Jack-o'-lantern

A jack-o'-lantern is a pumpkin, whose top and stem have been carved off and interior removed to leave a hollow shell. It can also refer to a will o' the wisp. Sections of a side are carved out to make a design, usually a face. It is possible, using thicker and thinner sections cut with differing tools, to create surprisingly detailed and realistic designs. A light source (traditionally a candle) is placed inside the pumpkin and the top is put back into place (often after a "chimney" is carved in the lid in order to allow heat to escape). The light illuminates the design from the inside. Jack-o'-lanterns are generally made for Halloween.

Tradition rooted in folklore

In northern England, Scotland, and Ireland, there is a long tradition of carving lanterns from vegetables, particularly the turnip, mangelwurzel, or rutabaga.

An Irish legend tells of Jack, a lazy but shrewd farmer who used a cross to trick the Devil, then refused to free him unless he agreed to never let Jack into Hell. The Devil agreed. When Jack died, he was too sinful to be allowed into Heaven, but the Devil wouldn't let him into Hell. So, Jack carved out one of his turnips, put a candle inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He was known as "Jack of the Lantern", or Jack-o'-Lantern.

There are variations on the legend. Some of which include:

The Devil mockingly tossing a coal from the fires of Hell at Jack, which Jack then places in the turnip.
Jack tricking/trapping the Devil a variety of ways, including placing a key or other item in the Devil's pocket when the Devil is suspended in the air or plucking an apple from a tree. Some versions include a "wise and good man" or even God helping Jack to prevail over the Devil.
Jack's bargain with the Devil being different. In some variations, the deal is only a temporary bargain, but the Devil, embarrassed and vengeful, refuses Jack entry after Jack dies.

Despite the colorful legends, the term jack-o'-lantern originally meant a night watchman, or man with a lantern, with the earliest known use in the mid-17th century; and later, meaning an ignis fatuus or will-o'-the-wisp."Jack-o'-lantern," Oxford English Dictionary. The earliest citation is from 1663. Not until 1837 does jack-o'-lantern appear as a term for a carved vegetable lantern,Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Great Carbuncle," in Twice-Told Tales, 1837:

Hide it great carbuncle under thy cloak, say'st thou? Why, it will gleam through the holes, and make thee look like a jack-o'lantern! and the carved lantern does not become associated specifically with Halloween until 1866.Daily News (Kingston, Ontario), November 1, 1866:

The old time custom of keeping up Hallowe'en was not forgotten last night by the youngsters of the city. They had their maskings and their merry-makings, and perambulated the streets after dark in a way which was no doubt amusing to themselves. There was a great sacrifice of pumpkins from which to make transparent heads and face, lighted up by the unfailing two inches of tallow candle.

Agnes Carr Sage, "Halloween Sports and Customs," Harper's Young People, October 27, 1885, p. 828:

It is an ancient Scottish custom to light great bonfires on Halloween, and carry blazing fagots about on long poles; but in place of this American boys delight in the funny grinning jack-o'-lanterns made of huge yellow pumpkins with a candle inside. Significantly, both occurred not in the British Isles, but in North America.

Historian David J. Skal writes,

Although every modern chronicle of the holiday repeats the claim that vegetable lanterns were a time-honored component of Halloween celebrations in the British Isles, none gives any primary documentation. In fact, none of the major nineteenth-century chronicles of British holidays and folk customs make any mention whatsoever of carved lanterns in connection with Halloween. Neither do any of the standard works of the early twentieth century.

''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!