Turnips and Pumpkins Equal…Halloween?

By R. Peltier

So, you’ve read mention of turnips in the Halloween Rituals section, and we all know that Jack O’Lanterns are a big part of the holiday, but how did this veggie and fruit become associated with Halloween to begin with? Well, one Irish folk legend goes like this:

Jack, a stingy, drunken Irishman, was as usual drinking too much at a local pub on All Hallows Eve. The more drinks Jack consumed, the more his life was slipping away. As the intoxicated Jack stumbled home, the Devil demanded that Jack come to Hell with him because of his evil ways. Jack, who was not too eager to die, convinced the Devil to climb a nearby tree to pluck him an apple. As the Devil climbed the tree, Jack carved a cross in the tree’s trunk ~ preventing the Devil from coming back down. The Devil, angry at being deceived, demanded that Jack release him. But first, the clever (albeit drunk) Jack wanted to make a pact with the Devil that when he died the Devil would not claim his soul. The Devil agreed and Jack set him free.

On the following All Hallows Eve Jack, died from his excessive drinking. He was forbidden to enter the gates of Heaven because of his immoral habits. Desperate for a resting place, Jack tried entering Hell, but the Devil denied Jack access because of their previous promise; he did, however, give the rejected Jack a lighted coal to help him find his resting place. Jack, who was munching down on a turnip at the time, placed the coal inside the turnip to light his way through the dark night. Since then, Jack has been roaming the world with his Jack O’Lantern looking for a place to rest.

So, using Jack O’Lanterns as festive lights at Halloween is a legendary custom that descended from the Irish who, in honor of Jack, used carved out potatoes, beets, or turnips as lanterns. Pumpkins were not used until Irish immigrants came to America and realized that these big orange squashes were more abundant and cheaper than beets or turnips, and allowed for devilish faces to be carved into their countenances, so that both Jack and the Devil could be represented.