Jack O'Lantern
A Jack O'Lantern (also Jack-o'-lantern, German: Jack with the lantern ) is a lantern made from a hollowed-out pumpkin with a grimace cut into it. The Jack O'Lantern custom goes back to a Halloween tradition of Irish immigrants who brought it to the USA and expanded it there. The jack-o-lantern is a symbol of Halloween. The light in the hollowed out pumpkin relates to the grave light on All Souls' Day .
The legend of Jack O'Lantern
A long time ago there lived in Ireland a farrier named Jack Oldfield, who also went by the name Stingy Jack (German: stingy Jack) or Drunk Jack (German: drunkard Jack). On the evening before All Saints Day , the stingy and drunkard Jack was sitting in a pub in his village when suddenly the devil stood next to him to fetch him. Jack offered his soul to him for one last drink. The devil didn't mind buying him one last drink, but found he didn't have a coin on hand. So he turned himself into a sixpence to pay the landlord. But Jack quickly put the coin in his wallet and locked it tight. And because he had a silver cross in his wallet, the devil couldn't change himself back. Jack dealt with the devil: he set him free and the devil promised that Jack's soul would be free for another ten years.
When the ten years were up, the devil came back again on the night before All Saints' Day to get Jack. He asked him again for one last favor: his hangman's meal should be an apple that the devil should pick for him. The devil did him a favor and climbed an apple tree. Jack quickly drew his knife and carved a cross in the bark of the tree; the devil was trapped in the tree. Jack dealt with the devil again: he removed the cross, and the devil promised to leave Jack's soul alone for all eternity.
After Jack died many years later, he asked to be admitted in heaven . Since he hadn't exactly been a good man in his life, he was turned away. He was sent to the gates of hell . But even there he was denied entry because the devil had made his promise never to get Jack's soul. The devil sent him back where he had come from - and because it was so dark, cold and windy and the way was so far, the devil took pity and gave Jack a glowing coal straight from the hellfire. Jack put the coal in a hollowed out turnip that he had taken with him as food. Since then, his damned soul has walked through the darkness with the lantern on All Saints' Eve. From this legend it was deduced that on Halloween a burning piece of coal in a turnip or pumpkin could keep the devil and all other ghosts away.
