Jack-o'-lantern! Trim your light!
Fairies come and dance tonight!
Tripping, skipping on the green!
Merry be our Hallowe'en!
I do not know where this song came from. I have never heard anyone else sing it, and I can't find any reference to it anywhere. I would love to know its origin.
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| The guiding light of Jack-o'-lantern. |
It should be pointed out that the spelling is "Hallowe'en" and not "Halloween." The word "Hallowe'en" is short for Hallows' Evening, at least that is what Old Jack tells me, and I believe him. Now as you can imagine, Old Jack and the Jack-o'-lantern (Jack of the lantern) are related, Jack being a family name and all. An old Irish story says that Jack tricked the Devil into climbing a tree and then put the sign of the cross on the bark so he couldn't come down. Jack eventually let him go but only with the promise that the Devil would never claim his soul. Then Jack went and lived a life of sheer debauchery. When he died, heaven didn't want and hell couldn't claim him, so the Devil angrily tossed a hot coal at Jack, which Jack put in a hollowed-out turnip so it wouldn't go out. Ever since then, Jack has been looking for a place to rest. This is why you see him at night, roaming and searching.
Now, Old Jack is not nearly as naughty as Jack-o'-lantern, but he does have his peculiarities and finds himself in many of my stories here on In Pursuit of Maine. If you have been reading my journal, you will be familiar with him. Between the two of them, I'd say Old Jack was cleverer. He loses his stuffing sometimes, but he'd never waste his time on a deal with the Devil because he clearly owns his own soul.
Happy Hallowe'en!
