Samhain stories

["Stephanie M. Thorson" <smt2@st-andrews.ac.uk>]

Poster: "Stephanie M. Thorson" <smt2@st-andrews.ac.uk>


Sybella forwarded from the Tavern Yard:

>>(Irish imigrants in the late 1800's came to America and found few
>>turnips, but fields full of pumpkins.  Already hollow, they became a
>>natural replacement for turnips.  [I don't like turnips anyway.  And
>>have you ever tried to carve out a turnip? I have, and its no picnic, I
>>can tell you.  Not only that, but if you find a turnip large enough to
>>carve and sucessfully get a candle inside it, you then have to smell
>>burning turnip all night.  Thank goodness for Irish inginuity, I say.]) 

(Some folk probably already know this, but I've got my lecture down pat
now, so here it is)

The vegetable used for jack o' lanterns here in the Northwestern European
Archipelago is not the small white turnip but rather the large yellow
Swedish turnip better known in England as the swede and in the US as the
rutabaga.  Rutabagas/swedes/turnips grow quite large over here -- as large
as small pumpkins in fact, so they are a fine size for turning into a
lantern.  These days you can buy them ready-carved from the greengrocer,
but I am told by the locals that the correct carving technique involves
taking a knife and bashing the h*ll out of the top and subsequently the
interior of the turnip until you can scoop out the now-pulpy insides.  The
turnip is then used as a lantern for Samhain night, and cooked and eaten
the next day (All Saints').  People's tastes may vary, but I know a goodly
number of folk on this side of the water who much prefer the smell of
roasting turnip that of roasting pumpkin.

Alianora
*****************************************************************************
Stephanie M. Thorson			|  SCA: Lady Alianora Munro
Dept. of Scottish History		|  Clan White Wing
University of St Andrews		|  Tarkhan, Khanate Red Lion

=======================================================================
List Archives, FAQ, FTP:  http://sca.wayfarer.org/merryrose/
            Submissions:  atlantia@atlantia.sca.org
        Admin. requests:  majordomo@atlantia.sca.org