Pumpkin tradition continues in Brownsville

Jack-o'-lanterns light the way for children in Brownsville and across the Rio Grande Valley every year, heralding costumed children to houses ready to dispense candy.

But few people know that the pumpkins we now see carved into laughing faces were once overgrown turnips, potatoes and beets filled with candlelight, used to scare away demons across the Atlantic Ocean.

The tradition began with the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a man who tricked the devil on several occasions and was eventually sentenced to wander the earth until Judgement Day, with a coal in a carved out turnip to light his path, according to the History Channel's Web site.

He was called Jack of the Lantern, a name that eventually morphed into jack-o'-lantern.

When the country's potato famine brought mass Irish immigration to the United States in 1846, the tradition of Halloween and jack-o'-lanterns followed. Instead of root vegetables, the Irish began carving out pumpkins, an abundant and native fruit.

The jack-o'-lanterns were used on the night proceeding All Saints Day to scare evil spirits wandering the streets.

Today, families carve menacing or laughing faces, political figures, family members or just creative designs.

Treats are more common than tricks, and the jack-o'-lanterns are just one of many decorative traditions that have evolved with the celebration.