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Why Do We Carve Jack-O-Lanterns for Halloween?

Posted on September 1, 2007

Jack o lanternHave you ever wondered where we got the idea to carve Jack-O-Lanterns for Halloween? The tradition actually came to us from Irish/Celtic mythology. This particular legend had to do with a man known as Stingy Jack.

Stingy Jack made a deal with the Devil that left him in a bad situation upon his death. Stingy Jack was unable to enter either Heaven or Hell and so was doomed to spend eternity in between.

In the beginning  jack-o-lanterns were carved mainly from turnips, but the Irish also used gourds, potatoes, rutabagas and even beets.

Read more about Stingy Jack and how the legends developed into the Jack-O-Lantern along with lots of other fascinating information about the origins of Halloween:

The History and Origins of Halloween

//www.trueghosttales.com/history-halloween.php




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Comments

2 Responses to “Why Do We Carve Jack-O-Lanterns for Halloween?”
  1. Adhinferno says:

    A room with many doors…. Do you have many problems in your life? If that so, the doors may represents each solution, a way to get out from your problems. But, I still don’t know why only Green door that change it’s color. Have you ever try to open the doors? One by one, until all colors have been opened?
    Green has the meaning of eternity, family, harmony, health, peace and posterity. The natural greens, from forest to lime, are seen as tranquil and refreshing, with a natural balance of cool and warm (blue and yellow) undertones. Green is considered as the color of peace and ecology. However, there is an “institutional” side to green, associated with illness or Government-issued that conjure up negative emotions as do the “slimy” or bilious greens.I hope this information can help you a bit.

  2. siddle says:

    Well….I’m kind of hoping that it has to do with Chakras. I have a buddy that I’ve been working with to try and gain proficiency in hyper-lucid dreaming (co-dreaming). He is much better at astral projection and remote viewing then I am, so I set up a few experiments for when he attempts lucidity. I have asked him to meditate, and therefore invoke a lucid dream, then to look for specific coloured doors. I actually found this post because my friend finally walked through the green door last night. With all due respect to those who believe there is a legend for dreaming (ie “flying” means you are running from something or similar Freudian BS ), there is a lot more to the dream world then humans will ever admit. It’s not about the normal, every day problems and activities….those seem to be handled by consciousness rather well and don’t need to be more cryptic. So why would subconsciousness care about such dream images? Why would it care enough to nudge consciousness into dream lucidity? I think dreams are translations of spiritual/quantum information. Look into reincarnation and lucid dreaming. Other then that…I recommend starting in the red door, and only note what it changes to. I highly recommend a dream journal too.
    one last thing: if this is recurring, then you need to become comfortable and even joyous about the dream. You need to maintain emotions and start walking through doors. Your higher-self seems to have a message. That’s ALWAYS been the case with my recurring dreams. Once I learn the lesson….I don’t (sometimes, can’t) ever come back.

  3. Ama says:

    Hi guys,

    Green is about heart energy, all that Adhinferno says, and unconditional love (which is also seen as pink). To me the green door changing colour .. you don’t say what colour it changes to .. is about the necessity to reach your own heart .. which might be blocked by pain or fear. The colour the door changes too would also be important in working out what the emotion was.

    I agree with Siddle that dreams are about more than just our daily lives, but they are also about our daily lives. Some of us just have very unusual lives. LOL And its not that we can’t admit that dreams are more interesting .. its because most people don’t know. Most people only remember very usual types of dreams .. but as the world energy changes, so too have the dreams, and dreams states. We are supposed to be opening up to a greater awareness .. but some people fight this. They can only manage the ‘usual’, not the unusual.

    Love & Peace
    Ama

  4. LunaTerra says:

    @Ama
    I couldn’t agree more!! Dreams are both our subconscious mind working out our daily life issues and metaphysical/spiritual. Dreams can mean many things; I once had a dream about a house, which is translated as a new beginning. There was also my most vivid dream where I was on an island with a blonde robed woman, an erupting volcano behind me, an ocean in front of me and a gust of wind swept me off my feet and over the water. The robed woman said to me, “Aim towards land!! Aim towards land!!” In this dream, the colors were so vivid that I cannot describe it to you fully; the dream was so powerful, as if I was living it, and I believe I was.You see, I believe that I astral projected, as we often do when we sleep, back Home, to recieve a message from my Spirit Guide(The blonde robed woman) All four elements were represented in the dream; earth(the groud I was standing on, and what I needed to return to), air(what I was swept away by!), fire,(the erupting volcano in the background) and water, (what I was swept up over by the wind). Earth represents stability, air represents whimsy or “flights” of fancy, fire represents passion, and water represents emotion. The message my Spirit Guide was giving me was a personal one, to keep my feet on the ground and not to get swept up by my emotions. So, you see, dreams can have many meanings, and sometimes, dreams are not dreams at all, but our astral journeys Home. :)

  5. manss says:

    At first I wished you have chosen a name for yourself which I called you .Then I must tell you I had a prophetic book that became old and disconnected all of its paper and as I didn’t use it later don’t know what happened for it.since I fund this good paranormal website saw some authors have some dreams which wishes to understand those means so I decided to find another sample of that book to comment such as these dreams.I know one my acquaintance’s daughter has the same book I’m going to take it soon, so wait please……. I shall interpret your dream according to reality erelong because I remember once I had seen about means of colors and door in the dream in the book ( separately )

  6. siddle says:

    I will make that correction: Ama, I believe you are right. I didn’t convey that thought very well– I’m definitely not saying that some of the information in the dreamscape ISN’T from our daily lives, I just find that material to be less cryptic in dreams then it does for most. In all honesty, I usually become instantly lucid in a dream if I DO see stuff from my day in reality. It doesn’t happen much for me. But you are right, it doesn’t mean that some people don’t dream more about their day. I suppose it might have to do with how much you are committed to a specific idea when it comes to dreams, as I still believe we are mostly dealing with conscious translation. My first lucid dream was at about 7 years of age, so there might be something to that as well. I’m fully ingrained in the dream reality.

    BTW: Not to get cheesy here, but still having a gas with the door dreams conversation. Also started to find a lot of commonalities in some of the dream-landscape between my friend and I (perhaps soul group connection). So, I for one love this thread and would be interested to keep discussing if everyone else is.

    With that said, I’ll throw this out: Anyone else have recurring locations in dreams (lucid, vivid or fragmented)? The poster has got me thinking about recurring locations. I go to either a very large city (sometimes futuristic, sometimes dystopian) or a compound in the country. ALL of my dreams have been based in these two locations for about the past 6 years now. In the center of the city is a huge monolithic building (same in the compound, but much smaller). It is living quarters, a mall, a school and a hospital from what i can tell. Anyone else ever been here?
    (and sorry for the long post, everyone!)

  7. Ama says:

    Hi Siddle,

    I used to say I didn’t dream much at all, then I had anesthetic a few months ago, and started dreaming all sorts of weird stuff .. now it seems to have worn off again, and I’ve gone back to ‘not knowing’ my dreams – except the very vivid ones with really clear messages in them – and the mornings I wake feeling like I have been hit by a truck.

    Of your dreaming, I would be asking myself – what does the site of my dream mean to me? And what happens when you are there? What are the constantly repeating themes? Are you always with the same people? You might not be ‘dreaming’, you might be astral travelling.

    And you didn’t write a long post .. I write longer. LOL

    Love & Peace
    Ama

  8. siddle says:

    Ama,
    No repeating themes really. I mean, I have an apartment and a room in the central building (I have a lot of the city mapped out). I will that….it doesn’t really repeat unless I make it repeat.
    The Central Building is a place of healing, fellowship and learning ( I have NO control over it’s existence). It is here, where I believe I have met my guide(s). Other then that, there are a LOT of people that I don’t recognize. I tend to talk to them the most (when I’m not lucid) and they usually are as surprised to be there as I am.
    Other then that, nothing really “repeats” (especially not the part of the city I start in each night) simply go back to places I choose to once I’m there.

    So the only thing I’m really questioning here is why the city? Why a recurring location?
    I’m trying to ask more questions of the dream figures I meet. The only connection to the site I have is that it was the site of one of my first lucid dreams (that I remember and recorded when I was very young). So I’m probably going there a lot on purpose…perhaps the city makes sense to me.

    For your dreams, I would ask (rather, state as I don’t wish to get too personal): If I have been on medication post-surgery, this usually disconnects me from dream reality a bit. I recommend being on as natural of a diet as possible (understand that’s easier said then done based on medical need ). No synthetic meds if possible….lots of veggies, anything to allow freer flow of Dimethyltryptamine (some vegetable pills like choline Bitartrate help produce more vivid/lucid dreams if taken regularly). And my last one is apparently harsh for a lot of folks, but don’t drink. I understand it’s social properties, but if you are a regular drinker (even 1-2 beers/glasses of wine a night) you can have a LOT more issues remembering dreams (how it works for me, anyway).

  9. Ama says:

    Hi Siddle,

    Good eating, healthy foods and very fresh, ticked .. including chocolate. LOL No more drugs (medical, never touched the illegal stuff) .. without a very good reason. I had a lot of painkillers, and now I try and keep it all very simple.

    I don’t find the ‘no alcohol’ rule harsh. I am allergic to alcohol and have only drunk it once by choice, and twice because some idiots spiked my drinks. The repercussions are simply not worth it.

    I very seldom remember my dreams – only if they have important, and easily discernible messages in them – though the symbolic language can be quite complicated at times .. the messages never are. I ‘work’ in my sleep – going out of my body and doing all sorts of odd things – sometimes leads to bruises, and very sore muscles .. but its worth it.

    I don’t really need to dream, the real world can take on a dreamlike quality all by itself. LOL

    Wishing you a lovely day,
    Love & Peace
    Ama

  10. siddle says:

    Oh, Ama, I like you! You are a good soul….I can tell by your words, and words carry great meaning. You appear to be operating at very high frequencies. :)
    I have been needing to start a couple threads/questions….I can tell they will require your expertise! You sound like you know a thing or ten about AP/OBE. I could use your guidance. This is one area I’ve very recently taken an interest. I have two friends that can do it at will. I have had experiences with separation from body, but nothing I can maintain. I bump myself out of stuff like that….a product of my upbringing that I’ve been fighting for a while (more, realigning perception by reorganizing conscious filters)

    The city may be an astral journey for me…I won’t get into the long story, but I had my clearest most lucid visit to the city the other night, and right before that, it felt very much like my friends’ explanations of astral projection.

    But I would love to travel in reality as well (remote view, project,…the language is still new to me, so pardon ignorance). My biggest problem in any of this is “patience is a virtue”, and I’ve not always gotten along with virtues. :)

    Have a great day!

  11. Ama says:

    LOL I like you too Siddle.

    See you on other question sites.

    Love & peace
    Ama (still learning patience. LOL)

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