Tuesday 20 October 2009

Tumshie Lantern

















The first Jack-O'-Lantern's were, in fact, not pumpkins, but turnips. In Scotland these carved turnips (or 'neeps' as they're regionally known) were called 'Tumshie Lanterns'. Scottish children would carry these lanterns out while 'guising'.

In Scotland children traditionally go guising on Hallowe'en. "Going around the houses guising, they are given money (not sweets) and to earn the money they either sing, tell jokes, or have a really good costume. (The scarier the better for making money.) My son, one Halloween made £20 worth of pennies." explains Scottish author and artist Sharon McPherson.


The turnips that were used for carving are in fact Swedish Turnips (Swedes) or Rutabaga as it's known in the U.S. Irish immigrants brought this tradition to America, however the turnip was traded in for the much more easily carved pumpkin (which they did not have in their native country). You can read more about the history of the Jack-O'-Lantern here on the History Channel website.





This year I decided to carve a turnip (swede) in honor of tradition. I now know first hand why the pumpkin was so much more appealing to hollow out and carve for the immigrants. It took me about 2 hours to hollow out and carve the little turnip and I got a nasty blister on my finger due to the force that was needed to gouge out the flesh. We decided to go with a gentler, more pumpkin-like expression instead of the ghoulish face that would have been more traditionally carved into it. All in all I'm very pleased with myself since I think it turned out quite nicely.


















Pictures: My Tumshie Lantern and a traditional Jack-O'-Lantern (carved neep) on display in the Museum of Country Life, Ireland

7 comments:

  1. Great post! Being Scottish myself, I like reading posts about Halloween that are informative and accurate. There is one false piece of information in your research - I hope you forgive me correcting you - but Scottish people do not 'trick-or-treat' (that's American in origin).

    Scottish people go guising. Going around the houses guising, they are given money (not sweets) and to earn the money they either sing, tell jokes, or have a really good costume. (The scarier the better for making money.) My son, one Halloween made £20 worth of pennies.

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  2. Thank you for the correction! I did read something about guising, but I was a bit confused since my husband (who is Glaswegian) told me as a child he went trick-or-treating and received sweeties for a joke or a dance.

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  3. That's great that you corrected your post! I got a little scare myself when I saw my words and name jumping from the page lol.

    I like your blog and the list of links is invaluable for those who indeed are studying or just plain interested in history and hauntings. :)

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  4. What a wonderful blog. So glad to have discovered you today.

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  5. Hello, C.H.
    I really enjoyed the work on his blog, it addresses several topics in his posts.Congratulations the initiative, the blogosphere needs to work well. I have been following your blog, if you want to know my historical studies of the address is http://www.construindohistoriahoje.blogspot.com
    Regards,
    Leandro

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  6. I am not sure the place you're getting your information Cccam Server, however great topic. I must spend a while finding out much more or figuring out more. Thank you for magnificent information I was looking for this info for my mission.

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  7. Might I suggest a Dremel tool? It ought to make quick work of your tumshie. :)

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