Autumn has begun and we are sure that your little ones are noticing the shortening daylight hours. Many of you will have enjoyed some spooky fun already this month by dressing up in costumes or going outside to look for nocturnal wildlife. The 31st October 2024 is special because tonight is Halloween and also Punkie Night.

Punkie Night is an event specific to England and isn’t celebrated in other countries or cultures so it’s likely that some of you have never heard of it (unless you watched some of the early Worst Witch episodes from 1998.

At Bearsprings we thought it would be interesting to learn about this special tradition. So, what exactly is Punkie Night and where does it come from?

Punkie Night actually originates in the village of Hinton St George, Somerset. There is a story that some men went out to visit an autumn fair a little ways out from their village. However, they had drunk too much cider and not returned by nightfall and their wives eventually got together, decided to go looking for their missing husbands and had to carve some lanterns in order to see in the dark. The lanterns were not made from pumpkins like the traditional jack-o-lantern ones, associated with halloween, and were instead made from a local root vegetable known as ‘punkies,’ though many also know them as mangelwurzel/ mangold worzels.

Mangelwurzel are a type of beet, though you are more likely to have tasted their relative called beetroot.

Punkie Night is still celebrated every October, on the last Thursday of the month, when some families will get together to walk in procession, while dressed in costumes and carrying punkie lanterns to sing the tradtional song:

It’s Punkie Night tonight,

it’s Punkie Night tonight.

Give us a candle,

give us a light.

It’s Punkie Night tonight!

This photo is an example of a mangelwurzel/ mangold worzel. They are often used to feed livestock e.g. cows, sheep, goats and pigs.

At Bearsprings we have also been learning about nocturnal wildlife, moths and owls, in particular. Bellow is some information on our expanded pollinators profile, which now includes moths and is free to access.

This is an example of a sillk moth.
Image courtesy of Insect Lore.

We have added more information on moths to our pollinators fact file area and hope to expand this again in the future. There is a very interesting video of moths in flight that you can watch, as well as some ideas about how you can spot and identify moths yourselves! (located within our pollinators campaign area).

The children at Bearsprings have also been dressing up in their favourite costumes; some chose to be spooky and funny, others were superheroes and many were excited being story characters such as the Gruffallo and have been enjoying camping, in our Gruffalo tent.

Bobbi Bear and Bobbin Bee masks were a favourite costume idea. Head over to the Bearsprings store to download and make your own masks for free!

We have been exploring stories about nocturnal animals and reading many books about these creatures. A favourite has been Owl Babies and we have found it to be a good resource for new settlers. Bellow, is a sneak peak at our pick for October’s book, at the Bearsprings Early Years Book Club.