History of the Halloween Jack- o'-Lantern
Jack-o'-Lanterns, those carved up, hollowed out pumpkins, often with candles inside of them, have been the face of Halloween for centuries. But when it comes to the history of the venerable o'-Lantern, most people don't know, well, jack. Jack-o'-Lanterns first surfaced in Ireland, where Halloween originated.
The tradition came out of an Irish myth about a man called "Stingy Jack.'' The tale says that Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him, and when Jack decided he didn't want to pay for his libation, he coaxed the Devil to turn himself into a coin. Jack claimed he would use the coin to pay for the drinks. That turned out to be a falsehood, the story goes. Once the Devil became a coin, Jack elected to keep the money and put it in his pocket next to a cross, precluding the Devil from reverting to his original self....