Before pumpkins - Surprising history of Jack-o-lanterns and their ancient roots
Photo: Not everyone knows who started carving pumpkins for Halloween and why (freepik.com)
Today, one of the main symbols of Halloween is the pumpkin, from which people carve the so-called Jack-o'-lanterns. However, during Celtic times—the origins of today's holiday—these fruits didn't even grow in Europe, explained Ukrainian folklorist and anthropologist Daria Antsybor.
What is known about the origins of modern Halloween
The holiday we now know as Halloween began with the Celtic festival of Savin (sometimes mistakenly pronounced "Samhain").
"It marked the end of the harvest season and the return of livestock from the high pastures. It symbolized the end of summer and the transition to winter," the expert said.
She noted that it marked "the beginning of a dark period dominated by a 'non-human realm'."
At the same time, Antsybor pointed out that "the two are quite different today, the original meanings have been largely erased."
What people used instead of pumpkins
Antsybor explained that pumpkins were not carved during Samhain because they didn't grow in Europe.
"Traditionally, people carved turnips and later apples. They placed a coal ember or candle inside to scare away spirits," she said.
The anthropologist added that "The Celts believed that during this time, the boundary between worlds thinned, allowing the souls of the dead to appear among the living."
Why carved pumpkins are called Jack-o'-lanterns
According to Antsybor, "there's a story about a miser, Jack, who tricked the devil."
"The devil was so angry that when Jack died, he gave him a coal from hell to light his 'lantern' and told him to wander the world as a restless spirit," she explained.
The folklorist noted that this story "overlaps with what we know about carved pumpkins."
Where and when pumpkins were first carved
According to Antsybor, pumpkins began to be used for Jack-o'-lanterns in America.
"People started using this fruit for jack-o'-lanterns in America when large numbers of Irish immigrants began moving there and bringing their traditions with them," she explained.
The expert added that one of the main reasons for such mass migration was the Great Famine (the potato famine in Ireland between 1845 and 1849).
"In America, stories about lost souls found fertile ground after the Civil War (1861-1865, ed.), when hundreds of thousands of people were missing or killed, and their burial places were unknown," Antsybor said.
According to her, the earliest concepts of Halloween celebrations in many US states were "ghost stories around the fire about spirits who couldn't find their way home and needed a light to guide them."
"The tradition was reinterpreted in a specific way through the experience of war. So the tradition of carved pumpkins has evolved as a unique way of commemorating the dead," the anthropologist concluded.
Earlier, we explained where our ancestors prayed before the arrival of Christianity.
