Why pumpkins are the symbol of Halloween?
Meet the legend that included this popular vegetable in the celebration
In the United States is impossible to imagine a festival of Halloween without pumpkins. Scary faces carved vegetables and bright inside. Fashion and tradition have made this an increasingly universal.
However, you ever wonder why this pumpkin is a symbol of "Halloween." Here's the answer: the curious story comes from Ireland, a place where the celebration was born.
The hero of this legend is called Jack, a farmer who used cheap and liar cheat their neighbors. One day the devil was to find Jack with the firm intention to take his soul. However, the farmer managed to trick him and get him. In exchange for his freedom the devil promised that "never again look for."
After several years, Jack died but was rejected in the sky and go to
hell the devil would not receive him, and condemned to wander the dark
ways of purgatory.
Before leaving, Jack asked one last favor: a light that can light your way. So the devil gave him an ember that would never burn. The farmer took one of the turnips he had in his bag, he made a hole and put the ember inside the tubers.
Since then it became popular in Ireland in the history of Jack of the
Lantern (Jack, the lantern) and was linked to the celebrations of
Samhain, Celtic festival that marked the transition (the transition from
one year to another) opening the other world.
With the arrival of Irish immigrants to the United States, the celebration became prominent and became a tradition. However, the absence of a planting turnips or beets, but an excess of pumpkins, the Americans decided to change it.
