The practice of decorating jack-o-lanterns originated in Ireland. Before pumpkins became the familiar material, Irish people commonly hollowed out turnips, swedes, or other large root vegetables and carved frightening faces into them.
The custom is closely associated with the Irish folktale of Stingy Jack, a trickster who was denied entry to both Heaven and Hell. According to the legend, Jack was condemned to wander in darkness with only a burning coal inside a hollowed-out turnip to light his way. Carved lanterns were placed near homes or windows as part of Halloween traditions and as a way to frighten away spirits.
Irish and Scottish immigrants carried the custom to North America in the nineteenth century. There, pumpkins—native to the Americas, larger, softer, and easier to carve than turnips—gradually replaced root vegetables. That American adaptation is why modern jack-o-lanterns are usually orange pumpkins, even though the tradition’s commonly accepted origin is Irish. The name itself also has older links to “will-o’-the-wisp,” a mysterious marsh light in European folklore.