pub. They met
under an apple tree and Jack asked for one favor before surrendering his soul,
he asked the Devil to fetch him an apple from the top of the tree. The Devil, thinking that he had nothing to lose,
climbed the tree to retrieve the apple. While
he was climbing, Jack carved crosses into the trunk of the tree, effectively
trapping the Devil in the branches. This
time, in exchange for his release, the Devil promised not to take Jack’s soul
when he finally died.
When Jack passed
away a few years later, he went to the gates of Heaven. St. Peter refused him entrance because he had
led a wicked life full of drinking and mischief, without even a single thought
to charity. Jack was then sent to the gates
of Hell where the Devil kept his promise to not collect his soul. “But where will I go?” asked Jack. The Devil pointed to a dark and windy path
and said “back to where you came from!” Jack
pleaded with the Devil to not turn him away.
But the Devil wanted nothing to do with him after being tricked
twice. Finally, Jack asked for one last
favor, a light by which he could see to make his way home. The Devil tossed him an ember from the very
pits of Hell. Jack hollowed out his last
turnip and placed the ember in it as a lantern to help find his way.
From that day
forward, Jack has been doomed to wandering the earth. He will never find his rest and the only
thing that he has with which to light his way is a hollowed out turnip that
holds a single ember from the fires of Hell.
*Now many of you
may be wondering, why is the Jack-o-lantern in the story a turnip? This tradition originates from Ireland where,
until fairly recently, there were no pumpkins.
When the tradition of carving root vegetables reached America, we found
that pumpkins and other gourds were much easier to hollow out and carve. So that is why we use pumpkins today.
Thank you so much
for allowing me to share with you a creepy story from the history of
Halloween. I hope you enjoyed it and I
hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween!*
Resources:
Jack O’Lanterns and the tale of Stingy Jack from The Pumpkin
Nook: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/facts/jack.htm
The Legend of Stingy Jack from Penumbra: http://www.novareinna.com/festive/jack.html
Original Irish Jack-o-Lanterns from Irish Central: http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/original-irish-jack-o-lanterns-were-truly-horrifying-and-made-of-turnips