Jack-O-Lanterns in Irish Myths: Irishmen Once Used Turnips Not Pumpkins for These Creepy Faces

Every Halloween, there are pumpkins with faces carved on it. Becoming an All Hallows Eve tradition in time, but in the murky past of Celtic Ireland, it was turnips used to make a Jack-O-Lantern.

In early Ireland, the pagan gods were common. They also used potatoes as their first canvasses to represent the spirit of Halloween. The origin of the pumpkin with a plethora of ghoulish faces begins in an Irish folk tale by Stingy Jack, whose attitude, reported History.

Irish immigrants brought this colorful tradition with them when pumpkins were more popular. Soon the pumpkin because a vital part of the Halloween tradition.

An Irish tale when things went bump in the night, "The Legend of Stingy jack."

Carving out a pumpkin that represents Jack on All Hollow's Eve has been done in early pagan societies for centuries. It all started from an old Irish myth called Stingy Jack.

In the story, the devil or Satan was asked to partake in a drink by Stingy Jack, who had other plans. When it came to paying for the drinks, he was genuinely stingy and hatched a plan. The devil was convinced to transform into a coin so that he can get more for them. After drinking his fill and devil transformed into a coin, he put the coin next to a silver cross. This keeps satan from changing to himself again.

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Once the devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the devil from changing back into his original form. In time he freed the devil but on one condition that he will not bother jack about a year. If Jack should die, then the devil will not claim his soul. For now, he felt safe that the prince of hell will not pester him for a year.

It seems Jack was not satisfied with the devil's promise. A year later, he would outsmart the dark lord by tricking him to get fruit from the treetop. When the devil tried to come down, he couldn't; a cross was hacked into the bark trapping the devil in the tree. He deceived the great deceiver and made him promise ten years not to bother Jack.

All men die, and so did Jack. In heaven, God found his sins too much and sent him to Jack's old acquaintance. No one crossed the devil and kept his word; Jack's soul wasn't claimed, and he cannot enter hell too.

As payback, Jack was sent off with a lump of single coal thrown for fooling the dark lord. From then, on the ever-burning coal is inside a turnip that lit Jack's way to wander the highway of lost souls. Irish folk calls him Jack of the Lantern as a wispy figured doomed to walk forever.

As the tradition spread, people in Ireland and Scotland made different versions of Jack-O-Lanterns by making them in turnips and potatoes. These objects were considered powerful talismans to ward off evil spirits bent on mischief, even Stingy Jack too. Next time going trick or treating, anyone might meet Jack wandering.