#124: The New Guy

The Story Behind The New Guy

Illustrated by EEK.

Halloween is, by far, my favorite holiday. It has so many elements that stimulate my 'lil brain: a long, twisted history that involves Irish folktales, Celtic festivals, The Roman Catholic Church co-opting holidays, and the paranormal!

Interestingly, the Irish tale ends with Stingy Jack carrying a lantern carved from a turnip, wandering the lovely Irish countryside for the rest of eternity. In Ireland and Scotland, people made their own version of Jack’s lantern by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing the lanterns near doors to scare away good ol' Jack. I'm not totally sure why they wouldn't want him around, he seems like he'd be a hoot at parties. As the Irish and Scottish migrated to the United States, they quickly found that pumpkins, a fruit native to the Americas, make perfect jack-o’-lanterns. 🎃

Plain Text Description of The New Guy

A carved pumpkin suspiciously asks another carved pumpkin, "who's the new guy?" suggestively gesturing towards a butternut squash who has an overly excited, yet mindlessly blank smile on his face. The moon hangs in the background.