Happy Halloween

Halloween is mix of traditions from Celtic, Catholic and Roman religious rituals. The Celts believed that the boundaries between the living and the dead blurred on Halloween - making it easier for ghosts and spirits to return to make mischief.  As a consequence these ancient Celts would dress in costumes and light bonfires to ward off the spirits.  

Jack-’o-lanterns have been around for hundreds of years and they have their origin in a tale of a man named Jack who invited the devil for a drink.  Not wishing to pay for his drink Jack struck a deal convincing the devil to turn himself into a coin that could be used to settle the tab. Jack skipped out on the bill and kept the devil-coin in his pocket with a silver cross so that the devil couldn’t shift back to his original form.   Jack eventually let the devil loose, but made him promise that he wouldn’t seek revenge on Jack and wouldn’t claim his soul when he died.   When Jack eventually kicked the bucket, God would not allow him into heaven, and the devil, keeping his word, rejected Jack’s soul at the gates of hell.  Instead, the devil gave him a single burning coal to light his way and sent him off into the night to find his final resting place.  Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has supposedly been roaming the earth with it ever since.  In Ireland, the ghost lights seen in the swamps were said to be Jack’s improvised lantern moving about as his restless soul wandered the countryside. He and the lights were dubbed Jack of the Lantern, or Jack O'Lantern.  The original jack-’o-lanterns in Ireland were carved out of turnips or potatoes. 

Pumpkins are actually indigenous to the Western Hemisphere and have been found on the continent for more than 5,000 years.   Pumpkins entered into the Halloween celebration after Irish immigrants came to America and found that pumpkins were easier to carve than potatoes or turnips for the holiday.

Have a festive holiday...