Jack O' Lantern - the true story behind Halloween
May I introduce myself? My name is Jack .... Jack 'O Lantern, Irish from origin and blacksmith by profession. You may know me because you carve my face out of a pumpkin at the end of October. And with a light behind my eyes I'm pretty scary to see. But I wasn't always like that .....
the beginning
A long, long time ago I met Satan on a dark October evening and invited him to have a drink, but because I was stingy, I had no intention of paying for the drinks. Instead, I asked Satan to change into a coin, which would allow me to pay for the drinks. Satan carried out my assignment, after which I quickly put the coin in a bag. I placed this bag next to a large silver cross, making it impossible for Satan change back into himself. After much moaning, I removed the cross so that he could return to its original form. In return, I wanted to be left alone in future. Smart, I thought.
However, one year later I came across Satan again, who wanted to take my soul to hell this time. I can tell you, I was pretty fed up with it and with a little trick I managed to lure Satan into a tree. I then scratched a sign of the cross in the trunk of the tree so that Satan could no longer leave the tree. Only after he had promised me that I would never have to go to hell did I remove the sign of the cross and released Satan again.
However when I died years later, I was not allowed to go to heaven, because of my bad way of life, but Satan did not let me into hell either because of the promise he made to me. Since that time my soul has been wandering around the earth. Satan tossed me a glowing coal when he sent me away from the hell gate. I put the cabbage in a tuber that I was eating and got a lantern to light my way. Later I replaced the tuber with a pumpkin and became know as Jack of the Lantern or Jack 'O Lantern.
contemporary folklore
Nowadays I am a Halloween tradition, certainly in the US, but did you know that the name "Halloween" is derived from Hallow-e'en, or All Hallows Eve, the night before All Saints' Day, November 1? In the Celtic calendar, the year began on November 1, so October 31 was New Year's Eve. The harvest was then in, the seeds for the following year were ready and so there was a moment for a day off, the Celtic New Year or Samhain.
halloween jewelry
For Halloween I made a small collection of unique Halloween jewels:
