(an English approximation might be "root ghosts")
"When we were kids we used to carve Turnips at school. They had ugly faces and grimaces. They cut off the lower pointed part and hollowed them out. Finally the pointed root part came on top. Looked wonderful. Our Turnip variety was inside nice yellow and we left the rest of the earth on the outside. So she got a nice creepy look. Unfortunately, the custom is disappearing more and more and the turnip has been replaced by pumpkins."
-Scarecrow Atelier
Austrian Home Haunter and Halloween artist.
Thank you very much to Scarecrow Atelier for sharing about this cool tradition.
Scarecrow Atelier's original comment
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I'm really glad that you like the post. As far as I know, the origin of the carved turnips comes from Ireland and seems to have spread to the German-speaking world. The turnips were either placed in the window to drive away evil spirits or used as a lantern by children to go around in the evening and ask for gifts from the neighbors. Unfortunately, the turnip was gradually replaced by the pumpkin. And it's getting harder and harder to get because it's just not worth growing anymore. The original turnips were so-called ZUCKER RÜBE or FUTTER RÜBE.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely devote myself to this topic one way or another in the future. 😉 But first it's Medusa's turn.