A traditional jack-o'-lantern, made from a
pumpkin, lit from within by a
candle.
A jack-o'-lantern in the shape of the
Wikipedia logo.
A
jack-o'-lantern is a carved
pumpkin, or
beet, associated chiefly with the holiday of
Hallowe'en, and was named after the phenomenon of strange light flickering over peat bogs, called
will-o'-the-wisp or
jack-o'-lantern. In a jack-o'-lantern, the top is cut off to form a lid, and the inside flesh then scooped out; an image, usually a monstrous
face, is carved out of the pumpkin's rind to expose the hollow interior. To create the lantern effect, a light source is placed within before the lid is closed. This is traditionally a flame or electric
candle, though pumpkin lights featuring various colors and flickering effects are also marketed specifically for this purpose. It is common to see jack-o'-lanterns on doorsteps and otherwise used as decorations during Hallowe'en.
Etymology[edit]
An assortment of carved pumpkins
The term
jack-o'-lantern is in origin a term for the visual phenomenon
ignis fatuus (lit., "foolish fire") known as a
will-o'-the-wisp in
English folklore. Used especially in
East Anglia, its earliest known use dates to the 1660s.
[1] The term "will-o'-the-wisp" uses "wisp" (a bundle of sticks or paper sometimes used as a torch) and the proper name "
Will": thus, "Will-of-the-torch." The term jack-o'-lantern is of the same construction: "
Jack of [the] lantern." See
Origin: Folklore below.
The "Republican" Jack-O'-Lantern
Modern carving of a
Cornish Jack-o'-Lantern made from a turnip.
The origin of Jack o' Lantern carving is uncertain. The carving of vegetables has been a common practice in many parts of the world, with
gourds being the earliest plant species domesticated by humans c. 10,000 years ago, primarily for their carving potential.
[2] Gourds were used to carve lanterns by the
Maori over 700 years ago,
[3] with the Māori word for a gourd also used to describe a lampshade.
[4] There is a common belief that the custom of carving jack-o'-lanterns at Halloween originated in
Ireland, where
turnips,
mangelwurzel or
beets were supposedly used.
[5][6] According to historian
Ronald Hutton, in the
19th century, Halloween
guisers in parts of Ireland and the
Scottish Highlands commonly used jack-o'-lanterns made from turnips and mangelwurzels.
[7] They were "often carved with grotesque faces to represent spirits or goblins".
[7] In these areas, 31 October–1 November was known as
Samhain and it was seen as a time when spirits or fairies were particularly active. Hutton says that they were also used at Halloween in
Somerset (see
Punkie Night) during the 19th century.
[7] Christopher Hill also writes that "jack-o'-lanterns were carved out of turnips or squashes and were literally used as lanterns to guide guisers on All Hallows' Eve."
[8] Some claim that the Jack-o'-lanterns originated with
All Saints' Day (1 November)/
All Souls' Day (2 November) and represented Christian souls in
purgatory.
[9] Bettina Arnold writes that they were sometimes set on windowsills to keep the harmful spirits out of one's home.
[10] An 1834 account of a Halloween night at a house in Ireland makes no mention of any jack-o'-lantern or carved vegetables acting as lanterns,
[11] nor does
Robert Burns mention them in his famous poem "Halloween".
[12] Thomas Johnson Westropp does not mention them in
Folklore of Clare (1910)
[13] and an "internationally accepted authority on Irish folk tradition", Seán Ó Súilleabháin, does not mention them in
Irish Folk Custom and Belief (1967).
[14]
There is however evidence that turnips were used to carve what was called a "Hoberdy's Lantern" in
Worcestershire,
England at the end of the 18th century. The folklorist
Jabez Allies recalls how
| “ | In my juvenile days I remember to have seen peasant boys make, what they called a " Hoberdy's Lantern," by hollowing out a turnip, and cutting eyes, nose, and mouth therein, in the true moon-like style ; and having lighted it up by inserting the stump of a candle, they used to place it upon a hedge to frighten unwary travellers in the night.[15] | ” |
In literature and popular culture[edit]
The application of the term to carved pumpkins in American English is first attested in 1834.
[16] The carved pumpkin lantern association with Halloween is recorded in 1866 in the U.S.
[17] In the United States, the carved pumpkin was first associated with the harvest season in general, long before it became an emblem of Halloween.
[18] In 1900, an article on Thanksgiving entertaining recommended a lit jack-o'-lantern as part of the festivities.
[18] The poet
John Greenleaf Whittier, who was born in Massachusetts in 1807, wrote "The Pumpkin" (1850):
[19]
| “ | Oh!—fruit loved of boyhood!—the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within! | ” |
Cornish folklorist Dr. Thomas Quiller Couch (d. 1884) recorded the use of the term in a rhyme used in
Polperro,
Cornwall, in conjunction with
Joan the Wad, the Cornish version of Will-o'-the-wisp. The people of Polperro regarded them both as
pixies. The rhyme goes:
[20]
- Jack o' the lantern! Joan the wad,
- Who tickled the maid and made her mad
- Light me home, the weather's bad.
Folklore[edit]
Pumpkin projected onto the wall.
The story of the Jack-O'-lantern comes in many variants and is similar to the story of
Will-o'-the-wisp[21] retold in different forms across
Western Europe,
[22] with variations being present in the folklore of Norway, Sweden, England, Ireland, Wales, Germany, Italy and Spain.
[23] An old Irish folk tale from the mid-19th Century tells of
Stingy Jack, a lazy yet shrewd farmer who uses a
cross to trap the
Devil. One story
[24] says that Jack tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree, and once he was up there Jack quickly placed crosses around the trunk or carved a cross into the bark, so that the Devil couldn't get down. Another tale
[citation needed] says that Jack put a key in the Devil's pocket while he was suspended upside-down.
Another version
[citation needed] of the story says that Jack was getting chased by some villagers from whom he had stolen, when he met the Devil, who claimed it was time for him to die. However, the thief stalled his death by tempting the Devil with a chance to bedevil the church-going villagers chasing him. Jack told the Devil to turn into a coin with which he would pay for the stolen goods (the Devil could take on any shape he wanted); later, when the coin/Devil disappeared, the Christian villagers would fight over who had stolen it. The Devil agreed to this plan. He turned himself into a silver coin and jumped into Jack's wallet, only to find himself next to a cross Jack had also picked up in the village. Jack had closed the wallet tight, and the cross stripped the Devil of his powers; and so he was trapped.
In both folktales, Jack only lets the Devil go when he agrees never to take his soul. After a while the thief died, as all living things do. Of course, his life had been too sinful for Jack to go to heaven; however, the Devil had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from hell as well. Jack now had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and the Devil mockingly tossed him an ember from the flames of hell, that would never burn out. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which were his favorite food), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or Jack-o'-lantern.
Jack-o-lanterns were also a way of protecting your home against the Undead. Superstitious people used them specifically to ward away vampires. They thought this because it was said that the Jack-o-lantern's light was a way of identifying vampires and, once their identity was known, they would give up their hunt for you.
[citation needed]
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