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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

The legend of Jack o’ Lanterns

As trees begin shedding their leaves, the foliage indicates it is autumn and almost time for Halloween. Costume parties, candy, trick-or-treating and, of course, pumpkins, all come to mind. Lots and lots of pumpkins and Jack o’ Lanterns.

Pumpkin picking is a seasonal tradition that starts in October and continues through Thanksgiving. October 31 is the day of the annual crop harvest, in which Celtics in Britain, France and Ireland made preparations for the upcoming winter as far back as the seventh century, according to the Web site jack-o-lantern.com, dedicated to the history of Jack o’ Lanterns.

The legend of Jack o’ Lanterns, according to the Web site, all started with an Irish blacksmith named Jack, who ran into the Devil while drinking at a local Irish pub. Jack ran out of money but still wanted one last drink, so he made a deal with the Devil. After Jack agreed to trade his soul for money to purchase a beer, the Devil changed himself into a sixpence to purchase Jack’s wish. Realizing what he had done, Jack quickly put the sixpence in his pocket instead of paying the bartender and walked out of the bar.

The Devil could not change back to his original form because Jack had a cross in his pocket, according to the legend. Jack kept the Devil in his pocket until the Devil finally promised not to claim Jack’s soul for at least another 10 years.

Ten years later Jack ran into the Devil while he was promenading on a country road. Angry and resentful of the trick Jack played on him ten years ago, the Devil wanted Jack’s soul once again.

But Jack, a smart Irish lad, thought of another way to slip through the hands of the cunning Devil. Before the Devil claimed his soul, Jack asked him to get an apple from the top of a tree a little ways off the road. The Devil obliged, and climbed the tree. Hastily, Jack pulled out his knife and carved a cross on the tree’s bark. Again, the Devil was helpless and could not claim Jack’s soul.

When Jack died some years later, he was not admitted into Heaven because of his sinful life filled with drinking and partying. He was also turned away from Hell because the Devil refused to try to take his soul again.

Jack was then left to wander eternal darkness until Judgment Day, but was given a fiery ember from the Devil to light his way. Jack carved a turnip and put the ember in it, so that the wind would not blow out his fire. The turnip was eventually replaced with the pumpkin – beginning the Halloween tradition of carving pumpkins and putting a light in them to create Jack o’ Lanterns.

Many pumpkin patches in D.C.-area celebrate this Halloween tradition in honor of Jack.

Cox Farm, in Centreville, Va., provides a multitude of Halloween activities. Advertising fun for all ages, Cox farm is open to the public seven days a week throughout October. The farm features live entertainment – usually a local country music band – hayrides, slides, swings, cider, farm animals and a pumpkin patch. Admission is $6 on weekdays and $8 on weekends, when the farm hosts festivals. Weekends also include free popcorn, an additional stage with more live entertainment, a cow show, face painting and pony rides.

Fairfax, Va., resident Babs Godoy said he goes to Cox Farms every year.

I love it, Godoy said. It’s a great way to spend the weekend, and the kids love it, too.

Her family comes to see the cow show, enjoy the hayride and pony rides, and pick pumpkins for Halloween.

Another local at Cox Farms said she takes her children every year to have fun on the farm. Although she said she thinks that Cox Farms is more geared to attracting families and children, for college students, it would be a cute place to bring a date or just have a picnic with a bunch of friends, she said.

With hay, apples, pumpkins and trees with leaves that are beginning to change colors, the farm has set the mood in October for Halloween. Soon, carved and painted pumpkins will sit in front of every doorstep in honor of the legend of Jack the Irishman.

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