• picture
  • picture
  • picture
  • picture
Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

The Living on Earth Almanac

Air Date: Week of

This week, facts about Punkie Night. This ghoulish celebration in England includes a parade of children carrying carved out and glowing vegetables called punkies.

Transcript

CURWOOD: It's Living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood. In England, the last Thursday of October is called Punkie Night, a time of celebration and song.

(Music up and under: punk rock)

CURWOOD: No, no, no, not that Punkie Night song. This one:

GILLMAN: It's Punkie Night tonight. It's Punkie Night tonight. Give us a candle, give us a light, it's Punkie Night tonight...

CURWOOD: That's Cecil Gillman. We reached him at his home in Chiselborough, England, where he is the Master of Ceremonies of the Punkie Night celebration. Each year, he leads the children of the village in a ghostly procession through unlighted streets, singing the traditional Punkie Night song.

GILLMAN: It's Punkie Night tonight. It's Punkie Night tonight. Eee, eye, diddley dee, it's Punkie Night tonight.

CURWOOD: A punkie is a lantern carved from mangolds, a vegetable similar to a turnip but the size of a small pumpkin and the same color orange. Legend has it that Punkie Night commemorates a day of drunken revelry at the Chiselborough Fair. Having imbibed too much hard cider, the men of the nearby village of Hinton St. George failed to return home. But after dark, their women went out to round them up. They used carved-out mangolds fitted with candles and hanging from strings to light their way. From afar, the punkies resembled their namesakes, eerie flames of marsh gas believed to be the souls of unbaptized children. A sobering sight indeed. Punkie Night lives on today in Hinton St. George and Chiselborough. The annual festivities conclude with the punkie judging contest, in which the most grotesque designs are rewarded for their ghoulishness. And with thanks for a bit of punkie music from Albert Avery, that's this week's Living on Earth Almanac.

 

 

Living on Earth wants to hear from you!

Living on Earth
62 Calef Highway, Suite 212
Lee, NH 03861
Telephone: 617-287-4121
E-mail: comments@loe.org

Newsletter [Click here]

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

Creating positive outcomes for future generations.

Innovating to make the world a better, more sustainable place to live. Listen to the race to 9 billion

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth