The Origin Of The Jack-O'-Lantern

 Halloween is coming. I am reposting the story of the origin of the Jack-o-lantern. Please enjoy it.

Stingy Jack was well known around his part of Ireland. He liked his drink and was thought to take liberties with other people's property. He cheated, deceived, and misused anyone he could. Stingy Jack did not particularly care what others thought of him. All that mattered to Stingy Jack was Stingy Jack and his comforts.

Now the devil had been keeping tabs on him. Stingy Jack was a prime candidate for the devil's domain.

One night after a night of heavy drinking, Stingy Jack was stumbling home. He came upon a body lying in the road so he stopped to see if there was anything of value in the pockets.

Suddenly the body moved and jumped up. Stingy Jack realized that it was the devil. Jack's earthly time was to end. But he was not ready to go.

Stingy Jack asked for a last wish. The devil saw no harm in granting a final drink to Stingy Jack. Off they went to the pub. Stingy Jack was a frequent patron and knew the bartender well. As the duo walked through the door the bartender smiled. When Stingy Jack got the best of somebody, the bartender got a nice part of the take.

Stingy Jack proceeded to have a sample or more of every type of drink in the pub. When he finished he told the devil to turn himself into a silver coin to pay the tab. He promised that he would get the coin back so the devil could change back into himself.

The devil turned himself into a coin of silver. Stingy Jack grinned at the bartender who grinned right back. Stingy Jack dropped the coin into his pocket which just happened to also contain a crucifix. The crucifix took away all of the powers the devil had. He begged and begged to be set free.

Stingy Jack, being the kind-hearted soul he was, said he would set the devil free IF the devil would promise not to take his soul for 10 years. Of course the devil agreed.

Ten years passed with Stingy Jack continuing in his evil ways. The devil appeared as he said he would. Stingy Jack knew his time was up. The devil had Stingy Jack by the arm ready to take him to Hell. Stingy Jack asked if the devil would climb the apple tree they were standing next to and pick an apple for him to eat on the way. The devil heaved a heavy sigh and climbed the tree.

While the devil was picking a nice apple Stingy Jack hurriedly surrounded the tree trunk with crucifixes. The devil was stuck in the tree.

Once again the devil found himself pleading for his freedom. Finally Stingy Jack made the devil promise to never take his soul. The devil begrudgingly promised. Stingy Jack took the crosses and happily went home knowing that he had outsmarted the devil.

Stingy Jack continued his evil ways but eventually he died as everyone does. He sat and waited patiently for his turn to enter Heaven. When he approached the gates he was turned away. He was told that he was far too evil to be in Heaven.

With resignation Stingy Jack went to Hell. He knocked on the gates and the devil met him there. The devil reminded Stingy Jack of their agreement and told him that since he could not have the soul there was no place for him in Hell. He was doomed to wander in nothingness for eternity.

It was Stingy Jack's turn to plead. Eventually the devil agreed to give him an ember to light his way through the darkness. Jack placed it in a hollowed turnip or rutabaga to keep from burning his fingers.

Stingy Jack came to be called Jack Of The Lantern or Jack-O'-Lantern. At certain times of the year, such as Halloween, when the world of the dead is close to the living Jack-O'-Lantern is seen wandering.

In Ireland during Halloween the living tried to make sure the dead cannot cross back. They began leaving meals on their doorsteps to keep mischief away. If they had to be out in the night they would wear masks and costumes to fool the spirits so that they would not be molested.

Carved pumpkins called Jack-O'-Lanterns are placed on the doorstep to remind spirits of Jack-O'-Lantern and his plight. They do not want to be caught in between the worlds of the afterlife so they avoid any house that is protected by the Jack-O'-Lantern. 

Becky And The BB Gun

One year for Christmas two of my brothers received BB guns. In the 1950's it was almost a rite of passage for boys to get a gun of their own.

The boys drew targets on the corrugated fence in the chicken yard. They proceeded to take target practice. We could hear the ping ping of the bb's. 

At the time my sister was about 4 years old. Somehow the boys talked her into standing at the fence. She was wearing a little sunsuit like little girls used to wear. 

The boys began shooting at her!

She turned so her back was to them but she was not moving away. I do not know whether she was afraid to move or if they told her she had to stay. Either way they kept shooting.

Of course when we found her she was crying in pain. She had several bb's stuck just under the skin of her back. Mom removed them with tweezers. She recovered quickly.

Of course the boys were punished. And their guns were taken away until they were more mature.

It is only one of the reasons that I do not give weapons as gifts.

Where Are We?

We were looking for the place we wanted to be. We were not finding it and ended up not knowing where we were. My sister-in-law was close to hysteria. The rest of us just laughed. Mom was driving.

Now is the time to tell you that my mother easily got lost. It had been happening my whole life. She had absolutely no sense of direction. She said that she could be driving down a familiar road and all of a sudden the road "picked itself up and was going another direction."

As children we gave it no thought. We did not know that not everyone got lost sometimes. We looked at it as an adventure. We never knew what we would see.

To become not lost Mom would just keep driving. She felt she would find someplace she knew and would find her way then.

As I said we all thought it was a great adventure. I am certain it taught me not to panic, to enjoy the unexpected, and that things always work out.

So my poor sister-in-law was extremely upset. However when we found Gratiot Avenue even she had a good laugh.

Picture For The Teacher

 

I have told you before what a wonder my mother was. When I was a child I thought all mothers were as talented.

One year for Christmas at school each of us gave our teacher three little cakes. Mom had been saving 15- ounce vegetable cans. 

We each thoroughly scrubbed three cans inside and out. There was not a trace of what was inside the can nor was there a trace of the label or anything else on the outside. Then we completely greased the inside of each can. We set the cans standing up on a cookie sheet.

Mom made the cake batter. Can you imagine the mess if each of us made our own batter? She poured batter into one can of each group. Three different kinds of batter - white, chocolate, and spice. Into the oven they went.

After they baked and cooled Mom carefully removed the cakes from their cans onto a nice piece pf aluminum foil. We carefully rolled our cakes to look like little silvery logs. We twisted the ends much like a Tootsie Roll is twisted at the ends. A sweet little ribbon bow at each end our gifts for our teachers was wrapped. and ready for the school Christmas party.

We are not Native American. Along with family stories our DNA confirms it. However for much of her early life Mom lived on or near Reservations. Often she would be invited to school to tell about the way the Indians lived. She would answer questions too.

Mom taught herself to draw with help from John Nagy on television. She was so artistic. She learned how to make copies of pictures by making grids. She only did that for portraits. Everything else was freehand.

As you might have guessed she decided to give each of our teachers a charcoal portrait of themself. Mom used the school pictures our teachers gave us earlier in the year. she made a grid of small squares. On the 20x30 paper she drew the same number of squares only proportionately larger.

Naturally they turned out great. Each of our teachers received a portrait for Christmas that year.

 

Wonderful Neighbor

Neighbors are interesting creatures. Some are good, some are bad, and some are merely tolerable. I have had samples of all. Rather than give recognition to bad neighbors I will concentrate on some good ones.

My ex-husband was dying. He had cancer. His neighbor worked the night shift. Every morning when he got home from work he would stop in to check on his friend. He was the truest friend my husband had.

My oldest son was taking care of his father and the neighbor was nice to him too. My son was grateful that he was able to be with his father in his final days.

The neighbor was with my husband when he died. What a good friend.

I now live with my son in his father's house. The neighbor is still a caring neighbor.

My favorite neighbor lived at the end of our street in Tennessee. I was a woman in my middle twenties. I had two small children plus two babies. My husband was a truck driver so he was gone all week.

Our next door neighbor was this woman's daughter. She had a son the same age as my second son. In fact they had the same blonde hair and they were the same size. The woman at the end of the street took care of her grandson while her daughter worked in another town all week and some weekends

The woman had two older children still in school. Every morning when I drove my oldest son to school I also gave then a ride. When we got home my second son and the grandson ran down to the grandmother's house.

Every night for supper she made fresh cornbread. The boys had that for breakfast. They especially liked it when she made cracklin' bread. That is cornbread with pork cracklins' (sold as pork rinds) mixed in.

All the kids usually played at our house. I did not mind the noise. Or the mess. Several times when it was getting late the woman would come up and knock on the door. When my son would answer she would grab him and be halfway home before realizing she had the wrong child.

Often in early afternoon she would come to me and ask if she could take one of the babies for a while. She said she missed having a baby in the house. She took comfort from having a baby present. Even if it was only for a nap.

She was a wonderful and giving person. She gave me a bit of a break when I really needed one. I miss her even today.

I Am So Old That...

 I am so old that I:

remember when they added One Nation Under God to the Pledge of Allegiance

remember when they removed One Nation Under God from the Pledge of Allegiance

remember washing clothes with a wringer washer then hanging them out to dry on the clothesline

remember hula hoops being a new big thing

loved to climb a tree

remember can openers that were not much more than a pointed knife

remember that an electric mixer was a luxury

remember when girls had to wear dresses to school

remember volunteer fire departments

remember having only one television channel that went off the air at midnight

remember Sunday dinner

remember 3cent postage stamps

remember Steve Allen had both the early morning show and the late night show

remember Your Show of Shows

remember needing a bottle opener to open a bottle of pop

remember Your Hit Parade

remember the first show of Captain Kangaroo

remember Howdy Doody

remember pen pals

remember stirring and stirring fudge to make it firm

remember "church keys" that opened bottles and cans

remember going barefoot all summer

and so much more. What do you remember?