How Halloween came about

It all started with Jack. The Irish folktale about Jack O’Lantern

[Jack with the lantern] Jack, an Irish man, liked to spend his evenings at his favorite bar, drinking one glass after another to pass the time. On such an evening, in a drunken stupor, he met the devil, who only wanted one thing: to take possession of his soul. But the crafty Jack persuaded the devil to have one more glass with him.

At the end of the evening the devil took the form of a coin to pay for his lager. Jack grabbed the coin and locked it in a pouch with a cruciform lock. It wasn’t until he promised Jack that he would leave him alone for ten years that Jack released him.

Ten years later, Jack bumped into the devil again on a deserted country road. To save time, he asked him for one more favor: an apple from the nearest tree.

When the devil climbed the tree to pick out a nice specimen, Jack saw his chance to carve a cross in the trunk of the tree with his pocket knife. The devil was trapped in the crown and Jack made him promise never to bother him again. From his plight, the devil could not help but agree and he fled wailing.

When Jack died, he was chased out of paradise for collaborating with the devil. They didn’t want him in hell either, because of the devil’s promise. Doomed to wander forever, Jack begged the devil for a glowing ember to light his long and dark road. Luckily he still got it and stuck it in a hollowed-out turnip.

Since then, ‘Jack of the Lantern’ – later corrupted to ‘Jack O’Lantern’ – has wandered through the darkness, lantern in hand.

Explanation

Until several centuries ago, people believed that ghosts and ghosts came out of their graves on Halloween night to visit the houses they inquired about. To scare the ghosts, the villagers dressed up as monsters and placed candles in hollow turnips at the front door. That’s how it used to be in Ireland.

Upon their arrival in America, the Irish settlers replaced the turnip with a pumpkin, but the true story of Jack O’Lantern is still passed down through the generations. An old habit that you can pass on to your children yourself. By candlelight, of course.