By Liane Arno

When Matt took me to Ireland it was some years after he had lived there which was just prior to the end of the ‘Troubles’ which you will know was the 30‑year period of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. But there was still a lot of evidence of the dissent. Huge murals were painted of masked gunmen with slogans like, ‘Prepared for Peace, Ready for War,’ or ‘Tiocfaidh ár lá’ (‘Our day will come’). Kerbsides and gutters were painted red, white and blue if you were in a Loyalist (Protestant) part of town and green, white and orange if in a Republican (Catholic) part of town.

Back in England, some years prior, my grandmother, who, not normally associated with having a green thumb, would grow the orange lilies for the local Orange Order for their annual march, refused to meet my first husband, whose name was Patrick and whose mother, Moira was born an Irish Catholic.

There was a time in Ireland’s past when it wasn’t this way.  Prior to Christianity there were the Druids.  Druids served as priests, philosophers, healers, judges and astronomers. They were lovers of nature and relied completely on an oral tradition, never writing anything down to preserve their secrets.  They didn’t build temples.  The stone circles that scatter Ireland well preceded them by 1,000 years but they may have been used by Druids as places for their rituals.

Samhain was celebrated at the end of the harvest season, just prior to winter, when the light gave way to darkness. Bonfires were lit and costumes worn to ward off evil spirits and food was left out for wandering souls. The veil between the living and dead was thought to be the thinnest at this time and spirits would cross between the worlds. You are right if you have guessed that this was the spiritual ancestor for Halloween. There have I been refusing to take part in it because I thought it was American commercialism when I should have been celebrating an ancient Celtic festival.

Of course we are south of the equator and so it is in spring that we see pumpkins making it to the supermarket shelves.  And our pumpkins are also now ripe. This year we grew Queensland Blues, with limited success (two, but lost one to some anonymous critter) and Trombones, with which we had great success.

So, what to do with them?

Thai-style Fragrant Pumpkin Soup

In an oiled pot add:

1 onion diced

1 red chilli finely diced

1 lemon grass stem finely diced (I use a squirt of the paste in a tube)

2 tbsp ginger finely julienned

1 kaffir lime leaf finely chopped

3 garlic cloves finely chopped

Bunch of coriander stems and roots chopped (keep the leaves for the end)

Zest of a couple of oranges (this is a must do and really adds to the flavour)

Fry until the flavours start to release and then add:

1 kg pumpkin cut into cubes

1 can (400ml) coconut milk

½ can (200ml) coconut cream

1 cup vegetable stock

Cook for around 30 minutes or until pumpkin is tender - it will depend on the type of pumpkin you use.

Blitz.

Pop into serving bowls, swirl in a dollop of the rest of the can of coconut cream and serve with coriander leaves.