How turnips led to a famous Halloween tradition | BBC Global

Thank you for giving Ireland a mention of Halloween and its traditions. It's been americanised so much that its orogin has been forgotten. I'm not going to ramble on Bram Stoken and Dracula. Same story of americanised marketing 🙄

Carving turnips is alive and well on the Isle of Man to this day

Punkie Night here in Devon.

Grew up carving turnips as a kid in Ireland.

When I was a child, we carved turnips and it took a lot of effort compared to pumpkins. Sometimes we would be carving away for several days after coming home from school. I am from Scotland; Ayrshire to be precise. We would politely remind that Scotland is steeped in Hallowe'en traditions that are hundreds of years old, if not a thousand or two. Robert Burns described many of them in his poem 'Hallowe'en'.

Accidentally clicked on this and as it played i thought wow I don't believe a word the BBC say anymore so I wrote this and clicked off.

Intersting

Yes it was turnips in 1960s😮

All the pumpkin foods and drinks you love except it's made out of turnip 😢

Remember carving turnips (swedes) as a kid. It was awful. It was like carving stone.

The surfaces of the carved turnips look like dried skin 😨!

Why couldn’t this video have been posted 2 days ago?? Now we gotta wait till next Halloween to make one. 😞

I pity the poor bastards who had to carve out a rutabaga.
Those veggies take no prisoners.

I’m from Ireland and I remember back in the 1980s as a kid I decided to carve a turnip as I heard of the tradition. It was so difficult! Pumpkins are definitely easier to carve but I do think the turnip looks scarier.

I'm from Denmark and we also used to make turnip lanterns. I made turnip lanterns with my granddad when I was a child - that is many years ago. Unfortunately I haven't got any idea if there's a story behind it. I guess there has to be, even though I've never heard of it. Maybe there's some kind of connection to the Irish myth, but I don't know.
We call them "turnip men".

Turn the shitty music off , we can't hear what they are saying

Leads to the other dilemma - turnip or swede? 😂

I am from Ireland. When I was small it was simply a time to remember those that have died. Not all this bollix that people do nowadays. All Souls Day. Simple. It was not a time for fireworks blowing children's fingers apart or yet another excuse for grown ups to drink to excess in the back garden. Dilution or souping up of our culture continues (( Bye bye real Ireland forever....

What happened to all the British presenters

What did you say??
I'm surprised the BBC can't do a good audio mix.

Pumpkins are native to Mexico and Central America, not the US.

Why is the guy in a cupboard. BBC funding 👌

They are not to protect you from spirts. You put them in your home to get the spirts of your loved ones to visit.

File under...who knew??? ❤☮🌎

Not so long ago, a Yank asked me if we in Ireland, had ever heard of a yearly event called "Halloween" that they celebrate in the US.... 😁

Samhain is the origin of halloween so a small island gave us 2 big holidays

I remember turnip lanterns in the 90s. Pumpkins were hard to find unless there was a farm shop nearby or you grew them from seed

All the things that little ancient island (the Land of Saints & Scholars) on the edge of Europe has given to the World☘
Halloween, Paddy's Day, Irish Pubs, Gorilla Warfare, Turnip Lamps. How can it ever be repaid ?

.

They look like the bandaged traffic warden from Threads 💀

I remember carving turnips back in the 60's here in the UK, they're tough to carve!

We always use turnips. It is not fun scooping them out.

They never said what tricks exactly Stingy Jack played.

Story of my life got total empathy for poor olde Jack. Fantastic lovely report team!...we love our myths legends and fairytales us oooomans.

I remember carving mangold wurzels in Somerset in the 70s and early 80s. Very hard for a child to carve!

I think turnips are cute. Always have.

One in a long list of how America has ruined Halloween.

Turnips inspired pumpkin carving, and I see how it inspired the mythology of aliens visiting and abducting humans.

That's what I remember a Jack O'Lantern looking like.

미국 기밀은 한국에서 탈취햇음 갖고 나가지 못해서 외워서 가져나왓지만

This video made me wanna make one of those turnip jack-o lantern

I couldn’t find one big enough this year.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

I remember carving turnips for Halloween here in England back when I was a kid. Good times!

That’s a turnip for the books

I learned so much in this short video!! 🎃

i've never seen such a sinister looking vegetable in my life

I recall when I was a kid, one year we didn't do jack-o-lanterns. It was Halloween, before going trick or treating I quickly ran into my house. I got an apple out of the fridge and carved eyes, nose, and a mouth onto it. I then put it in my front porch for all to see.

I believe that the turnips are 1000% scarier than the pumpkins

Dominion (2018)

people always scream when I turnip.