Tag: jack-o-lantern

Jack O’Lanterns: A Brief History

The term “jack-o’-lantern” was first applied to people, not pumpkins. As far back as 1663, the term meant a man with a lantern, or a night watchman. Just a decade or so later, it began to be used to refer to the mysterious lights sometimes seen at night over bogs, swamps, and marshes. The term …

by bmadmin

I remember, as a child, watching people carve Halloween pumpkins. It was a struggle to cut out the small triangular features with an unwieldy kitchen knife. We didn’t always manage to get the teeth going in the right direction, and some of these jack-o’-lanterns were decidedly more successful than others. Thankfully, there are now tool …