With Halloween just around the corner, homes everywhere will be carving their very own Jack-o-lanterns. The colorful and scary pumpkins light up the doorsteps as well as children’s hearts each and every year. While the family enjoy carving and setting up their very own Jack-o-lanterns, most families know quite little about where the tradition of the Jack-o-lantern initially came from. The following story will let you in on the tradition and story of the Jack-o-lantern, as well as solve the mystery of where exactly the Jack-o-lantern came from.

The story of the Jack-o-lantern starts off in Ireland where a man named Jack has trouble falling asleep. Jack’s problem was that Satan was tempting him to commit sins in service to Hell. Jack felt he has done enough to torture the world and did not want to give in to the Satan’s wishes. One day, Jack invited Satan to dinner to discuss the requests the prince of evil has made of him. As the dinner wore on, Satan became inpatient with Jack’s decision and asked jack what he thought of the proposals. Jack told Satan that all the answers he needed were up in the nearby oak tree. As Satan climbed inside, Jack trapped him inside. Satan found the heavenly cross carved into the tree, and not being able to bear the sight of the cross he begged Jack for mercy. Jack released Satan under the circumstance that he will not tempt Jack anymore. After Jack’s death, his soul was sent to purgatory where it was to be judged by the Gods. Jack refused Heaven because he felt that he has done enough harm to the world to not warrant an entrance inside. Satan rejected Jack’s soul into Hell because Jack has made a fool of him in the past. Instead, Satan gave Jack an ember in order to find his way around the purgatory. The ember was put inside a turnip in order for the ember to not run out. Satan told Jack that he was doomed for eternity to walk around in the darkness of the purgatory looking for an answer as to where his soul belonged. The Jack-o-lantern was initially inside turnips, but later on as people adapted to the tradition, they replaced the turnips with pumpkins, as pumpkins made the ember last longer inside them.

The story of the Jack-o-lantern stretched into many centuries. Passed down from the Irish, the story has adapted into the American culture of Halloween as well. The World Wide Web offers many other interesting historic facts about Halloween, all you have to do is research

By Glen Shikunov