JACK-O'-LANTERN

The Legend of "Stingy Jack"

People have been making jack-o'-lanterns at Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed "Stingy Jack."

According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name (stingy:tacaño), Stingy Jack didn't want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks.
Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form.

 Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree's bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.
Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell.
He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as "Jack of the Lantern," and then, simply "Jack

The irish tradition travelled its way to North America together with the Irish people, once there, pumkins were easier to find on Autumn

If you want to be more historical this year try to carve a turnip instead of a pumpkin

 how to carve a jack-o'-turnip

THIS IS HALLOWEEN, HALLOWEEN, HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Like all years we are getting close to Halloween  time and you know, dear students,

that what I like most is giving historical facts,  so....

The history of" halloween" is more than 2,000 years old. The Celts who lived in Ireland,Scotland,Wales and Cornwall,were the first to celebrate the festival.

The Celts worshipped Nature.They worshipped a Sun God  and believed that without him, they would not live.
They also worshipped Samhain who was the lord of the dead and of the cold, dark, winter season.
They  believed that on October 31st Samhain would call together all of the dead and these souls would take on the shape of an animal.
They believed that all the creatures walked on earth on that night.This was called the vigil of Samhain.

When the Romans introduced Catholicism to the celts they had a festival to celebrate all the saints which didn't have their own holiday. This was celebrated on November  1st and was called All Saints Day or "All Hallows Day" in Gaelic.

The Roman Catholics thought that this would stop people celebrating the festival of Samhain on October 31st. Unfortunatelly, according to tradition, the devil and his friends came out on October 31st to make fun of all Hallows day. So October 31st became known as All Hallows Eve, and over time it has been reduced to Halloween.
 
 If you want more information take a look at  this video