General Chat

Anyone recall the turnip lantern before the pumpkin took over?

It it thought that the scots and irish arriving in N. America took the tradition with them but either could not get turnips or found pumpkins easier to carve!

I can recall moving to N. Ireland in October one year and son aged 7 was delighted to find out about Hallo'een but boy oh boy did he tick when he found out that there was no Guy Fawkes and bonfire!

Yes me I lived in the country that is what we had with a candle inside .

oh yes,that was a blast from the past chris

mum and dad always made a turnip lantern for us in the late 60s.also remember apple dunking.

Dad grew swedes, pumpkins are far easier to carve,

It was our village bonfire last Saturday night. Huge Bonfire, firework display & the 'Bonfire Boyes' from all over Sussex marching in their different costumes.

My Grandad always used a turnip when I was a kid :-D *Lovley memories* <3

it must be a scouse thing?

we had turnips and my grandson has pumpkis

some body told me melons are quite good to and easier to carve :-D

Suzanne think maybe your right hun :-D

Well it was neeps in N. Ireland and Scotland and northern England. Suspect the southerners who have always had more money than us to splash around on new fangled ideas bought pumpkins

Turnips are traditional to us!!!!!!!

We didn't have carved turnips or pumpkins :-(

What we call turnips aren't big enough to carve :-D

A poor Essex gal :-( :-D

I used to carve swedes for my chilldren, and attach string/wire so they could carry them.
I'm generally a Southerner - but as ag labs, we couldn't afford pumpkins, and the swedes were grown on the farm,,,,,,,,

Maggie - That is how I recall them and the same was done for my children during the time we were in N.I.

Also remember using the swedes from the local farm, which were all put in a huge pile locally. They did not miss the odd one or two, and would not have minded if they did.!
Not sure we could have obtained a pumpkin from anywhere. It was all great fun, used to put it at someones door, knock , then hide. I remember one small child, was crying in fear, and we were ' told off'' by the parents.!!!!

Sue :-D

Remember them well, when we used to go to Annathill just out side Glasgow for our holidays, we used to carve tunchies as we called the turnip...great happy days

My parents carved swedes ( we called them turnips).
Always the same faces carved into them, but I do love the modern pumpkin carving!

Edit
Oh dear just noticed that last night's offering ( Avi) has shrivelled and Frankie's nose has fallen in!

When I was in the IOM Chris :-D for 'Hop tu naa' which is the same date as Halloween but different.

"As the rest of the British Isles prepares to celebrate Halloween on 31 October, many Isle of Man residents will instead celebrate Hop-tu-Naa.

Historically Hop-tu-Naa has been considered to be the Celtic New Year, marking the end of the summer and the beginning of winter"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-15337057

Thank you for that Rose, my g. parents were Manx but I did not know that.

Good heavens yes, i'd forgotten about Neep Lanterns. My Uncle was a lorry diver and used to "lift" a few swedes for us. A bit of deft carving and we'd have a good scary lantern. The Boy Scouts used to have a special event for this. Thanks for the memory. :-)

Was not quite sure about this swede/neeps/turnip thing so did a bit of Googling round :-D

ww.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/jan/25/neeps-swede-or-turnip

So neeps is a dish of diced or mashed swede

:-S

Swedes are the orange ones, turnips are white, well they are down here in Sussex

Read this article & it is now as clear as mud


:-D

& none of these is a mangel worzel ;-)

There always seems to be confusion/discrepancy between turnips and swedes. Where we come from (Hampshire) and here in Gloucestershire, swedes are orange and we like them served mashed with butter and pepper. turnips are white and usually chopped into stews but we don't like them.