Punkie Night

Punkie Night

Punkie Night is an English custom practiced on the last Thursday of October, in Somerset in England. Children will march around with a jack o'lantern, singing a song which goes :

It's Punkie Night tonight
It's Punkie Night tonight
Adam and Eve would not believe
It's Punkie Night tonight

No one knows how the custom originated, although it is almost certainly linked with Hallowe'en. As Morrell (1977) explains, the word "Punkie" is an old English name for a lantern, and jack o'lanterns for Punkie Night may be made of swedes or mangel-wurzels rather than pumpkins. Morrell explains how, in earlier times, farmers would put a traditional "Punkie" on their gates to ward off evil spirits at this time of year.

References

Morrell, P. (1977). Festivals and Customs. London: PanISBN 0330252151

External links

* http://www.chardandilminsternews.co.uk/mostpopular.var.986941.mostviewed.its_punkie_night_tonight.php
* http://www.england-in-particular.info/gazetteer/gz-somer.html
* http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0015-587X(197223)83%3A3%3C240%3AP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N

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