How did pumpkins and witches become major Halloween symbols in America? The RTL correspondent in the United States returns to this very popular tradition.
Wherever you go in the United States, Halloween is everywhere: in home decorations, in supermarkets, in children's costumes. A tradition imported from Ireland and which has since become widespread, becoming an integral part of American popular culture with its unmistakable pumpkin-lanterns: the Jack-o'-lantern.
One of the most widespread legends tells that a blacksmith named Jack, who had a penchant for alcohol and deceit, had cheated the devil twice, when they had made a deal: his soul for money. money and 10 years of his life. Upon his death, Jack was denied access to heaven (because of his dissolute life) and hell (he played a trick on the devil) . He found himself stuck between two worlds. But the devil still gave him a coal ember to light his turnip lantern.
With Irish immigration to the United States in the mid-19th century , turnips were replaced by locally found pumpkins. Orange cucurbits quickly became the main symbol of Halloween, first in the countryside and then throughout the United States, from the beginning of the 20th century.
The Witches of Salem...
The other symbol is the witches. As these were associated with darkness and were, still according to legend, able to communicate with the dead, even the devil, they were associated with this period which also marks the transition to winter, with the days that shorten. Less light, so more darkness...
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