Samhain is one of its four main Festival dates of the Celtic calendar. Samhain is the last of the harvest; thus, the end of the year in many ways for the ancient Celts as they prepared for the winter darkness. The end of the cycle of life was acknowledged at this time, too. Like the Mexican Day of the Dead, this holiday is a time to celebrate those who have passed on and to welcome the spirits of loved ones to visit on this day “when the veil is thinnest”.

Most of our Halloween traditions stem from Samhain. My table is prepared for my hybrid Celtic-American celebration. Although I haven’t carved a pumpkin in years, the Jack O’Lantern is my  favorite of all the traditions we have borrowed for modern Halloween festivities.  

There are varying stories about the origin of Jack O’Lanterns, all rooted in Celtic legend. We will highlight three, since three is a Celtic magic number.

Folklore, such as the stories collected by W.B. Yeats, tell of children and adults carrying a Jack O’Lantern as they walked from house to house on Samhain. It was meant to light the way but also to scare away evil spirits and the elementals that were up to no good on this night of trickery and magic. There is a specific story of a blacksmith (named guess-who by some accounts) who made a pact with the devil. He had only a turnip and a coal from the fire when he did so. In some versions, Stingy Jack and his lit turnip were cursed to walk the earth of Samhain for eternity.

There were no pumpkins in Celtic lands in olden days, so these lanterns were made of turnips or other root vegetables. Many were particularly carved to look mean and spooky. Some looked like the ancient masks found in museums. The idea of smiley-faced pumpkins came much later.

Another origin story comes from the fact that lamp lighters were an important aspect of daily life before electricity. The lantern lighters appeared at every dawn and twilight and thus heralded in the magic times each day, especially important on Samhain. Thus the name Jack O’Lantern.

And a less fun but certainly ghoulish version is related to swamp gas or emanations of light from grave yards and other “ripe” places where decay created ghost-like lights. These were actually given the name “will o’ the wisps”. The light within the Jack O’Lanterns often spooked walkers who unwittingly thought they were seeing ghosts rise up from the graveyard.

Whatever your plans for Halloween or Samhain, may you have a great holiday.