The dying art of swede carving

[MildGreenDairyLiquid]

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.

Get thyself to Switzerland OP, where it's never gone out of fashion...!

swissfamilyfun.com/rabechilbi-turnip-lantern-festival/#:~:text=R%C3%A4bechilbi%20is%20a%20fall%20tradition,parade%20them%20around%20the%20neighborhood.

A turnip? Aren't they really small?

It's never gone out of fashion for one of your neighbours

Is that Tommy Robinson?

I've waited decades for a random conversation about rutabaga and UK names for it.

My scottish grandparents called it tumshe (pron. tum-she), they were from Glasgow, came to america in the 1920's iirc.I grew up calling it that and still do today.

A friend whose family still had land on one of the hebrides islands and went there annually, had never heard that word for it.

Please mumsnet can anyone confirm this usage or was this just another old country thing corrupted on the voyage over?

I never knew these grandparents (who I was told wouldn't have approved of me and would've called me a foundling lol, I'm an adoptee but thats for another day)

Lastly I'd like to say that rutabaga jack o' lanterns are fucking terrifying and I'm going to try carving one next year. 🎃

Yup, I used to have swede lanterns well into the 90s. Mum refused to buy a pumpkin - she had a violent dislike to anything considered to be “too American”. My dad used to have to drill the bloody thing out.
In Somerset they use mangolds - or beets - as lanterns for Punkie Night, which is properly Hot Fuzz: calendarcustoms.com/articles/punky-night/

I've never heard it called that but I'm from NE England and we call it a turnip even though it's really a swede.

I'm from Hampshire and they're swedes here, not turnips (much much smaller)

@Jom222

I was reading this book to my Primary 2 class today.

Dremmel might be better, if you have one!

We couldn't find pumpkins to carve. I suggested Swedes and DD chose a fucking MELON instead. Wimp.

Always had turnips growing up for Halloween . Dad would carve them out and make string handles. We'd go guising with them , candle inside, wearing our home made costumes. They're take ages to make as so hard to carve out but so worth it. Very spooky looking.

Strangely satisfying to watch

Oh that smell of singed swede! Takes me right back to my childhood.

We would use whatever was growing in the fields near us. It was usually sugar beet. The smell of as lovely when the candle burned it a little.
we didn’t do elaborate carving, more of a hollow for a candle stub.

Baffling!
Is bagie short for rutabaga?

Only the baby ones.

My experience too however swedes are tiny this year.

I love this I'm going to do a melon next year

We spent an entire afternoon trying to hollow out swedes in Junior 3 (Y5 these days). Thankfully someone had brought in a Stanley knife.

Even the teacher was surprised at how hard they were 🤔

I remember having them at Brownies, but someone must have done the hard bit already.

My hot tip is to use an oyster shucker

Hop tu Naa here and the local farm carves out the middle of the moots with power tools ready for the kids to carve a design on the outside with a blunt butter knife

Ah bringing swede carving into the insta era clever!

"Even scarier with a tinge of blood on it from when the knife slipped and sliced your finger open. The flesh wound then went on to enhance the authenticity of your costume.
Those were indeed, 'The Days.'"

We had a cattle hoof paring knife. I've still got a scar on my little finger 35 years later.
I'd forgotten the smell of burnt turnip, add the candle falling over.

We used to make "neepie lanterns" from turnips when we were kids in the 70s. It was a bloody nightmare.
Never saw a pumpkin back in those days.
My kids can't believe how hard it was compared to nowadays.