Where was Halloween invented, and why do people carve pumpkins?

AFTER Christmas, polls repeatedly name Halloween as the second-most popular family event of the year.

Here we take a look at the spooky celebration‘s origins and why people started carving petrifying pusses in pumpkins.

Where was Halloween invented?

While it was nothing like today’s festivities including pumpkins, costumes and trick-or-treating, the origins of Halloween can be traced back to Ireland over 2,000 years ago.

Regardless of where you are in the world, this is why so many Halloween traditions are Irish.

Its origins lie in the Celtic festival Samhain, which was celebrated thousands of years ago to honour the end of the harvest season and mark the start of the new year on November 1.

The Celts, who lived mostly in what is now Ireland, the UK and northern France, celebrated their new year on this date.

During Samhain, it was believed that the boundary between the living and the dead was thinnest, allowing spirits to cross over into the world of the living.

People lit bonfires and wore disguises to ward off wandering spirits, practices that would later influence Halloween customs.

When Christianity spread across the land, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honour all saints.

The preceding evening, known as All Hallows’ Eve, evolved into what we now recognise as Halloween.

Over time, Halloween became the day of activities we know and love today.

Why do people carve pumpkins?

The tradition of carving pumpkins, or jack-o-lanterns, began in pagan times when early Irishmen immigrated to the States.

According to Irish folklore, Jack was a blacksmith who tricked the Devil on several occasions.

When he died, he was denied entry to the afterlife – both heaven and hell.

Instead, the Devil sentenced him to roam the Earth for eternity.

The phenomenon of “ignis fatuus”, the Latin for “foolish fire”, otherwise konwn as “will-o’-the-wisp” – mysterious lights appearing over marshy or swampy areas – was traditionally explained in folklore as the lantern of Jack as he “found his own hell” in the countryside.

He came to be known by many names: Stingy Jack O’Lantern, Jack the Smith, Drunk Jack, Flaky Jack, Jack-o’-lantern and Pumpkin Jack.

People started carving demonic faces out of turnips in Ireland, in an effort to frighten away Jack’s wandering soul.

In the US, they discovered pumpkins were more readily available and made better lanterns than turnips.

This is where they get the name Jack-o’-lanterns from.

People soon dubbed him and the mysterious lights as “Jack of the Lantern” or jack-o’-lantern.