In Somerset, England, a local tradition called Punkie Night in October has many similarities with various Halloween traditions today. Every year, a procession with lanterns passes through the village in search of sweets.
As Halloween approaches with the ghosts, ghouls and pumpkins we see in current times, few are aware of the much older and more eerie traditions celebrated elsewhere in the world. In the West of England, deep in the Somerset countryside, there is an elderly festival: Punkie Night. The name has much speculation about its origins. Some say it is an elderly name for a lantern or wood, perhaps derived from a pumpkin or even from the word “spunky” used in Somerset to describe the ghost of a compact child.
The festival is celebrated in a variety of locations including Neroche Castle in the Blackdown Hills, Long Sutton, Drayton, Somerset and more commonly in Hinton St George and the neighboring village of Lopen. It seems that in the past this holiday was slightly more discussed in the calendar, but now it is celebrated mainly on the last Thursday of October. But what really is this local tradition and how does it relate to today's Halloween celebrations?
Punkie Night tradition
The tradition of Punkie Night dates back centuries, is rooted in local tradition and shrouded in mystery. On this night, both children and adults carry carved turnips or a type of beetroot called mangel wurzels, known as “punkies”, through the streets, often dressed in costumes. Today, the jack-o-lantern may have taken over the world, but there are still competitions and awards for the best punk.
The eerie glow of hollowed out turnips casts ghostly shadows as they sing the customary Punkie Night song, demanding compact offerings from their neighbors. Over the centuries, the tradition of Punkie Night has waned, becoming a bizarre local celebration where children dressed in costumes go door to door with punk lanterns in their hands and recite a terrifying nursery rhyme:
This compares and probably refers to the custom of Trick or Treating, the most famed of the current Halloween celebrations in the US today. The sight of the procession sends chills down your spine as these Velcro-faced ghouls wind through the villages, keeping alive a disturbing connection to the past.
The Story Behind Punkie Night
But Punkie Night is more than just a quaint local celebration – it carries with it a obscure history, according to local tradition. Some say the night is elderly, but is it really? The most popular legend has its roots in a group of men from the village of Hinton St George who ventured to the nearby fair in the neighboring village of Chiselborough. This is said to have happened in the early 19th century. However, an organized way of celebrating appeared only in the first decades of the 20th century.
After a night of drinking and revelry, the men of the village got lost on their way home, though only a few miles away. The chilly October night was obscure and treacherous, the countryside was without airy, and men without lanterns wandered aimlessly, unable to return home.
Their wives, worried and frustrated, took to the streets, carving turnip punkies or mangelwurzels due to the windy night, and went out in search of their wayward husbands. The word Punkie itself is sometimes considered an Old English word meaning lantern. When the men first saw the lanterns, they thought they were fireflies and got scared. Some also said they thought they were “goolies”, or restless spirits of children who died before being baptized, and were reported to have fled in terror. It is also said that the twinkling lights of these punks were the only thing that led the men back home.
However, some say there is a more sinister side to this story.
Older Punkie Night
This custom appeared already in the last century, and mangel-wurzel was introduced to England at the end of the 18th century. However, it seems that the concept of Punkie night existed long before the history of wayward people.
According to older, whispered versions of the legend, Punkie Night is a time when the veil separating the living from the dead thins and lost souls who have wandered too far from the world of the living return to find their way home as a local continuation of the celebration of Samhain. There is a similar Irish holiday called Púca Night, “púca” meaning fairies or sprites with a similar tradition, so the tradition probably comes from the same Celtic folklore.
Turnip lanterns were intended not only to guide the living, but also to ward off the spirits of the dead wandering the obscure area. The sight of a “punk” lantern shining in a child's hands is said to repel these spirits – or at least mislead them into thinking they have found their way back to the afterlife. They were also said to be placed on the windowsill to ward off evil spirits, much like jack-o'-lanterns on Halloween today.
So if you find yourself in Somerset on the last Thursday in October, beware of the glowing turnips and haunting songs that fill the night. You may come across an age-old tradition where the line between the living and the dead blurs and the past touches the present.
Reference:
https://web.archive.org/web/20061122224220/http://halloween.monstrous.com/punkie_night.htm
“punkie (lantern)” | “punk night” | word stories
British folk customs, Punkie Night, Somerset
Mythology of Punkie Night | York Historian
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