The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a classic Halloween tale written by American author Washington Irving in 1820. Sleepy Hollow is a quiet valley that is said to be bewitched. Its inhabitants are very superstitious and some of them affirm they have seen strange spirits. The spirit that dominates all their stories is the Headless Horseman. One day a new schoolteacher arrives, his name is Ichabod Crane. He falls in love with Katrina, the daughter of a rich farmer. He will do anything to get her love but it won’t be easy if the Headless Horseman is around.
The Headless Horseman is popularly depicted with a Jack-O-Lantern, a lighted pumpkin [1]with a face carved [2] on it, on his head, which he wears until he finds a real human head as a substitute. Nowadays, The Jack-O-Lantern, is one of the most recognizable symbols of Halloween. When the Irish came to the United States and introduced Witches’ Night, they brought the traditional lantern [3]. Irish legend tells of a notorious drunk and a con-man [4], Jack, who was denied entry to both Heaven and Hell. So he was doomed to wander [5] in the darkness with the help of a turnip [6] and a piece of coal [7] that the devil threw at him from Hell. Jack put the glowing [8] coal in the turnip as a lantern to move around in the darkness. When the Irish came to America, the turnip was replaced by the pumpkin, which was larger and easier to empty, and the coal was replaced by a candle.
[1] calabaza, [2] grabado, [3] farol, [4] estafador, [5] condenado a deambular, [6] nabo, [7] carbón, [8] resplandeciente
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