Some spooky fun! A pinch of Samhain, a sprinkle of halloween and a touch of dia de los muertos , the GTP explore all hallows eve traditions through Punky Night !

PUNKIE NIGHT

Welcome to Punkie Night! On the 30th of October the Golden Thread Project returned to Cecil Sharp House with an exhibition, new book and roster of musical acts to celebrate the weird, wonderful and debatable precursor to Halloween, Punkie Night!

What the heck is Punkie Night I hear you ask? Well, long ago in the Somerset Village of Hinton St George local farmers walked through dense woodland to visit Chiselborough fare, after a few hours of fun (aided by strong cider) they were unable to navigate their way home; their wives sick with worry carved lanterns out of Mangel Wurzels and went into the woods to find their inebriated husbands. 

From this cautionary and far-fetched tale a tradition grew which is still performed to this day! The villagers of Hinton St George carve lanterns out of Mangel Wurzels and parade the village singing the punky song, ending at the village hall where the maker of the prize for ‘best punkie’ is named.

 So as the nights drew in and the border betwixt the worlds of the living and the dead grew thin. We welcomed all wayward travellers to Cecil Sharp House and entertained with our own Punkie Night musical attraction including Sharron Kraus, Fell, Ted Versicolor and Crunchy Bat, assisted by Murri Collective and their jolly folk-dj sounds and all introduced with verve by our MC, a humanoid crow.

Tickets sold comes with a 32 page full-colour illustrated picture-book by Golden Thread Project artists.

Papel-Picado Illustration by Aidan Saunders

PUNKIE NIGHT WORKSHOPS

Before we kicked off the Punkie Night festivities we held some Punkie Night workshops. Participants made ‘Papel Picados’ with Artist and Illustrator Aidan Saunders a workshop inspired by ‘Dia de los Muertos’ traditions in Mexico, chiselling patterns into brightly coloured tissue paper which were used to adorn the halls of EFDSS.

There was as Tetra-Pak Printing with Stephen Fowler, a Punkie Night themed workshop exploring this rewarding and accessible printing method, as championed by that master of Lo-Fi printmaking, Stephen Fowler. This method uses card from an everyday source - Tetra-Pak juice cartons.  This is scribed into, to make a printing plate. The resultant printed images are reminiscent of etchings. 

And Punkie carving with ZEEL. 

You couldn’t have Punkie Night without Punkies, ZEEL made with participants turnip and mangle-wurzel Punkie lanterns the traditional British way, before the Pumpkin reached our shores from the new world of the Americas, folks in the UK were making Punkie-lanterns out of turnips and their larger cousin, the mangle-wurzel. Adorned with scary faces as we might expect, but just as likely to be engraved with designs of many kinds from ships to birds and flowers. These punkies would be carried in processions and put out on doorstep or garden wall as a welcoming display on a misty All Hallows-eve. 

WELCOME TO PUNKIE NIGHT BOOK

To coincide with Punkie Night, the Golden Thread Project are released their picture book ‘Welcome to Punkie Night’.

The book is a collaboration between GTP founders Aidan Saunders and ZEEL with Illustrator Stephen Fowler and musician Sharron Kraus. The book is an illustrated tour of Hinton St George, giving you a fly on the wall perspective on a family as they participate in Punkie Night. BUT all isn’t as it seems in this Somerset village, as the membrane between worlds thins you are allowed to peep behind the veil into the otherworld and witness the wild magic of summer’s end.

Sharron Kraus has written a song to accompany the book which is made accessible via a QR code featured in the book. Sharron has amazingly translated and transformed our imagery into a mesmeric soundscape which will guide you safely through Punkie Night and the Otherworld, then back safely home, ready for the beginning of winter.

All workshop participants and Punkie Night ticket holders will receive a free copy of ‘Welcome to Punkie Night’ and will have free access to the Sharron Kraus music that accompanies it.