Have you met the Ghost? Beet-lanterns Long Before the Pumpkin.

     "Have you met the ghost yet?" Kenneth, a classmate, asked me early one Monday morning in fifth or sixth grade. Kenneth had done some research over the week-end and apparently found an old book that described the story of a ghost at Gammelgaard, where I lived. Many historic places such as Gammelgaard were rumored to have ghosts; the Grey Lady is one that quickly comes to mind from another place.

     Up until that point I hadn't had any such encounters; I think growing up, you only think of your home as home, regardless of where it is. I certainly didn't think of our home any differently than you did of yours while growing up. Of course I was aware that there was a mote and tower and turrets, I was aware that important people from Danish history had lived there, but I didn't romantisize (is that a word?-It is now!)) over it. Perhaps Kenneth's discovery was meant to frighten me, perhaps he really just wanted to start a conversation, whatever the motivation, he showed me the book and it did open my eyes and spark great curiosity.
     I looked and I looked; sometimes I thought I saw something, sometimes I thought I heard something. When I walked down to the stables early in the morning to feed the horses, while it was still dark, I definetely found things hiding behind each tree, along the long walk down to the farm; and I held a large flashlight in one hand and the leash to my black Labrador tightly in the other, all the while fixating my eyes solely on the circle of light in front of my feet .

     Halloween is next month which is what reminded me of Kenneth's question. Denmark has adopted the American traditions. I believe it was in 1996 when someone tried to sell a bunch of orange pumpkins to the Danes, and now every year more than 100.000 of them are sold there. But Halloween isn't actually an American thing and the lantern tradition definetely had a place in Denmark over 100 years ago, only it was a hollowed out sugar-beet; using the pointy end(s) as freaky looking hair. I remember making them as a child and they are much harder to make than the pumpkin versions (imagine a giant fat carrot, the consistency being the same, so you will need a good knife and be careful not to cut yourself). Beet lanterns have faded almost to extinction up until now.

     Like so many traditions Halloween is a compilation of different legends, part religious, part pagan, celebrations of harvest and celebrations of the dead. But the original Jack-O'Lantern was actually a sugar beet. An important detail for someone like me, seeing as sugar beets are one of the main crops in the area where I grew up. And the original legend was from Ireland describing a lazy, drunken farmer, Jack, who lived an altogether unholy life. There are many variations of it but they all end up with Jack making a deal with the Devil himself, where the Devil will no longer tempt Jack and not claim his soul when that time comes. The time comes; Jack dies, as is customary at the end of life. Given his truely unholy life, he obviously cannot gain access to the Pearly Gates of Heaven and given his deal with the Devil he also cannot go down there. The Devil feels a bit of pity for Jack and gives him a glowing piece of coal to light his way. Jack hollows out a sugar beet to protect the little light source and make it last as long as possible as he wanders restlessly between Heaven and Hell. And voila! Here is your first Hallowen lantern, it was a sugar beet!

     I wonder if hollowing out sugar beets is having a renaissance in Denmark, now that Halloween is celebrated in the commercial sense too? Given the choice between hollowing out a pumpkin and hollowing out a sugar-beet, I know which is easier and certainly much safer (I have cut myself many many times carving sugar beets, but that's another story)

     P.S. Lauritz Grubbe and wife Anna Sparre (owners of Gammelgaard in 1596). As you can see from the painting, Lauritz' finger is indeed bleeding-see Lilje's comment below). I will return to the story of why it is bleeding and when it might stop if ever, another time.(It was not from carving sugar beets!)

     To answer Kenneth's question: "I am still not sure, I think I may have!"