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Reflections October 2013

Life Is for Living

They Smile Right Back at Me

By Neil Wyrick

And yes, there are happy jack-o-lanterns as well as those designed to scare the bejeebers out of you. I guess you could say that when they began to leave the fields they face an identity crisis.

It's Halloween time and little people will soon come knocking at my door yelling "trick or treat." And I'll give out candy and they will give me back smiles —  and that warm and fuzzy feeling will be alive and well.

Meanwhile my windows will have been smiling at them as they come up my walkway and one or two will cry out "jack-o-lanterns."

And between the little witches and dancing costumes of so many varieties, I will have one more reason to have a love affair with fall.

I like pumpkins because they are so yellow and bright and make even the drabbest of fields come alive. And so many of them seem ready to break into a smile, which as jack-o-lanterns they will soon most certainly do.

They eventually end up with different destinies – some as delicious pies and others jack-o-lanterns. And yes, there are happy jack-o-lanterns as well as those designed to scare the bejeebers out of you. I guess you could say that when they began to leave the fields they face an identity crisis.

Jack-o-lanterns. How did they get started?

Well, the whole idea grew out of an old Irish myth about a man named "Stingy Jack." According to legend, Stingy Jack invited the devil to have a drink with him but didn't want to pay for the drinks.

Therefore, in a burst of creativity he convinced the devil to turn himself into a coin. But then, Stingy Jack, true to his nature decided instead to keep the coin and put it in his pocket next to a silver cross which prevented the devil from changing back into his original self.

Jack did eventually give the devil back his freedom but only after he had elicited from him the promise that he would not bother him for a year, and that if Jack should die, he would not claim his soul.

The next year Jack tricked the devil into climbing up into a tree and then carved a cross in the tree so the devil could not climb back down. That is, until he promised Jack he would not bother him for ten more years.

Soon afterwards Jack died, but God would not allow such an unsavory character into heaven. And the devil keeping his promise not to claim his soul, would not let him into hell either.  Jack was now a man without a place to reside and was sent out into the utter darkness with only a burning coal to light his way. In an oft-repeated ending to this story Jack continues to roam the world inside a turnip with a burning coal beside him.

So in Ireland and Scotland they began to make not smiling pumpkins, but scary renditions of the vehicle in which Stingy Jack continues to live.

So whether it is pumpkins in America, or in England even large beets, it is like all traditions as work in progress. And as for me and my optimistic house, I'll take a smiling pumpkin any day.

 

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