Folklore: Jack-o-lantern

02 Nov 09 - 10:58 PM (#2758417)
Subject: RE: Folklore: Jack-o-lantern
From: open mike

I thought st. Elmo's fire was like spontaneous combustion..
as in a buddhist monk bursting into flames...

or like foxfire...the glowing swamp gas phenomenon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxfire_(bioluminescence)

more on will o the wisp here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_o%27_the_wisp

i thought it was a type of bird...oh, yes, whipoorwill...

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02 Nov 09 - 11:56 PM (#2758428)
Subject: RE: Folklore: Jack-o-lantern
From: Jim Dixon

When I searched for the older spelling lanthorn, I found some older examples:

Ignis-Fatuus, is a certain Meteor that appears chiefly in Summer Nights, for the most part frequenting Church Yards, Meadows, and Bogs, and consists of a somewhat viscous Substance or fat Exhalation, which being kindled in the Air, reflects a kind of thin Flame, yet without any sensible heat. This Meteor is called by the common People, Will of the Wisp, or Jack with a Lanthorn. ...
Will with a wisp or Jack in a Lanthorn, a fiery Meteor, or Exhalation that appears in the Night, commonly haunting Church-yards, Marshy and Fenny Places, as being evaporated out of a fat Soil; it also flies about Rivers, Hedges, &c.
—Glossographia Anglicana Nova: or, A Dictionary, Interpreting Such Hard Words ... by Thomas Blount (London: Dan. Brown et al., 1707), page 497.

* * *
We that were the followers of thy false Glimmerings, must forsake thy Errors, and seek the Lord by a more perfect Illumination, for the false fading Jack-a-Lanthorn which thou left'st among us, is burn'd into the Socket, and now stinks in the Nostrils of the Righteous far worse than the dying Snuff of a Cotton-Candle....
—The Works of Mr. Thomas Brown by Thomas Brown, James Drake (London: B. Bragg, 1707), page 128.

* * *
And now the Priests, and high Professors of Christ, they are so far from receiving the Light of Christ, and believing in it, that they have hated the Light, and Scoff at it, calling it a Natural Conscience; and some have called it Jack in the Lanthorn.
—A journal or Historical Account of the Life ... of ... George Fox by George Fox, Margaret Askew Fell Fox (London: J. Sowle, 1709), page 497.

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03 Nov 09 - 02:41 AM (#2758451)
Subject: RE: Folklore: Jack-o-lantern
From: VirginiaTam

fascinating stuff Jim. Thanks for posting this. I love Mudcat.

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03 Nov 09 - 03:33 AM (#2758467)
Subject: RE: Folklore: Jack-o-lantern
From: Jack Blandiver

Lanthorn is one of my eight favourite words of all time. I have it tattooed on the sole of my left foot for reasons too obscure to go into here.

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03 Nov 09 - 02:38 PM (#2758842)
Subject: RE: Folklore: Jack-o-lantern
From: Jim Dixon

These citations emphasize the deceitful nature of the Jack-o-lantern, sometimes personified, sometimes used as a metaphor for anything misleading.

* * *
Ignis fatuus, the foolish Fire, (Jack with a Lanthorn, or Will with a Wisp) is like the other, is crass, heavy, and nearer the Earth; one alone appearing, named Helena, was look'd upon by the Ancients as an ill Omen; but two together, (called Castor and Pollux) as a Presage of good Fortune. This is said to lead Men out of the Way, into pitches and dirty Places, because in a dark Night a Person not well acquainted with his Way, seeing a Light, may approach nearer to it, expecting to find an House, or a Man with a Lanthorn, but being deceived by it, instead of Company he may find himself in a Ditch, the Amazement of which has sometimes so disturb'd Men, as to make them wander about all Night, and they perceiving in the Morning they have not been far, have been apt to think themselves misled by an evil Spirit.
—The Athenian Oracle by John Dunton (London: J. and J. Knapton et al., 1728), Vol III, page 201.

* * *
...a Jack in a Lanthorn, sure to lead his Followers into Briars and Quagmires....
—The British patriot: or a timely caveat against giving into the measures of ... (London: Printed for the author..., 1731) page 32.

* * *
But there is a Person whose Name is Will of the Wisp, alias, Jack o' the Lanthorn, who pretends to be related to us, because he was born upon some of our Lands, being sprung up from a Fen, in a hot Day; but he is a raking Vagabond Fellow, that takes Pleasure in leading People out of their Way, and throwing them into Ditches at Night, so that we never own'd him to be of our Family....
—Select Letters Taken from Fog's Weekly Journal by Mr. Molloy (Charles) (London: 1732), page 3.

* * *
And Others, again, have even adventured to condemn the whole Practice of Oratory, to represent it as rather meretricious than meritorious, as a Trick to inflame the Passions, rather than a necessary Power to command the Reason of Mankind, rather a Jack o' Lanthorn, to allure and mislead wandering Imaginations, than a Star to conduct the Wise to a Saviour....
—The Case of Authors by Profession or Trade, Stated, with Regard to Booksellers, the Stage, and the Public ... by James Ralph (London, R. Griffiths [1758]), page 53.

* * *
I confess I have been many times highly entertained with your philosophy, but never convinced: It is a Jack in a lanthorn, which pleases one on the discovery, hoping it may prove a true light; but alas! it only creates a sudden hope to leave one in more impenetrable darkness.
—The Hibernian Magazine, or, Compendium of Entertaining Knowledge, Volume 4, January, 1774, page 34.

* * *
Of the Phenomenon, vulgarly called Will or Kitty with the Wisp, or Jack, with a Lanthorn.

THIS Appearance, called in Latin, Ignis Fatuus, has long been an article in the Catalogue of popular Superstitions. It is said to be chiefly seen in Summer Nights, frequenting Meadows, Marshes, and other moist Places.

It is called Ignis Fatuus, or foolish Fire, because it only feareth Fools. Hence is it when Men are led away with some idle Fancy or Conceit, we use to say an Ignis Fatuus hath done it.

—Observations on Popular Antiquities by John Brand, Henry Bourne (Newcastle upon Tyne: J. Johnson, 1777), page 369.

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03 Nov 09 - 02:58 PM (#2758858)
Subject: RE: Folklore: Jack-o-lantern
From: Penny S.

St Elmo's fire is a separate phenomenon, a sort of electrical discharge. Will o the wisp is supposed to be ignited methane produced in places with submerged vegetable matter. I have a memory of reading something about this lately on the scientific side. I'll see if I can find it.

Penny

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04 Nov 09 - 07:00 AM (#2759273)
Subject: RE: Folklore: Jack-o-lantern
From: Bryn Pugh

Willo' th' Wisp is called corpse candle in some parts of the UK.

I have heard 'Jack-o-Lantern' applied only to those awful carved pumpkins.

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04 Nov 09 - 07:11 AM (#2759279)
Subject: RE: Folklore: Jack-o-lantern
From: GUEST

"I have heard 'Jack-o-Lantern' applied only to those awful carved pumpkins."

McGrath posted this in BS - a carved swede, *this* is inspiring...
I don't know what they called them, but a friend of mine would do something similar with turnips when they were kids - hollowing out and carving a face, then lighting with candle and eating once cooked.

Carved Hallowe'en Swede

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04 Nov 09 - 07:12 AM (#2759280)
Subject: RE: Folklore: Jack-o-lantern
From: GUEST,CS

Me above..

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10 Oct 22 - 05:21 PM (#4154653)
Subject: RE: Folklore: Jack-o-lantern
From: keberoxu

refresh, to complement
the non-music pumpkin thread in the BS section.
(which is growing like Topsy)

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10 Oct 22 - 06:02 PM (#4154658)
Subject: RE: Folklore: Jack-o-lantern
From: GardenBennett

There used to be a LOT more marshes, with big chunks of what are now cities only drained in latter times - Belgravia in London was marsh, and the whole South of Manchester, like Rusholme (meaning island in a river/marsh, and Moss Side (a moss being a peat bog, either over clay or a layer of stone). Marsh gas would have been a common sight.

The wildest woods would have been the extensive marshy estuaries, the Fens in East Anglia & Levels in Somerset, the Thames Humber Severn and Mersey estuaries. These would have been places of refuge, and hunter-gathering for those with the knowledge - King Alfred hid from the Vikings in marshes, and the draining of some of the last Fens around Eely nearly 1,000 later was protested violently. When a folk song says 'The Greenwood', we should think of wet woodland like these, passable and livable only to those in the know, I think.

I'd relate the song Lord Randall to this. A Lord, going into one of the wild places, and eating the food of the poor, eels? That has to be marshes. Where people could still live beyond the reach of taxes as late as that happened anywhere. Where wild people lived, that new which plants weren't safe to eat.

Between the marsh gas, the wild people, and the outlaws, marshes would indeed have been places to feel spooked by!

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