As you gear up for Halloween, you and the kids in your life may have already found the perfect pumpkin. Perhaps you’re considering a decorative autumnal spread or brainstorming ways to carve up the scariest, funniest, or most intricate jack-o’-lantern yet. You’ll find many intriguing Halloween-themed items on the Library of Congress website that might inspire you as you embark on your decorated or carved creations.
Perhaps your family has wondered where the Halloween carving tradition comes from. Some research into the Library’s collections yields some insight. A blog post published by the American Folklife Center linked to an abbreviated essay, “Halloween: The Fantasy and Folklore of All Hallows”, written by professor and folklorist Jack Santino, as well as the full lecture he delivered on the topic at the Library of Congress in 1982. In both, Santino discusses the Celtic origins of Halloween—including the tradition of Samhain, a harvest festival that included the carving of vegetables and also coincided with a period to acknowledge the dead and stave off wayward spirits—and the evolution of the holiday, as a result of Christian religious influence. In his lecture (available via the link above), Santino elaborates on the vegetable carving tradition (listen around 18:59), and continues with a retelling of “The Story of Jack O’Lantern” (listen between 19:56-24:30). This tragic legend suggests an explanation for how the concept of the jack-o’-lantern came to be – essentially, serving as a lighting source for roaming spirits.