Defining Symbol of Halloween

MHooch · Post by **MHooch** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 10:05 am

Nothing says Halloween like a grinning Jack-O-Lantern!

tomanderson · Post by **tomanderson** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 10:14 am

The jack-o-lantern for me!

All the other images you see, the cartoon witch, bats, owls, ghosts--those you will find in other contexts. But the jack-o-lantern only appears in a Halloween context.

JACKRYAN592 · Post by **JACKRYAN592** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 12:19 pm

Don't forget about Halloween costumes, and trick or treating. But I agree, there is something special about old JOL

I B Howlin' Wolfman · Post by **I B Howlin' Wolfman** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 2:56 pm

Jack-O-Lantern.
All the way.

It's a tradition from Poland, or Germany I believe. (They used to carve turnips,) then switched to Pumpkins when imagrants came to the USA.

It's supposed to ward off Evil Spirits, because it is believed that the barrier that separates the world of the dead, and the world of the living, was at it's thinnest around the fall months. Thusly, the mean and evil faces were carved to scare away the spirits.

So it seems fitting that the Jack-O-Lantern would become the symbol for Halloween.

Dutchess of Darkness · Post by **Dutchess of Darkness** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 3:00 am

Well I can't say that I have "one" Defining symbol for Halloween. My First's would be tied at:

1) Witches, Black Cats, Pumpkins & Bats

2) Vampires, Graveyards, Crows, Skeletons, Monsters

3) Skulls, Cauldrons, Headless Horseman, Ghosts, Gargoyles, SPiders

Well thats a few groupings for me