Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and has very interesting origins. What we call Halloween was originally a Celtic festival called Samhain (pronounced sow-in). Samhain was a festival marking the end of the summer and harvest season and the beginning of the dark, cold season.

The ancient Celts believed that the veil between the world of the living and the spirit world was at its thinnest on Samhain – roughly October 31st through November 1st. The festival not only celebrated harvest but was also meant to appease their deities with sacrifices of crops and….other things. The ancient Celts wore costumes during the festivities and carved dreadful faces onto turnips to help ward off the evil spirits that would roam the Earth on that night – thus born the origins of the “Jack-O’-Lantern”.

Once Christianity spread to Celtic lands in the 9th century, Samhain was replaced with All Saints Day on November 1st also known as All Hallows. That made October 31st All Hallows Eve which eventually came to be called Halloween. Over time the meaning of the celebration changed quite a bit – from a pagan harvest ritual to a Christian celebration honoring saints and the souls of the dearly departed, to a modern celebration in which we dress up our kids in costumes and encourage them to knock on the doors of strangers and beg for candy!

The Irish are credited with popularizing the Jack-O’-Lantern. They kept up the tradition begun by their Celtic ancestors of carving spooky faces into turnips. According to Irish folklore, a shifty, crooked man named “Stingy-Jack” was known to be so conniving that he managed to trick the devil several times and, as punishment, he was condemned to walk the Earth for eternity as a lost soul, with only a glowing coal in a hollowed-out turnip as a lantern to light his way. He became known as Jack of the Lantern, which over time evolved into what we call “Jack-O’-Lantern”.

This Irish tradition and folklore was eventually introduced to the United States by Irish immigrants in the 19th century. Pumpkins became the vegetable (or fruit) of choice to carve as they were more readily available in North America and much easier to carve than a turnip.

As for me, I love the spooky season. Ghost stories, the mysterious feeling in the air, kids in costumes and carving Jack-O’-Lanterns to illuminate with candles on Halloween – all of which became exponentially more fun once Luke came along! He no longer lets me come with him to “trick-or-treat” now that he is 17 – it is very uncool to have your mom tagging along. But we still carve Jack-O’-Lanterns together and light them up on our front porch each year.

Below are a couple of Jack-O’-Lanterns I’ve carved in recent years (don’t be too impressed – they were stencil assisted). And one bonus picture of me with two-year-old Luke looking absolutely scrumptious in his Tigger costume!

Happy Halloween!