Check out spectacular Jack O’ Lanterns of HCM City
VOV.VN - As Vietnam gets ready for Halloween, here’s our selection for some of the best pictures of Jack O’ Lanterns during this year’s celebration that were taken at a garden in Ho Chi Minh City.
 |
|
Every October, carved pumpkins peer out from porches and doorsteps across Vietnam and other parts of the globe. |
 |
|
Gourd-like orange fruits inscribed with ghoulish faces and illuminated by candles are a sure sign of the Halloween season. |
 |
|
The practice of decorating ‘jack-o’-lanterns’ – the name comes from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack – originated in Ireland, where large turnips and potatoes served as an early canvas. |
 |
|
Irish immigrants took the tradition to America, home of the pumpkin, and it became an integral part of Halloween festivities. |
 |
|
According to the legend, Stingy Jack one day invited the Devil to have a drink with him. |
 |
|
True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. |
 |
|
Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. |
 |
|
Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. |
 |
|
The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. |
 |
|
While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years. |
 |
|
Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavoury figure into heaven. |
 |
|
The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. |
 |
|
He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. |
 |
|
Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip (pumpkin) and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. |
 |
