The Ghost Turnip & other Hallowe'en traditions
© National Museum of Ireland
Visitors to the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life in County Mayo, can see the now infamous (thank you Twitter!) Ghost Turnip, the precursor to the Hallowe’en pumpkin.
Clodagh Doyle, Keeper of the Irish Folklife Collection, explains how in the past, people believed that on Hallowe’en night the spirits of the dead would be on the move through the countryside.
This belief led people to carve lanterns from turnips (and sometimes potatoes) and to make masks for a disguise to trick or ward away any malevolent spirits.
You can find Clodagh’s top ten spooky Samhain traditions on the museum website here
In this short video Clodagh explains the origins of these scary lanterns
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