Carve a turnip?

I recently returned from a visit to see my family in Ohio and brought back a huge pile of all kinds of pumpkins and gourds to decorate with for fall. I always look forward to stopping at a particular farm that has all kinds of apples, pumpkins, cider and mums. I got to wondering why people carve pumpkins at Halloween and found a very interesting story on the History Channel website that I have never heard!

I found out the term Jack O’ Lantern comes from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack. The tale tells how Jack was drinking with the devil and tricked him into turning himself into a coin to pay for the drinks. Instead of paying, Jack put the coin in his pocket with a silver cross and the devil couldn’t escape until he promised to leave Jack alone for a year and not take his soul should he die. A year later, the devil comes back and Jack tricks him into climbing a tree to pick a piece of fruit and Jack carved a cross into the trees bark and the Devil couldn’t come down until he promised to leave Jack alone for ten years and not take his soul.

Well, as luck would have it, old Jack died the next year and God wouldn’t let him into heaven and the devil wouldn’t let him into hell. The devil sent him away with a burning coal to light his way at night for his wandering soul. He became known as the Jack of the Lantern or Jack O’ Lantern for short.

Superstitious folks in Ireland and Scotland would carve scary faces in turnips or potatoes and put a candle inside and place them in the window or at the door to scare away roaming evil spirits such as Jack. In England, folks would use beets!

When immigrants came to America in the 1800’s they brought their superstitions and traditions to their new homeland and found that the local native pumpkins made the perfect Jack O’ Lanterns.

Halloween started to become a popular yearly celebration in the 1920’s for adults and children alike when they had dress up parties and went trick or treating. Vintage Halloween decorations from the 1920’s through the 1960’s are highly sought after by collectors and bring some pretty high prices on eBay. I sure am glad we carve pumpkins and not beets or turnips nowadays but it might have been a lot easier not to scoop out all those seeds! Happy Collecting!

Jillinda Falen has been buying and selling antiques for over 31 years and is a licensed REALTOR and estate liquidation specialist. You can contact her through the Houston Home Journal or via email at jcfalen@gmail.com