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Posts Tagged ‘traditions’

The Origin o’ the Jack-o’-lantern   

Thursday, October 28th, 2021
Jack-o'-lanterns are hollowed-out pumpkins with a face cut into one side. Most jack-o'-lanterns contain a candle or some other light. Many people display jack-o'-lanterns on Halloween. Art Explosion

Jack-o’-lanterns are hollowed-out pumpkins with a face cut into one side. Most jack-o’-lanterns contain a candle or some other light. Many people display jack-o’-lanterns on Halloween.
Art Explosion

Pumpkins with toothy smiles on porches are a tell-tale sign of autumn and a common decoration for Halloween. Pumpkins transform into jack-o’-lanterns when the seeds are scraped out, faces are carved into the fruit on one side, and a candle or other light is set inside the pumpkin. Why do we hollow out these fruits and set them outside to rot? Why do we call them jack-o’-lanterns? While jack-o’-lanterns have become a well-known tradition, the origin of the jack-o’-lantern is still disputed (argued). 

Irish folklore features a story about a man named Stingy Jack. Stingy Jack makes several deals with the devil, including that the devil cannot claim his soul when he dies. After years of tricking the devil, Stingy Jack dies. Heaven rejects him and the devil maintains his word and does not accept him in hell either. Stingy Jack is given one piece of coal which he puts in a carved-out turnip to light his way as he wanders the land forever.

Many people in Ireland believed they saw Stingy Jack when they saw ghost lights, or ignis fatuus, at night. Ignis fatuus, also known as foolish fire, jack-o’-lantern, and will-o’-the-wisp, is a phenomenon where decaying plants in marshes (swamps) produce methane and other compounds which burn and emit a blue glow. This process is called oxidation. People said ignis fatuus was Stingy Jack walking through the night. The term Jack of the lantern was shortened to jack-o’-lantern over time. The story of Stingy Jack explains ignis fatuus just like many myths and folktales explain natural phenomena. 

On Halloween, many people decorate their homes with jack-o'-lanterns, hollowed-out pumpkins with a face cut into one side. A candle or other light illuminates the face from within, as seen in this photograph. © V. J. Matthew, Shutterstock

On Halloween, many people decorate their homes with jack-o’-lanterns, hollowed-out pumpkins with a face cut into one side. A candle or other light illuminates the face from within, as seen in this photograph.
© V. J. Matthew, Shutterstock

In Ireland and Scotland, people began carving faces into turnips and potatoes. They would set them in windows and outside houses to ward off Stingy Jack and other ghosts. In England, people often used beets. These root vegetables with ghoulish faces are usually set out on All Hallow’s Eve. All Hallow’s Eve was eventually shortened to Halloween. Halloween developed from a Celtic festival over 2,000 years ago in the area that is now the United Kingdom, Ireland, and northwestern France. The festival was called Samhain, which means summer’s end. It was celebrated around November 1. In the 800′s, the Christian church established All Saints’ Day on this date. All Saints’ Day was also called All Hallows’. Hallow means saint, or one who is holy.

When many Irish immigrants established themselves in the United States, they brought along the tradition of jack-o’-lanterns. Seeing there were not as many turnips in the United States as there were in Ireland, pumpkins quickly became a perfect alternative for the tradition. Jack-o’-lanterns were also popularized by Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1848), in which a headless horseman throws a pumpkin at a man who believes the pumpkin is the horseman’s head. Now jack-o’-lanterns are illuminated on Halloween, the last night of October, continuing a long tradition of warding off ghosts in festive, fall fashion. 

Tags: all hallows, folklore, halloween, holidays, jack-o'-lantern, pumpkin carving, stingy jack, traditions
Posted in Current Events, Holidays/Celebrations | Comments Off

Happy Year of the Ox!

Thursday, February 11th, 2021
Stuffed toys in a Chinatown market celebrate the Chinese year of the ox. Credit: © lennykaiser, Shutterstock

Stuffed toys in a Chinatown market celebrate the Chinese year of the ox.
Credit: © lennykaiser, Shutterstock

Friday, February 12, marks the first day of the Chinese New Year, the most important festival of the Chinese calendar. The date of the Chinese New Year is based on the cycles of the moon. It begins each year between January 21 and February 20. In ancient China, the monthlong festival marked the end of one farming season and the beginning of a new one. Today, the Chinese New Year festival usually lasts only a few days.

One important part of Chinese New Year is the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese zodiac, also called the Eastern zodiac, is a cycle of 12 animal signs used in a system of astrology practiced in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and some other Asian countries. This system assigns an animal sign to represent each lunar year. A lunar year is a year measured by tracking phases of the moon, rather than changes in the sun’s position in the sky. Each animal sign represents an entire year, and the cycle repeats every 12 years. The 12 animal signs are, in order, the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit (or hare), dragon, snake, horse, goat (or sheep), monkey, rooster, dog, and pig (or boar). The year that begins in 2021 is the year of the ox.

Chinese people prepare for the new year by thoroughly cleaning and decorating the house. Decorations include spring couplets, red paper scrolls with phrases praising the renewal of life and the return of spring.

Family reunions are an important part of the celebration. Family members join in a festive New Year’s Eve dinner. Places are set at the table for absent family members to symbolize the unity of the family. Special foods that symbolize good fortune for the new year are served. For example, rice cakes, called nian gao, are a popular food for New Year’s Eve dinners. The Chinese word nian means year, and gao means high. This food signifies achievement in the new year. Children bow to their parents and grandparents to wish them a long life. Gifts of money in red envelopes are given to children to wish them luck and wealth in the new year.

On New Year’s Day, people visit relatives, neighbors, and friends. Dances featuring colorful dragon and lion costumes are often performed on this day. Parades are a popular New Year’s custom among Chinese communities in the United States and Canada.

However, like so many holidays this past year, Chinese New Year might look different than in years past. In many places, efforts are being made to prevent the spread of the pandemic (global outbreak) of the coronavirus disease COVID-19. Such efforts often include social distancing, meant to limit contact among people and thus the spread of germs. But, limiting the spread of germs doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the holiday!

One socially distant way to enjoy the holiday is to have a virtual cooking class with family and friends. You can make such foods as dumplings or nian gao. Both delicious dishes are traditional lunar New Year foods! To create a festive environment in which to eat your traditional foods, you can make paper lanterns and dragons for the table.

If you must visit friends or relatives, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer before and after greeting others. Wearing a protective face mask when not eating can help prevent the spread of disease. However you choose to celebrate, we hope you have a safe and fun New Year!

Tags: celebrations, chinese new year, chinese zodiac, lunar calendar, traditions, year of the ox
Posted in Ancient People, Current Events, Food, Holidays/Celebrations | Comments Off

Groundhog Day

Friday, February 2nd, 2018

February 2, 2018

Today, February 2, is Groundhog Day, a United States tradition that supposedly predicts when spring will arrive. According to legend, the groundhog, also called the woodchuck, awakens from winter sleep on February 2 and emerges from its burrow. Winter sleep is a state of reduced activity similar to hibernation. If the sun is shining that day and the groundhog sees its shadow, it will be scared back into its den, and there will be six more weeks of winter. But if it is cloudy and the groundhog does not see its shadow, it will come out, and spring will arrive soon. The groundhog belongs to a group of rodents, or gnawing mammals, known as marmots. Groundhogs live in parts of Canada and the United States.

The woodchuck is a burrowing rodent with a chunky body. The woodchuck in this photograph has reddish-brown hair with pale gray tips. An adult woodchuck measures about 18 to 26 inches (46 to 66 centimeters) long, including the bushy tail. Credit: © Leonard Lee Rue III, Tom Stack & Assoc.

The groundhog, also called a woodchuck, is a burrowing rodent with a chunky body. Credit: © Leonard Lee Rue III, Tom Stack & Assoc.

For hundreds of years, European farmers had similar traditions that involved bears, badgers, and other animals. Germans who settled in Pennsylvania brought the custom to America. The groundhog, which is plentiful in the eastern and Midwestern United States, became linked with the custom. Today, Groundhog Day is treated largely as a joke. But the custom is partly based on ancient and traditional weather signs. People have long looked to the awakening of hibernating animals as one of the first signs of spring.

In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, a groundhog named Phil has been the nation’s official spring prognosticator (predictor) since 1887. The celebration has become a media event, and it draws a crowd of thousands. According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, Phil’s full name is “Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators and Weather Prophet Extraordinary.” Except for Groundhog Day and other special occasions, Phil lives in a climate-controlled habitat at the Punxsutawney Library. Phil starred alongside Bill Murray in the 1993 comedy film Groundhog Day.

So what happened this morning in Punxsutawney? Phil saw his shadow, so keep the snow shovels handy.

Tags: groundhog, groundhog day, traditions, woodchuck
Posted in Animals, Current Events, Holidays/Celebrations, People, Weather | Comments Off

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