Jack Deals With The Devil

Pumpkin carving is a tradition practiced throughout the world, but primarily in America, Ireland, Scotland, and England. Every year in October, crowds storm local patches to find a gourd fit for sculpting into a frightening masterpiece and present it on their porch for their neighbors’ viewing.

This tradition has deep roots in Irish-Catholic tradition. According to Irish folktale, there was a man named Stingy Jack. He invited the Devil to go out with him for a drink, and upon receiving his tab Jack refused to pay. To avoid spending money on the drinks, he convinced the Devil to transform into a coin to pay with. Jack then put the coin into his pocket next to a cross to prevent the Devil from transforming back, trapping him.

Jack eventually let the Devil go, but only after two promises had been made. The first was that the Devil could not retaliate within a year, and the second was that when Jack died the Devil would not take Jack’s soul and condemn him to eternal punishment in the fires of Hell.

The next year, Jack somehow convinced the Devil to climb into a tree to pick some fruit. Jack quickly carved a cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not climb back down. Jack once again used his advantage to negotiate ten more years of immunity from the Devil’s wrath, which the Devil once more agreed to. Since this was so long ago and life expectancy was so brief, ten more years would effectively be until Jack died, upon which he would have to go to Heaven on account of the Devil not being allowed to take him.

However, this is not quite what ended up happening. When Jack died, God barred him from entering Heaven on the grounds that he lived a pretty seedy life and had made deals with the Devil. But Jack was also not allowed to enter Hell since that was part of his deal with the Devil. So, the Devil smugly gave him a coal from Hell to light the way and sent him out to roam the world for all eternity. Jack put the coal in a turnip to act as a lantern to scare off evil spirits and has been wandering around the earth ever since. He became known as “Jack of the lantern,” or just “Jack O’Lantern.”

As a result of this popular folktale, the Irish imitated Jack by carving faces into turnips, potatoes, and beets, then put coals or candles in them around Halloween time. They believed that these jack-o’-lanterns would protect them from the influence of evil spirits. When people from Ireland and England came to the Americas in the 1800’s, they began using pumpkins as jack-o’-lanterns since they worked much better due to their larger size.

The tradition has continued to modern day, where millions of people still take part in the ritual of carving pumpkins, only now we do it for decoration instead of as a form of protection against the supernatural evils of the world. But if any student is in need of protection against ghosts or ghouls, they can take a trip across the street to Simpson’s Pumpkins to pick up a vegetable or fruit for carving, along with other Fall decorations.