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Jack-o’-Lanterns Began With Root Vegetables
Jack-o’-lanterns began with produce that was considerably less cooperative. Irish Halloween traditions used carved turnips and other root vegetables to ward off Stingy Jack; immigrants in America found pumpkins larger, plentiful and mercifully easier to hollow.
Jack-o’-lantern history
When: Halloween, October 31
Earlier material: Turnips and other root vegetables
American adaptation: Pumpkins, beginning in the mid-1800s
History: Smithsonian Gardens
The name grew from Irish folklore about strange lights associated with Stingy Jack. If tonight’s carving went smoothly, thank the pumpkin for being the user-friendly redesign.
