Turnips: The Original King of Halloween

Written by Declan Murphy

Edited by Julia Georgescu

Published by Kiritika Rana

The big, orange pumpkin Jack-O’Lantern is a major icon of Halloween today, but the holiday was once ruled by a very different king – the humble turnip.

The modern Halloween has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of summer and the beginning of the colder dying season after the harvest. (The word “Samhain” is pronounced as Sa-wane, and means “Summer’s End” in Gaelic.) During this holiday, people believed that the veil between the spirit world and the living world would become thin, allowing entities to pass back and forth between them. People would light bonfires and lanterns to ward off the dark, and dress in scary costumes to ward off restless spirits and evil.

When the regions of Ireland and Scotland became Catholic, October 31st became “All Hallow’s Eve,” the night before All Saints’ Day on November 1. This would later become known as “Halloween,” and Scottish and Irish migrants would spread the holiday to North America, where it became a fun night of trick-or-treating and costumed hijinx.

When the holiday came to the Americas, home of the pumpkin, the turnip was replaced.

The use of a hollowed-out turnip as a lantern for Halloween was once a common practice in Ireland and Scotland (though potatoes or even radishes were also sometimes used). As sources of light, the turnip lanterns would help ward off evil, but their overall shape and cutouts (resembling a face) had a meaning, as well

The Tumshie, or Moot, as they are sometimes called, are also known as Jack O’Lanterns, pointing to a sinister Celtic tale of Halloween. In an Irish folk tale, Stingy Jack was a wily and cunning, though shifty, conman. One night, he was drinking with the Devil and convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin to pay for the beer. After the Devil had done so, Jack put the coin in his pocket with a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from freeing himself. Jack made a deal with the Devil, saying that he’d let the Devil free if he promised to never take his soul. The Devil agreed. When Jack died, he couldn’t get into Heaven, and the Devil refused to take him, so Stingy Jack was doomed to walk the earth for eternity, with only a coal lantern made of a turnip to guide him.

The Jack O’Lantern is both an effigy of Jack, and a lantern to ward off Jack and spirits like him that wander the earth during Samhain.

It’s no great surprise that Scottish and Irish immigrants switched to the pumpkin in the Americas. Turnips can be rock hard, and very hard to carve, while the pumpkin is softer and easier to cut, and has a naturally hollow centre in which to place the candle. Pumpkins make great Jack O’Lanterns, but if you’d like to try to make a turnip Jack O’Lantern, give it a try! Be warned that carving a turnip tumshee is no easy feat. You will need to cut off the top to make a “lid” and carefully hollow out the middle, then cut eyes and a mouth for the light to shine through. You will need very sharp and sturdy tools, as well as adult supervision since it can also be a bit dangerous!