How to make a Jack-O-Lantern from a Turnip
Jack-O-Lantern, the Ambassador of Sowen
In 2012 I did a Halloween night dive in the River Ure beside Thornborough Henge in North Yorkshire. I made a "Jack-O-Lantern" and took it with me, setting it up on a ledge by the river bank. Eschewing the imported pumpkin which has come to define this uncanny illumination in our commercialised age, I chose to use something else...a turnip. And by "turnip" I don't mean one of those dainty white little things. I mean a stonking great turnip. You may know this King of Root Vegetables as a "swede" or "rutabaga". It's admittedly much more challenging to carve than a pumpkin, but it's also authentic, and that makes it a far more rewarding option.
To understand the importance of using a turnip for your lantern, and the qualities that underline its authenticity, you have to make one. You know you're onto something once that carved face starts staring back at you. It looks for all the world like a shrunken head, the occasional wispy roots winding out like warty hairs. And when you light the candle, drop it inside, and put the lid back on, the top of the turnip starts to singe and bake. That's when you know what this time of year is really all about. Forget pumpkins. You just don't get this nasal experience with your slick, commercialised member of the squash family.
Once you have lit a turnip lantern on All Hallows Eve, your nostrils become inveigled in strange nuances as the arcane doors to the past are swung open. This slowly burning "neep", as it is called in the dialect of the Old North, brings the multi-sensory experience that authenticates the Old Halloween. I remember this from my childhood. A neep lantern is the true ambassador of All Hallows Eve, because he is obviously the real McCoy. Only he can baptise you in this olfactory thrill; only he can validate your participation in the Festival of Sowen.
OK, so how do I make one?
You'll need seven things to make a Turnip Lantern:
A turnip/swede/rutabaga, the larger the better.
A serrated bread knife
A chopping board
A small carving knife
A tea light (small candle)
A box of matches
A robust ice-cream scoop
Step 1: Place the turnip on the chopping board and cut off the top to make a lid. Use the serrated bread knife and saw it off using an even action. The lid should be wide enough to allow you to scoop out the insides of the turnip, but not so thick that it restricts the area for carving the face.
Step 2. Using the ice cream scoop, spoon out the insides of the turnip. It takes a strong grip and good forearm strength to do this, and the effort involved is what makes many people shy away from the challenge and resort to a pumpkin. Keep on going. You'll be done sooner than you think. When excavated, the walls of the turnip should be about half to three-quarters of an inch thick.
Step 3. Using the small knife, carve in a face of your own design. I prefer a fairly geometric design with an angular smiley mouth, a triangle nose, and inverted triangles for the eyes. Don't exert too much pressure on the blade; you need to feel as though you are in control of it at all times or it may slip.
Step 4. Strike two or three matches and blow them out. Break them in half, perhaps by scoring them first with the knife. Insert the pieces of matchstick into the mouth as teeth.
Step 5. Drop in the tea light and replace the lid.
