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Original poster

When I was a kid we didn't have pumpkins at Halloween, we used turnips, was I a deprived child?!

76 replies

northerner · 29/10/2006 08:02

Noone else I have met used turnips, only me and my group of friends. There must be someone on here who used turnips also? My muim says it's because they were easier to carry and cheaper.

We would go off Halloweening carring our turnip and we would actually sing a Halloween song, not just say 'Trick or treat'.....

The sky is Blue
The grass is green
Have you got a penny for Halloween, for Halloween
If you haven't got a penny
A Hapenny will do
If you haven't got a Hapenny
Theny God bless you

OP posts:
Waswondering · 29/10/2006 08:48

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Waswondering · 29/10/2006 08:49

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Pruni · 29/10/2006 08:52

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TinyGang · 29/10/2006 08:53

I thought of Baldrick when I saw this thread

bloodyhowler · 29/10/2006 08:58

So did we!But we were in northern ireland and I don't think we were alone.

Bozza · 29/10/2006 09:07

I was also talking about this. Having just completed two pumpkins. It was definitely swedes when we were kids. Those of you who say turnips - do you really mean swedes? No way was I doing that. The pumpkin was enough of a pain - tried to do a zig zag mouth this year instead of just a smile.

Schokofruhstucksflockenhasseri · 29/10/2006 09:26

We had turnips too. Pumpkins are not native to the UK are they? Turnips definitely traditional.

ProfYaffle · 29/10/2006 09:33

We had turnips too. I think I was about 11 before I realised that pumpkins were real and not something Charlie Brown invented.

LittleScarer · 29/10/2006 09:37

We had turnips (Edinburgh 80s) but there were pumpkins around too.

I'd like to get a neep this year but they are a PITA to hollow.

(I was reading on a Samhain website StGeorge posted that turnips were traditionally carved in that festival)

loopity · 29/10/2006 09:38

We all had turnips too (Northern Ireland), dh and I still do turnip lanterns for our kids because we love the "halloween-y" smell when they're lit. But agree total pita to hollow out

soapbox · 29/10/2006 09:41

Turnips here too - in Scotland nobody I knew ever had a pumpkin.

Wasn't until I moved to London that I first say pumpkins being used

LIZS · 29/10/2006 11:01

In Switzerland , and maybe other areas of N Europe, the children still traditionally carve turnips and put a candle inside to parade as lanterns through the streets (not actually Halloween related though). H & S would have a fit , lol ! They do stink a bit though.

ledodgywizardrobespierre · 29/10/2006 11:01

We used turnips too!

Kittypickle · 29/10/2006 11:06

I was feeling very relieved yesterday when I was scooping out the pumpkin so that I could cook dinner from it, that it wasn't the swede that we used to have as children - we'd have been very hungry as it took forever, I remember doing it with a spoon. Another southerner. Can't remember when I first came across pumpkins.

pointyfangedWeredog · 29/10/2006 11:20

When I was young the shops didn't sell pumpkins. You didn't used to be able to buy pumpkins in this country in days of yore. So everyone (in Scotland at least) used the old traditional method which was turnips, plentiful veg in the uk.

Absolute murder to carve with a steel pudding spoon.

So, don't worry. Nothing to do with being deprived.

tortoiseshell · 29/10/2006 20:07

we used turnips. took ages.

Sophiev73 · 29/10/2006 20:11

I remember a time when I was very small when my Dad used a cardboard box... Not sure if poverty or lack of root vegetables was the reason but it sure was a fantastically risky Hallowe'en treat!

silverbirch · 29/10/2006 20:16

I was a midlander and the smell of Hallowe'en
for me is the smell of Swede. I think pumpkins
are a recent re-import from the US - it is
easier than carving out all those Swedes though.

I told my daughter we should us turnips or
swedes as they were more traditional - she
wasn't impressed!

silverbirch · 29/10/2006 20:18

guess that should have been swede with a
small S - I don't mean people from Sweden!

Sophiev73 · 29/10/2006 20:19

PMSL 'smell of Swede' - meatballs perhaps??

Mercy · 29/10/2006 20:20

Turnips and beet are traditional UK & Irish jack o' lanterns as LittleScarer says.

Turned into pumpkins (!) when many Irish people migrated to the USA (apparently)

See expat's thread on the Philosophy etc board for more info! Am interested in finding out more about seasonal rituals.

LadyDooM · 29/10/2006 20:22

I didn't even know that people used turnips!! I wouldn't have even thought it was possible. I guess its true you learn something new everyday or nearly everyday..lol

expatinscotland · 29/10/2006 20:23

DH had neeps, as did my Aberdonian work colleague, so it wasn't just the norm in Glesga, but all over Scotland, I'd reckon.

lexielou · 29/10/2006 20:33

We had turnips too northener and I grew up and still live in Lancashire.

LadyOfTheFlowers · 29/10/2006 20:36

turnips?!!
i have vivid, vivid memories of hollowing a swede as mother said pumpkins were too expensive.
oh..the blisters...