Opposites

Since Easter and Halloween are roughly holiday opposites,one being about rebirth and the other being about death,I decided I would write a Halloween related post for today in keeping with my contrary nature. Eggs and bunnies are associated with Easter as symbols of rebirth,there are many symbols of Halloween but for today we are just going to explore the jack-o'-lantern. Jack-o'-lantern is British in origin,literally meaning "man with a lantern" or night watchman. It was also used to describe fools fire or will o'wisp,the lights sometimes seen over wetlands. Over time jack-o'-lantern was the name given to turnip lanterns made by scooping out the inside of a turnip,carving a face on the shell and placing a candle inside. Catholic children would carry the lanterns door to door asking for soul cakes on Hallowmas. It wasn't until Irish immigrants brought the custom to North America in the mid 19th century that the more available pumpkin was used for carving a jack-o'-lantern.
Happy Easter!