St Aidens Homeschool ~ Halloween

Home eBooks Audio Books Lit Arts Language Pre-K Free ESL Resources Online Games Book of the Day Game of the Day

Alphabet Animals Colour & Concepts Family Numbers Nursery Rhymes Story Time Puzzles Scrapbooking Crafts Disney

Halloween
Jack-o-Lantern

An old Irish folk tale tells of Stingy Jack, a lazy yet shrewd farmer who uses a cross to trap
the Devil. One story 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 myth says that Jack put a key in the Devil's
pocket while he was suspended upside-down.

Another version of the myth 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 myths, 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 that would never burn out from the flames of hell. Jack carved out one
of his turnips (which was his favourite 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.

There are variations on the legend:

Some versions include a "wise and good man", or even God helping Jack to prevail
over the Devil.
There are different versions of Jack's bargain with the Devil. Some variations say the
deal was only temporary but the Devil, embarrassed and vengeful, refuses Jack
entry to hell after Jack dies.
Jack is considered a greedy man and is not allowed into either heaven or hell,
without any mention of the Devil.
In some variations, God gives Jack the turnip
An African-American variant holds that Jack, here called Big Sixteen, actually killed
the Devil and was later refused entry to hell by the Devil's widow.

Despite the colourful legends, the term jack-o'-lantern originally meant a night watchman,
or man with a lantern, with the earliest known use in the mid-17th century; and later,
meaning an ignis fatuous or will-o'-the-wisp. In Labrador and Newfoundland, both names
"Jacky Lantern" and "Jack the Lantern" refer to the will-o'-the-wisp concept rather than the
pumpkin carving aspect.

Back to Halloween Main
Halloween Activities & Printables