Folklore and History
Folklore and HistoryWhy the jack-o'-lantern is a pumpkin: a legend
Why the jack-o'-lantern is a pumpkin | it wasn't always a pumpkin (Irish turnips, radishes, beets, and potatoes), the lantern in the legend (Stingy Jack hollowed out a turnip, hellfire), the Irish carved turnips to scare wandering spirits (scary faces at the door), then came to America (19th-century Irish immigrants, swapping turnips for pumpkins), pumpkin's natural advantages (big, round, soft, bright orange, easy to carve and hold a light), name unchanged (Jack-o'-lantern: the container changed but the legend didn't)
The Headless Horseman: From Folklore to a Halloween Classic
The Headless Horseman Legend | Before Irving: Europe's "headless riders" (Ireland's Dullahan, associated with omens of death), in 1820 Irving wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (The Sketch Book, New York's Hudson Valley), the Headless Horseman's backstory (a Hessian soldier whose head was blown off by a cannonball in the Revolutionary War, searching for his head at night), Ichabod Crane being chased (the bridge and church, the thrown "head" is actually a pumpkin), and why it became a Halloween classic (autumn atmosphere, pumpkin imagery, costumes and decorations)
The origin of the Bloody Mary legend: mirrors, darkness, and the name you say three times
Bloody Mary legend origin | how to play the ritual (turn off the lights, say the name, go in small groups), the most frequently mentioned historical prototype (Mary I of England, burned around 300 Protestants, the nickname really existed), another account (Mary Worth, North American witch), other versions (Elizabeth Báthory), how folklorists view it (1970s written accounts, ancient mirror divination tradition, legend trip), why Mary and the mirror (the rhythm of the name, medieval mirror superstition)
The Legend of the Black Cat and the Moon: That Halloween Silhouette Is Actually Quite Old
Black Cat and Moon Legend | Friend of the Night (nocturnal cats, moonlight silhouettes, glowing eyes), ancient Egyptian cat goddess Bastet (associated with the moon, guardian of the family, killing a cat was a grave crime, souls of the dead became black cats), cat eyes are roundest under a full moon (compared to a being that brings light), from witch's cat to Halloween symbol, black cat + moon silhouette became a classic (decorations, costumes, the most iconic Halloween image)