<P> Agnes Carr Sage, in the article, Halloween Sports and Customs" (Harper's Young People (1885): </P> <P> It is an ancient British custom to light great bonfires (Bone - fire to clear before Winter froze the ground) on Hallowe'en, and carry blazing fagots about on long poles; but in place of this, American boys delight in the funny grinning jack - o' - lanterns made of huge yellow pumpkins with a candle inside . </P> <P> In the United States, the carved pumpkin was first associated with the harvest season in general, long before it became an emblem of Halloween . In 1900, an article on Thanksgiving entertaining recommended a lit jack - o' - lantern as part of the festivities . </P> <P> The story of the jack - o' - lantern comes in many variants and is similar to the story of Will - o' - the - wisp retold in different forms across Western Europe, with variations being present in the folklore of Scotland, England, Wales, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden . In Switzerland, children will leave bowls of milk or cream out for mythical house spirits called Jack o' the bowl . An old Irish folk tale from the mid-19th Century tells of Stingy Jack, a lazy yet shrewd blacksmith who uses a cross to trap Satan . One story says that Jack tricked Satan into climbing an apple tree, and once he was up there, Jack quickly placed crosses around the trunk or carved a cross into the bark, so that Satan couldn't get down . </P>

What is the story of jack o lantern