Halloween 2023: Check the Secret Relation between Pumpkin and Halloween

Halloween is approaching and people all around the world are preparing for the spookiest night of the year with quite excitement. Halloween is celebrated on 31st October, majorly in Europe and America but the festival is gaining popularity among other countries as well. 

The first thing that pops into everyone’s minds when it comes to Halloween is pumpkins. From carved jack-o'-lanterns to pumpkin spice lattes, these orange orbs are everywhere during the spooky season. But how did pumpkins become so important to Halloween?

What Is the Legend of Stingy Jack? 

According to History.com, Jack-o'-lanterns have been a popular Halloween tradition for centuries. One possible origin of the practice is an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack.

The legend states that Stingy Jack was a miser who tricked the Devil into turning himself into a coin so that Jack could avoid paying for his drinks. Jack then kept the coin next to a silver cross in his pocket, preventing the Devil from changing back into his original form.

Jack eventually freed the Devil, but only after making him promise not to bother him for a year or claim his soul when he died. The next year, Jack tricked the Devil again into climbing a tree, where he carved a sign of the cross into the bark so that the Devil could not come down until he promised not to bother him for ten more years.

When Jack died, God refused to allow him into heaven because of his wicked ways. The Devil, also angry at Jack for tricking him, refused to let him into hell. Instead, he sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been wandering the Earth ever since.

The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as "Jack of the Lantern," and then, simply "Jack O'Lantern." It is likely that this story drew on the parallel etymology of the term "jack-o'-the-lantern" as akin to "will-o'-the-wisp," a mysterious light seen in wooded or swampy areas at night.

Origin of Jack O’Lanterns

The tradition of carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns originated in Ireland and Scotland, where people carved scary faces into turnips and placed them in windows and doorways to ward off evil spirits. 

Immigrants from these countries brought the tradition with them to the United States, where pumpkins were more plentiful than turnips. Over time, pumpkin carving became a popular Halloween tradition in the United States, and it is now one of the most iconic symbols of the holiday.

In the 8th century CE, the Roman Catholic Church moved All Saints' Day, a day celebrating the church's saints, to November 1. This made All Hallows' Eve, or Halloween, fall on October 31.

Traditions from Samhain, a Celtic festival that marked the end of the summer harvest and the beginning of the winter, remained, such as wearing disguises to hide from the souls wandering around on that night. The folklore about Stingy Jack was quickly incorporated into Halloween, and we've been carving pumpkins—or turnips—ever since.