Jack o' Lent

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Jack o' Lent was a tradition in England in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.

This was an effigy of Judas Iscariot made of straw and rags that was beaten with sticks or used as a target by people throwing things before he would be burned on Easter.

He is mentioned in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor.

[edit] References

• Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham. The Reader's Handbook of Allusions, References, Plots and Stories. Chatto & Windus, 1880. 485.
• Hazlitt, William Carew, and John Brand. Faiths and Folklore: a Dictionary of National Beliefs, Superstitions and Opular Customs. London: Charles Scribner\'s Sons, 1905. 344.
• Manser, M, and George Latimer Apperson. Wordsworth Dictionary of Proverbs. Wordsworth Editions, 2006. ISBN 184022311
• Simpson, Jacqueline and Roud, Steve. A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford University Press, 2000.
• Skeat, Walter William. An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. Clarendon P, 1893. 304.