Jacky Lantern

Turnip Jack o’Lanterns

The days have grown short and the shadows have grown long. The streetlights are coming on earlier each day, pushing back the darkness.

This time of year makes me think about what life must have been like for my great-grandparents in rural Newfoundland. As fall settled in, and the days got darker, the only thing pushing back the night was a kerosene lamp.

I don’t wonder about the origins of Jacky Lanterns, fairies and ghosts. How could the long hours before dawn not be filled with such characters? 

Nature abhors a vacuum and so does the human mind. It seems like every community has a collection of weird tales and mysterious creatures.

Weather Lights & Jacky Lanterns

As a child growing up on the Eastport Peninsula, one of my favourite stories was of the weather light - a strange ghostly glow that used to move into Salvage Bay ahead of stormy weather.

Jacky Lantern?

I suppose it is a variant of the local Jacky Lantern (or European Will-o’ the-Wisp) - a phantom light that leads people to their doom.  As the Will-o’ the-Wisp was frequently seen over bogs, their doom was often sinking into a bog hole.

I don’t know that the weather light brought doom exactly, but it did foretell of storms.

Phantom lights, by way of a folktale, are the likely source of the Jack o’Lantern tradition.

According to an Irish folktale Stingy Jack cheated the devil and made him promise to to take his soul. When he died, God decided he didn’t want Jack soul either. Out of options, Jack went to the devil. The devil, who was still angry at being cheated, refused to let Jack enter hell. Instead he gave Jack a glowing coal inside a hollowed-out turnip and sentenced him to wander the earth — Jack of the Lantern; Jacky Lantern in parts of Newfoundland, a phantom light.

Carving Turnip Jack o’ Lanterns

The original Jack o’Lanterns were carved from turnips and other root vegetables. The practice made its way to Newfoundland and was part of Halloween tradition . I have no idea who widespread it ever got, but there are good references to the practice, including a note in The Evening Telegram in 1908 indicates there was turnip scooping at a Halloween party. Regardless, it’s a custom that has (largely) disappeared. 

But this year, I decided to give it a whirl.

What did I learn?

Turnips don’t want to be lanterns. It’s a lot of work to scoop out a turnip. Unlike pumpkins, who meet you halfway, turnips resist being hollow - every step of the way. I contemplated using a power drill but that seemed like cheating. I persevered with a knife, spoon, and a lot of swearing. Eventually I got there, and I’ve got to say, it was almost worth it. The purple, wrinkly turnip faces are eerie.

Far, far more seasonally appropriate than those cheery pumpkins!

Happy Halloween!

Spooky Turnip Jack o’Lantern.