Villagers keeping historic Halloween tradition alive

Dawn Quince is on the Punkie committee and says the community love the "quirky" tradition

Villagers say they "love" taking part in an unusual Halloween tradition that dates back hundreds of years.

The festival in Hinton St George in Somerset sees children carry "punkies" - lanterns traditionally made from a large turnip known as a mangelwurzel - and parade through the village singing punkie songs.

Held on the last Thursday in October, the event which first began in 1877, will this year start at the village hall playing field at 18:00 GMT.

Dawn Quince, a member of the Hinton St George Punkie committee, said: "There's always somebody in the village who has been keeping the tradition going. I love it, it's quirky."

Villagers have to use drills to carve faces into Mangelwurzel because the root vegetable is "solid"

Ms Quince said historians believe the ritual began when a group of men of Hinton St George went to the Chiselborough Fair to sell their livestock but failed to return.

"I think they got a little bit drunk on cider," Ms Quince said.

She added that the women became worried and hollowed out a Mangelwurzel to use as a lantern and went out to look for the men.

"Once they were crossing the fields, the men who were lying in the ditches caught sight of the strange lighted faces coming across," Ms Quince said.

"They were very frightened."

After a procession through the village, everyone returns to the village hall to judge the best designs

Mangelwurzels are a type of root vegetables that are traditionally used to feed livestock.

"They're very hard to hollow out, they're very solid," Ms Quince said.

"These days, we use a drill."

After parading their lanterns through the village, crowds gather in the village hall and judge the best designs.

"Then we hang them up in our field and they stay in their shape for a long time," Ms Quince added.