We all love carving faces and lanterns out of pumpkins on Halloween, but do you know the story behind this Jack o' lantern or why it is called by that name?
Here's the inside story.
The practice of using such lanterns comes from an Irish myth about a miser nicknamed “Stingy Jack”. Once, this young man decided to invite the devil for a drink. Unwilling to part with his money, he asked the devil to turn himself into a coin with which Jack could buy drinks. The devil obliged but was in for a shock when greedy Jack, stashed the coin inside his pockets beside a silver cross. To his utter dismay, the devil found he could no longer return to his original form. Taking pity, Jack finally released him under the condition that despite being a rogue, the devil would not claim his soul after death..
Returning a year later, the devil was again tricked by Jack who made him climb a tree to pick apples and carved a cross at the bottom so that he could no longer descend. Finally, Jack bailed him out after he promised not to disturb him for a decade.
After his death, Jack arrived gleefully at the gates of heaven but being ineligible to enter he was ordered to leave. The devil then greeted him in hell and sent him off into the dead of the night with a burning coal to light his way. Jack then placed the coal inside a carved out pumpkin turning it into a lantern.
His soul roams the earth ever since.
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