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Original poster

The dying art of swede carving

142 replies

MildGreenDairyLiquid · 30/10/2024 12:58

A lot is said about traditional crafts dying out - thatching, stonemasonry, stained glass. But what about swede carving?

I’m pretty sure I didn’t see a pumpkin in this country until I was 35.

Before that it was the humble swede, now cruelly forgotten.

Tastes nicer too.

OP posts:
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7
WelshPool · 30/10/2024 18:45

I don’t know what was nicer, the smell of a candle in the turnip or mum cooking sausage and mash for tea and adding the hollowed out turnip to the mash so as not to waste it. Delicious.

Thevelvelletes · 30/10/2024 18:44

QuestionableMouse · 30/10/2024 18:00

My questionable attempt! 🤣🤣🤣

There's something creepier about yours .. because of lack of nose and eyes have been hacked out..well done 👍.

QuestionableMouse · 30/10/2024 18:42

stargirl1701 · 30/10/2024 18:02

Still going strong here in Perthshire!

Much better than mine! Though I'm struggling with the turnip to candle ratio unfortunately 🤣

pinkpjamas1 · 30/10/2024 18:39

I'm 42 and haven't ever known anyone carve a Swede although I did know it was tradition

Thevelvelletes · 30/10/2024 18:37

stargirl1701 · 30/10/2024 18:02

Still going strong here in Perthshire!

Both of you that put up pics o your neepy lunterns are to be commended on your efforts.

midgetastic · 30/10/2024 18:36

I loved the smell

midgetastic · 30/10/2024 18:35

It's turnip lanterns not swede

Uricon2 · 30/10/2024 18:29

Midlands, 1960s kid. I well remember my 6 foot 2, strong, large handed and practical Dad labouriously turning a swede into a lantern, it took ages.

You'd have loved pumpkins Dad (RIP)

Robotnik · 30/10/2024 18:28

I tried to do it once out of respect for tradition. Broke the best kitchen knife mere moments into the process of hollowing it out - the handle just collapsed under the strain. I was not popular.

ImWearingPantaloons · 30/10/2024 18:20

My hand aches at the mere thought of it.

Oh the (bad) memories

Elphame · 30/10/2024 18:04

Some of us still carve swedes!

Can't be doing with those new fangled pumpkins!

stargirl1701 · 30/10/2024 18:02

Still going strong here in Perthshire!

The dying art of swede carving
QuestionableMouse · 30/10/2024 18:00

My questionable attempt! 🤣🤣🤣

The dying art of swede carving
TentEntWenTyfOur · 30/10/2024 15:47

Sajacas · 30/10/2024 13:19

Tradition is still going strong where I am. I have to carve one out next week so the child can troop through the village with it. It seems to be obligatory, I have the feeling that if we skip it the 'real' villagers might get out their pitchforks...

Oh my word!

Bit like the village in 'Hot Fuzz' is it?😂

chattyness · 30/10/2024 15:38

I remember doing this too as pumpkins weren't readily available then. We were given an old spoon with a sharpened edge and also one of those funny shaped wallpaper scrapers.We would draw the faces we wanted on the front and dad cut them out for us with a big knife. It took forever and we had to carve them outside using the top of the coal bunker as our table.I'm sure my mother picked out the hardest swedes she could find so she'd be well rid of us for a few hours, but she did make us hot chocolate when we were finished 😆

BMW6 · 30/10/2024 15:36

I'm 66 and used to carve out my own swede from around 10 years old.

The trick was to hatch into the surface with a knife then use a spoon to scrape it out, then more knife hatching deeper in.

Took hours and hours and very sore hands!

We was 'ard.

Stickykidney · 30/10/2024 15:36

Did a neep lantern last night just to smell that smell again... About needed a lie down and a shower after. Imagine doing 4!

DiscoDragon · 30/10/2024 15:27

My Grampa used to carve turnips for us at Halloween, they were way too tough for us to do! It wasn't until I was a bit older, probably late 80's/early 90's that I got my hands on an actual pumpkin. We went to stay with family who lived next door to a farm where they grew them and I got to take as many as I liked! That was a great year, I had such a fun time carving tonnes of pumpkins with my dad!

I do still have a fondness for the little turnip lanterns but I'd much rather eat them then spend hours trying to carve them and I'm fairly certain my kids would think I was some kind of weirdo if I suggested turnips instead of pumpkins!

JaneFondue · 30/10/2024 15:24

This is why I am on MN. Bless you, OP.

Brickiscool · 30/10/2024 15:17

I'm 49. Always carved a swede as a kid. Last carved one aged 19 at uni. Then was too cool to carve for a few years

So pumpkins appeared on the scene sometimes after 1994 in the UK

Jessie1259 · 30/10/2024 15:04

Love the smell of singed swede! Not so keen on hollowing out something made of concrete.

Lunde · 30/10/2024 15:04

EileenBilton · 30/10/2024 13:05

In our house we used the chisel from my dad's toolbox.

Show quote history

Wish I'd thought of that

My mother made us use teaspoons and a butter knife in the 1960s - it used to take a whole day!

Avatartar · 30/10/2024 14:27

turnip lanterns didn’t go mushy for weeks but equally took ages to hollow out. Carved huge squares then dug them out, Loved the burned turnip smell