The Origin of the Pumpkin Carving
An Old Irish Myth
�Stingy Jack the Blacksmith�
Long ago one dark Halloween night in a tavern sat a drunken old miserable man named Jack. He was a blacksmith but known for being a cheater and a trickster and tricked the towns folk, his own mother and even the Devil. Jack was also a stingy man and didn�t like to pay for anything and even lived off the land of other people and steal whatever he could.
One night the Devil entered a tavern to claim Jack�s soul.
�How about one last drink before I die�? Jack asked the devil.
The devil nodded in agreement and when time came to pay Jack convinced the devil to change into a sixpence.
�You can change back to your form after I pay the bartender.� Jack told the devil.
�Alright but after this your soul is mine,� the devil told Jack.
With that he turned himself into a sixpence but Jack was quick to snatch the coin and put it inside his pocket next to a silver cross he was carrying. Thus trapping the devil so he could not change back to his original form.
�I�ll set you free if you agree not to claim my soul for one year� Jack said with his clever thinking.
Reluctantly the devil made the deal and Jack freed him. The devil went on his way leaving Jack to be with his drinking.
Jack was resting under an apple tree when out of surprise he heard a familiar voice coming down the country road.
�Hello Jack� said the devil.
�Your year is over and I am here to claim your soul,� the devil said with such wickedness to his voice.
�I am hungry.� Jack stated weakly.
�Would you climb up this apple tree and pick me one last apple to eat before I die?� he asked the devil.
The devil agreed and Jack even helped by holstering the devil up on his shoulder into the tree. While the devil was picking the apple Jack laid silver crosses all around the trunk of the tree thus trapping the devil yet again.
Jack not yet ready to die made another bargain with the devil.
�If you leave me alone for 10 years I will remove the crosses and set you free,� he told the devil.
Considering that there was no way around his dilemma, the devil angrily agreed. So, another deal was made between Jack and the devil.
When Stingy Jack eventually passed away several years later, he tried to enter through the pearly gates of heaven but was refused for being an evil drunken fool. Jack then approached the fiery gates of hell but the devil was still infuriated with Jack and all of his trickery that he kept his promise not to claim Jack's soul and denied him to enter.
�But where am I to go.� he asked shrugging his shoulders as he hung his head down.
�From whence you came you fool,� the devil said with disdain towards Jack.
Jack pleaded and begged the devil to at least furnish him with a light so he could find his way in the dark. In a final gesture the devil tossed Jack a glowing ember of coal straight from the fiery fire of Hell. Jack usually was seen carrying a turnip whenever he could steal one took out his pocketknife and gouged a hole large enough to place the burning coal inside to light his way.
With that Jack was cast out in darkness to roam for all of eternity with no resting place for his weary soul with only his carved turnip to light his way.
The Irish folks began calling the ghost of the blacksmith �Jack O� Lantern�..
It is said that on the night of a new moon or in the mist of darkness Jack the Lantern can be seen wandering around, but be sure NOT to follow his evil and restless soul for harm would surely come to you and you will be lost to this world.
So, on Halloween all the good honest people protected themselves with a Jack O� Lantern from evil spirits that roam the earth for this is the night the veil between the worlds are the thinnest.
Therefore, this is why every Halloween we carve Jack O� Lanterns from pumpkins, to keep the evil spirits away from our house and from good honest decent people. |
