The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free
Punky Lantern Procession at Dalwood
The children of Dalwood process with their punky lanterns of mangelwurzels
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Overview
In Dalwood East Devon mangelwurzerls are the lantern of choice for Punky Night. Held at the end of October and thought to be celebrated since the turn of the twentieth century, villagers traditionally hollow out mangelwurzels, a type of turnip for animal fodder and make them into lanterns known as punkies. A Punky Night Procession walks around the village at dusk.
Punky Night is popular just across the county border in the South Somerset area. Its origins are unknown although a story about wives hauling their drunken menfolk back after a market fair at Chiselborough with the chanting of rhymes in celebration, seems most likely. The wives used hollowed out mangelwurzels as lanterns to find their way to and from the fair on what was thought to be, a stormy night.
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