Acorn— Fruit of the oak; a tree is usually about twenty years old before acorns appear. Although oak trees were sacred to the CELTS and supposedly featured in many rites of the DRUIDS, acorns are infrequently mentioned in Halloween customs. This stanza from an 1898 poem by B. M. Teggart illustrates an Irish Halloween custom:

And some have acorns—these once graced
By fairy king and queen,
Upon the low back hob are placed
For luck, at Halloween.

Acorns are also mentioned in one German trickster story which is very similar to the legends behind JACK-O’-LANTERN: A farmer makes a deal with the DEVIL, and agrees to pay up when he harvests his first crop. The farmer then goes out and plants acorns.

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The Halloween Encyclopedia Second Edition written by Lisa Morton © 2011 Lisa Morton. All rights reserved