These are some gifts that my wonderful friends at Ladies of the Myst
have given me
Thank you Lady Butterfly
Thank you Lady Almathea
Thank you Lady Maiden
The Legend of Halloween
In Ireland, where Halloween began, the first jack-o'-lanterns weren't made of pumpkins.
They were made out of rutabagas, potatoes, turnips, or even beets. There is an old Irish
legend about a man named Stingy Jack who was too mean to get into heaven and had played
too many tricks on the devil to go to hell. When he died, he had to walk the earth,
carrying a lantern made out of a turnip with a burning coal inside.
Stingy jack became known as "Jack of the Lantern," or "Jack-o'-lantern."
From this legend came the Irish tradition of placing jack-o'-lanterns made of turnips and
other vegetables in windows or by doors on Halloween. The jack-o'-lanterns are meant to
scare away Stingy Jack and all the other spirits that are said to walk the earth on that
night. It wasn't until the tradition was brought to the United States by immigrants that
pumpkins were used for jack-o'-lanterns.
Background designed by PeaceFairie
Artwork by Meilin Wong