Wait, where do pumpkins fit in?
Making vegetable lanterns can be traced back to the British Isles, where carving turnips, beets and potatoes had been a Fall tradition for many centuries. According to an Irish myth, a man named Stingy Jack once had a drink with the devil and, when he didn’t want to pay for it, convinced the Devil to turn into a coin. However, Stingy Jack lived up to his name and pocketed the coin next to a cross, keeping the devil locked in a monetary state until he struck a deal with Jack to leave him alone and not claim his soul for Hell upon his death. When Jack did die, Heaven rejected him and — true to his word — so did the Devil. As punishment for his trickery, the Devil sent Jack out to wander the earth forever with a single coal in a hollowed-out turnip to light his way. To Irish children he was Jack of the Lantern or, as the Irish are wont to do when confronted with an “of the,” Jack O’Lantern. But Jack-o-Lanterns were not a part of Halloween celebrations in Britain; it would take a new con
