Cucurbita pepo pepo

Carving out hideous faces in big pumpkins to make jack-o'-lantern is now an American tradition, but the jack-o'-lantern didn't originate here. Halloween began in Ireland where the first jack-o'-lanterns were made of potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, or beets. According to an old Irish legend, a man called Stingy Jack had been mean and conniving while he lived, and after his death was forced to walk the Earth carrying a turnip lantern with a burning coal inside. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern" or "Jack-o'-lantern." The Irish put jack-o'-lanterns in windows or by doors on Halloween night to scare him and other evil spirits away. It wasn't until Irish immigrants came to America that pumpkins were used. So the next time you put a jack-o'-lantern in your window, stop and think about mean ol' Jack.

back to Nature Notebook