Jack-o'-lantern
Ever wondered where the tradition of carving a pumpkin at
Halloween comes from. It all started in
Ireland & England where turnips, beets and potatoes were carved into
grotesque faces. A coal ember was then
placed inside the hollowed out vegetable.
These back-lit faces were placed in windows to ward off
spirits and fairies reported to be afoot around the end of
October and early November/Halloween.
When the Irish and British immigrated to North America they
found the pumpkin a better vessel for carving and thus the Jack-o-lantern as we know it was born.
In 1850 John Greenleaf Whittier wrote
“The
Pumpkin”
Oh,
greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,
The vines
of the gourd and the rich melon run,
And the
rock and the tree and the cottage enfold,
With broad
leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold,
Like that
which o’er Nineveh’s prophet once grew,
While he
waited to know that his warning was true,
And longed
for the storm-cloud, and listened in vain
For the
rush of the whirlwind and red fire-rain.
On the
banks of the Xenil the dark Spanish maiden
Comes up
with the fruit of the tangled vine laden;
And the
Creole of Cuba laughs out to behold
Through
orange-leaves shining the broad spheres of gold;
Yet with
dearer delight from his home in the North,
On the
fields of his harvest the Yankee looks forth,
Where
crook-necks are coiling and yellow fruit shines,
And the
sun of September melts down on his vines.
Ah! on
Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
From North
and from South comes the pilgrim and guest;
When the
gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old
broken links of affection restored;
When the
care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the
worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before;
What
moistens the lip and what brightens the eye,
What calls
back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?
Oh, fruit
loved of boyhood! the old days recalling,
When
wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild,
ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring
out through the dark with a candle within!
When we
laughed round the corn-heap, with hearts all in tune,
Our chair
a broad pumpkin, — our lantern the moon,
Telling
tales of the fairy who travelled like steam
In a
pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team!
Then
thanks for thy present! none sweeter or better
E’er
smoked from an oven or circled a platter!
Fairer
hands never wrought at a pastry more fine,
Brighter
eyes never watched o’er its baking, than thine!
And the
prayer, which my mouth is too full to express,
Swells my
heart that thy shadow may never be less,
That the
days of thy lot may be lengthened below,
And the
fame of thy worth like a pumpkin-vine grow,
And thy
life be as sweet, and its last sunset sky
Golden-tinted
and fair as thy own Pumpkin pie!
Happy Halloween
Grandma Snyder
©2013-2015 twosnydergirls
.jpg "Children drawing Jack-o-lanterns")
