Does anyone know the folklore regarding the Jack-o-lantern and why you put it in the window on Halloween night

Answer 1

It's from the Jack cycle. I remember a great storyteller going on about it one Samhain. It's a "tricking the Devil" legend, and takes over from the pre-Xian version.

The gourd sacrifice is sacred to pagans and witches. The inner light is of course the soul, and Samhain is the honouring of the Ancestors: ghosts or guests. Both come from ghiest. It wasn't to scare them off, but to welcome them originally. As Xianity supercedes, the love and welcome of the ancestors becomes fear that they will return to the house on Samhain, so the living must protect themselves. The Devil is always thrown in for explanations like that.

The story was pretty good, though...

"Carving Jack-o-lanterns is also a tradition that came from the Celts -- only they used turnips instead of pumpkins. The legend of the Jack-o-lantern starts with a man named Jack, who was a notorious drunk and practical joker. Jack was said to have tricked the devil into climbing into a tree. He then carved an image of a cross into the tree’s trunk, trapping the devil in the highest branches of the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that said if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down. Legend says that after Jack died he was denied entrance into heaven because of his evil ways. Jack was then denied entrance into hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the cold, dark winter. Jack placed the light into a hallowed-out turnip to keep it lit longer. When the Irish came to America, they found pumpkins to be a lot more plentiful, making the pumpkin the official Jack-o-lantern. "
http://www.history-of-halloween.net/


"Other old traditions have survived to this day; lanterns carved out of pumpkins and turnips were used to provide light on a night when huge bonfires were lit, and all households let their fires go out so they could be rekindled from this new fire; this was believed to be good luck for all households. The name "Jack-O-Lantern" means "Jack of the Lantern, " and comes from an old Irish tale. Jack was a man who could enter neither heaven nor hell and was condemned to wander through the night with only a candle in a turnip for light. Or so goes the legend...

But such folk names were commonly given to nature spirits, like the "Jack in the Green, " or to plants believed to possess magical properties, like "John O' Dreams, " or "Jack in the Pulpit." Irish fairy lore is full of such references. Since candles placed in hollowed-out pumpkins or turnips (commonly grown for food and abundant at this time of year) would produce flickering flames, especially on cold nights in October, this phenomenon may have led to the association of spirits with the lanterns; and this in turn may have led to the tradition of carving scary faces on them. It is an old legend that candle flames which flicker on Samhain night are being touched by the spirits of dead ancestors, or "ghosts."
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usma&c=holidays&id=2204


http://scarletstains.tripod.com/id3.html

Answer 2

Perhaps the most famous icon of Samhain and all Hallows eve, holidays is the jack-o-lantern. Various authorities attribute it to either Scottish or Irish origin. However, it seems clear that the empted and carved gourd was used as a lantern by people who traveled the road this night, the scary face to frighten away spirits or faeries who might otherwise lead one astray. Set on porches and in windows, they cast the same spell of protection over the household. (The American pumpkin seems to have forever superseded the European gourd as the jack-o-lantern of choice.)

Just an aside: I have two large trees in our front yard. One of them always becomes a Jack-O-Lantern tree, with at least 20 lanterns.

Answer 3

actually, the Jack'o' lantern was lit in the windows of English village houses in about the 16th century to frighten off the spirits of departed souls that were said to go abroad on that night. Not sure why the pumpkin though - anyone?

Answer 4

I am not sure but, I know the costumes are so they will look like Ghosts also. Ghosts back in 1800's would like to scare/kill people so when they dressed up they wouldn't be scared/killed and they have candy to symbolis when the spirts would come they would want candy so that is it. OH!!! Jack-O-Lanterns are decorated to scare off evil emmbodiments. :)

Answer 5

Wikipedia is a pretty good layperson's resource for mythology.

Answer 6

i think pumpkins because they had extras back then proubly!