Samhain - Part 3: Jack-O-Lantern
It’s pumpkin season! Pumpkin soups, pumpkin pies, roasted pumpkin, stuffed pumpkin… how many ways can we find to cook and eat this Autumn staple? Pumpkins in all their glorious variety can be used as beautiful seasonal decorations, and then there’s the fun of carving and lighting Jack-O-Lanterns. But where did Jack-O-Lanterns come from and how did they become such an icon of Samhain and Hallowe’en celebrations? Let’s explore the origins of Jack-O-Lantern and his depictions in modern literature and popular culture.
The Origin of Jack-O-Lantern
Jack-O-Lantern’s origins are rooted in the Irish customs for Samhain, the Celtic festival marking the end of summer, the last harvests and the beginning of winter. As we’ve learned in a previous article, Samhain - Part 1: Bonfires, Divination and Ancestors, Samhain was considered a liminal time, in between the warm half and the cold half of the seasonal year. Spirits, faeries and malevolent beings from the Otherworld were believed to roam the Earth at this time and many European cultures developed different customs designed to ward against or frighten away these evil spirits, such as dressing in costumes and wearing masks, as explained in the article, Samhain - Part 2: Tricks, Treats, Games and Scares.
Before pumpkins were discovered by colonists in the Americas, Irish and other ancient Celtic nations carved turnips with frightening faces for Samhain eve, and lit them up by placing candles or burning coals inside their hollowed cores. These carved turnips were used as lanterns to protect anyone journeying outdoors on Samhain night, those participating in guising (precursor to trick-or-treating) or placed in windows to protect households. These turnips were called moots on the Isle of Man, and tumshies in Scotland.
As Christianity spread throughout the British Isles, the custom of carving turnips developed into the folktale of Stingy Jack and the Devil. According to legend, Stingy Jack was a notorious trickster who bargained with the Devil to avoid being taken to Hell. Instead, he was doomed to roam the Earth forever with only a burning coal to light his way.
It all started when Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him but didn't want to pay for the drinks. Instead, he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to pay for the drinks. Jack decided to keep the coin and placed it next to a silver cross, preventing the Devil from turning back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, but only after making the Devil promise not to take his soul when he died. When Jack did eventually die, he found himself barred from both heaven and hell and was doomed to wander the countryside forever. The Devil gave him a single burning coal to light his way, and Jack placed it inside a carved-out turnip to create a lantern to guide him, and the first Jack-O-Lantern was made.
Irish immigrants brought this tradition to America, where pumpkins, which were larger, more readily available and easier to carve than turnips, became the primary vegetable for carving Jack-O-Lanterns. Over time, the tradition evolved into the modern-day practice of carving pumpkins for Halloween. However, the original custom of carving turnips for Samhain continues to be practised in some regions of the British Isles.
Jack-O-Lanterns in Literature and Popular Culture
Jack-O-Lanterns are familiar icons in Halloween-based literature and popular culture. Washinton Irving’s famous story published in 1820, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, features the Headless Horseman, a ghostly figure carrying a Jack-O'-Lantern in place of his severed head. Many editions of the book have been published since Irving’s first edition in 1820. Several films based on the story have also been produced. In 1942, Disney released its adaptation of the story in the animated film, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. The short (3:13 mins) clip below features Ichabod Crane’s encounter with the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.
Six years earlier, in 1993, Tim Burton released his beloved stop-motion film about the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, Jack Skellington, in The Nightmare Before Christmas. Watch the (1:25 mins) trailer below:
Burton also produced the 1999 horror film, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Another Halloween staple featuring Jack-O-Lanterns is the iconic animated Charlie Brown special, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Released in 1966, it follows the comic strip Charlie Brown character and the rest of the Peanuts gang on Halloween night, waiting for the Great Pumpkin to appear in Linus’ pumpkin patch. Watch the short (30 secs) trailer below:
Finally, Jack-O-Lanterns feature heavily in scenes from the Harry Potter book and movie, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, first published in 1997 and released in cinemas in 2001. It features a lavishly decorated Halloween feast at Hogwart’s school, replete with floating Jack-O-Lanterns, which is interupted by the appearance of a troll in the Hogwart bathrooms.
Why not try your hand at carving your own Jack-O-Lantern this Samhain? Carving pumpkins is easiest and you can roast the seeds for a delicious snack or, if you have some large turnips you’d rather not cook, try carving them for a more traditional Samhain custom.
Next week we will be exploring the creatures of darkness and their connection to Samhain/Halloween, including the creatures of this world: black cats, black dogs, black birds (ravens and crows), and black horses; and the creatures of the Otherworld: ghosts, headless horsemen, skeletons, faeries, goblins, vampires and werewolves.
Until then:
May Jack-o-lanterns burning bright, Of soft and golden hue, Pierce through the future's veil and show, What fate now holds for you?