"Jack's alive and likely to live,
If he die in my hand a pawn I'll give."
In this county forfeits are always called "pawns"; they are cried by
the holder of them, saying,--
"Here's a pawn and a very pretty pawn!
And what shall the owner of this pawn do?"
After the midnight supper, at which in one village in the extreme West
a pie of four-and-twenty blackbirds always appeared, many spells to
forecast the future were practised. The following account of them was
given to me by a friend. He says--"I engaged in them once at Sennen
(the village at the Land's End) with a lot of girls, but as my object
was only to spoil sport and make the girls laugh or speak, it was
not quite satisfactory. I suppose the time to which I refer is over
forty years ago. After making up a large turf fire, for hot 'umers'
(embers) and pure water are absolutely necessary in these divinations,
the young people silently left the house in single file, to pull the
rushes and gather the ivy-leaves by means of which they were to learn
whether they were to be married, and to whom; and if any, or how many,
of their friends were to die before the end of the year. On leaving
and on returning each of these Twelfth-night diviners touched the
'cravel' with the forehead and 'wished.' The cravel is the tree that
preceded lintels in chimney corners, and its name from this custom may
have been derived from the verb 'to crave.' Had either of the party
inadvertently broken the silence before the rushes and ivy-leaves
had been procured they would all have been obliged to retrace their
steps to the house and again touch the cravel; but this time all went
well. When we came back those who wished to know their fate named the
rushes in pairs, and placed them in the hot embers: one or two of
the engaged couples being too shy to do this for themselves, their
friends, amidst much laughing, did it for them. The manner in which
the rushes burned showed if the young people were to be married to
the person chosen or not: some, of course, burnt well, others parted,
and one or two went out altogether. The couples that burnt smoothly
were to be wedded, and the one named after the rush that lasted longest
outlived the other. This settled, one ivy-leaf was thrown on the fire;
the number of cracks it made was the number of years before the wedding
would take place. Then two were placed on the hot ashes; the cracks
they gave this time showed how many children the two would have. We
then drew ivy-leaves named after present or absent friends through
a wedding ring, and put them into a basin of water which we left
until the next morning. Those persons whose leaves had shrivelled or
turned black in the night were to die before the next Twelfth-tide,
and those who were so unfortunate as to find their leaves spotted
with red, by some violent death, unless a 'pellar' (wise man) could
by his skill and incantations grant protection. These prophecies
through superstition sometimes unluckily fulfilled themselves."
During the twelve days of Christmas card-playing was a very favourite
amusement with all classes. Whilst the old people enjoyed their game
of whist with 'swabbers,' the young ones had their round games. I will
append the rules of two or three for those who would like to try them.
Whist (or whisk, as I have heard an old lady call it and maintain
that that was its proper name) with "swabbers."
This game, which was played as recently as 1880, nightly, by
four maiden ladies at Falmouth, is like ordinary whist; but each
player before beginning to play puts into the pool a fixed sum for
"swabs." The "swab-cards" are--ace and deuce of trumps, ace of hearts
and knave of clubs. The four cards are of equal value; but should
hearts be trumps the ace would count double.
"Board-'em," a round game that can be played by any number of players,
from two to eight; it is played for fish, and there must never be
less than six fish in the pool. Six cards are dealt to each person;
and the thirteenth, if two are playing, the nineteenth if three, and
so on, is turned up for trumps. The fore-hand plays; the next player,
if he has one, must follow suit, if not, he may play another suit, or
trump. The highest card of the original suit, if not trumped, takes
the trick and one or more fish, according to the number staked. If
you have neither card in your hand that you think will make a trick
you may decline to play, in which case you only lose your stake;
but should you play and fail to take a trick you pay for the whole
company, and are said to "be boarded."
"Ranter-go-round" was formerly played in four divisions marked with
chalk upon a tea-tray; or even, in some cases, on a bellows--it is now
played on a table, and is called "Miss Joan." Any number of players
may join in it. The first player throws down any card of any suit,
and says:--
"Here's a ---- as you may see.
2nd Player--Here's another as good as he.
3rd Player--And here's the best of all the three.
4th Player--And here's Miss Joan, come tickle me."
The holder of the fourth card wins the trick. He sometimes added the
words wee-wee; but these are now generally omitted. If the person
sitting next to the fore-hand has neither one of the cards demanded
(one of the same value as the first played, in another suit), he
pays one to the pool, as must all in turn who fail to produce the
right cards. The player of the third may have the fourth in his hand,
in which case all the others pay. The holder of the most tricks wins
the game and takes the pool.
I once, about thirty years since, at this season of the year, joined
some children at Camborne who were playing a very primitive game called
by them "pinny-ninny." A basin turned upside down was placed in the
centre of a not very large round table. The players were supplied
with small piles of pins--not the well-made ones sold in papers,
but clumsy things with wire heads--"pound-pins." A large bottle full
of them might, then, always be seen in the general shop window of
every little country village. Each in turn dropped a pin over the
side of the basin, and he whose pin fell and formed a cross on the
top of the heap was entitled to add them to his own pile. This went
on until one player had beggared all the others. Poor children before
Christmas often begged pins to play this game, and their request was
always granted by the gift of two.
A wishing-well, near St. Austell, was sometimes called Pennameny
Well, from the custom of dropping pins into it. Pedna-a-mean is the
old Cornish for "heads-and-tails."--(See Divination at St. Roche and
Madron Well.)
All Christmas-cakes must be eaten by the night of Twelfth-tide,
as it is unlucky to have any left, and all decorations must be
taken down on the next day, because for every forgotten leaf of
evergreen a ghost will be seen in the house in the course of the
ensuing year. This latter superstition does not prevail, however,
in all parts of Cornwall, as in some districts a small branch is kept
to scare away evil spirits.
January 24th, St. Paul's-eve, is a holiday with the miners, and is
called by them 'Paul pitcher-day,' from a custom they have of setting
up a water-pitcher, which they pelt with stones until it is broken
in pieces. A new one is afterwards bought and carried to a beer-shop
to be filled with beer.
"There is a curious custom prevalent in some parts of Cornwall of
throwing broken pitchers and other earthen vessels against the doors
of dwelling-houses on the eve of the conversion of St. Paul, thence
locally called 'Paul pitcher-night.' On that evening parties of young
people perambulate the parishes in which the custom is retained,
exclaiming as they throw the sherds, 'St. Paul's-eve and here's a
heave.' According to the received notions the first heave cannot
be objected to; but, upon its being repeated, the inhabitants of
the house whose door is thus attacked may, if they can, seize the
offenders and inflict summary justice upon them."--(F.M., Notes and
Queries, March, 1874.)
I have heard of this practice from a native of East Cornwall, who
told me the pitchers were filled with broken sherds, filth, &c.
The weather on St. Paul's-day still, with the old people, foretells
the weather for the ensuing year, and the rhyme common to all England
is repeated by them:--
"If St. Paul's-day be fine and clear," &c.
St. Blazey, a village in East Cornwall, is so named in honour of
St. Blaize, who is said to have landed at Par, a small neighbouring
seaport, when he came on a visit to England. His feast, which is
held on 3rd February, would not be worth mentioning were it not for
the fact that--"This saint is invoked in the county for toothache,
while applying to the tooth the candle that burned on the altar of the
church dedicated to him. The same candles are good for sore-throats
and curing diseases in cattle."--(Mrs. Damant, Cowes.)
On the Monday after St. Ives feast, which falls on Quinquagesima
Sunday, an annual hurling-match is held on the sands. Most writers
on Cornwall have described the old game. The following account is
taken from The Land's End District, 1862, by R. Edmonds:--
"A ball about the size of a cricket-ball, formed of cork, or light
wood, and covered with silver, was hurled into the air, midway
between the goals. Both parties immediately rushed towards it, each
striving to seize and carry it to its own goal. In this contest,
when any individual having possession of the ball found himself
overpowered or outrun by his opponents, he hurled it to one of his
own side, if near enough, or, if not, into some pool, ditch, furze,
brake, garden, house, or other place of concealment, to prevent his
adversaries getting hold of it before his own company could arrive."
The hurlers, quaintly says Carew (Survey of Cornwall, p. 74), "Take
their next way ouer hills, dales, hedges, ditches--yea, and thorou
bushes, briers, mires, plashes, and rivers whatsoever--so as you
shall sometimes see twenty or thirty lie tugging together in the
water, scrambling and scratching for the ball. A play verily both
rude and rough."
Hurling between two or more parishes, and between one parish and
another, has long ceased in Cornwall: but hurling by one part of a
parish against another is still played at St. Ives, as well as other
places in Cornwall. At St. Ives all the Toms, Wills, and Johns are on
one side, while those having other Christian names range themselves on
the opposite. At St. Columb (East Cornwall) the townspeople contend
with the countrymen; at Truro, the married men with the unmarried;
at Helston, two streets with all the other streets; on the 2nd of May,
when their town-bounds are renewed.
"Fair-play is good play," is the hurlers' motto. This is sometimes
engraven on their balls in the old Cornish language. Private families
possess some of these balls won by their ancestors early in the last
century that are religiously handed down as heirlooms.
A Druidic circle at St. Cleer, in East Cornwall, is known as the
Hurlers, from a tradition that a party of men hurling on a Sunday
were there for their wickedness turned into stone.
'Peasen or Paisen Monday' is the Monday before Shrove Tuesday; it is so
called in East Cornwall from a custom of eating pea-soup there on this
day. This practice was once so universal in some parishes that an old
farmer of Lower St. Columb, who had a special aversion to pea-soup,
left his home in the morning, telling his wife that he should not
come back to dinner, but spend the day with a friend. He returned
two or three hours after in great disgust, as at every house in the
village he had been asked to stay and taste their delicious pea-soup.
"This day also in East Cornwall bears the name of 'Hall Monday,'
why, I know not. And at dusk on the evening of the same day it is the
custom for boys, and in some cases for those above the age of boys,
to prowl about the streets with short clubs, and to knock loudly at
every door, running off to escape detection on the slightest sign of a
motion within. If, however, no attention be excited, and especially if
any article be discovered, negligently exposed or carelessly guarded,
then the things are carried away, and on the following morning are
seen displayed in some conspicuous place, to disclose the disgraceful
want of vigilance supposed to characterise the owner. The time when
this is practised is called 'Nicky Nan' night, and the individuals
concerned are supposed to represent some imps of darkness, that seize
on and expose unguarded moments."--(Polperro, p. 151, by T. Q. Couch.)
A custom nearly similar to this was practised in Scilly in the last
century.
The dinner on Shrove Tuesday in many Cornish houses consists of fried
eggs and bacon, or salt pork, followed by the universal pancake,
which is eaten by all classes. It is made the full size of the pan,
and currants are put into the batter.
In Penzance large quantities of limpets and periwinkles are gathered
in the afternoon by poor people, to be cooked for their supper. This
they call "going a-trigging." Any kind of shell-fish picked up at
low water in this district is known as "trig-meat."
Many other customs were formerly observed in Penzance on Shrove
Tuesday, peculiar, I believe, to this town.
Women and boys stood at the corners of the streets, with well-greased,
sooty hands, which they rubbed over people's faces. I remember, not
more than thirty years ago, seeing a little boy run into a house in
a great hurry, and ask for what was he wanted. He had met a woman who
had put her hands affectionately on each side of his face, and said,
"Your father has been looking for you, my dear." She had left the
marks of her dirty fingers.
The butchers' market was always thoroughly cleaned in the afternoon,
to see if the town hose were in perfect repair, and great merriment
was often excited by the firemen turning the full force of the water
on some unwary passer-by.
People, too, were occasionally deluged by having buckets of water
thrown over them. Every Shrove Tuesday after dusk men and boys went
about and threw handfuls of shells, bottles of filth, etc., in at the
doors. It was usual then for drapers to keep their shops open until
a very late hour; and I have been told that boys were occasionally
bribed by the assistants to throw something particularly disagreeable
in on the floors, that the masters might be frightened, and order the
shops to be shut. Still later in the evening signs were taken down,
knockers wrenched off, gates unhung and carried to some distance. This
last was done even as far down as 1881. Pulling boats up and putting
them in a mill-pool (now built over) was a common practice at Mousehole
in the beginning of the century.
"In Landewednack, on Shrove Tuesday, children from the ages of six
to twelve perambulate the parish begging for 'Col-perra' (probably
an old Cornish word); but, whatever be its meaning, they expect to
receive eatables or half-pence. As few refuse to give, they collect
during the day a tolerable booty, in the shape of money, eggs, buns,
apples, etc. The custom has existed from time immemorial, but none
of the inhabitants are acquainted with its origin."--(A Week in the
Lizard, by Rev. C. A. Johns, B.B., F.L.S.)
I have been favoured by the Rev. S. Rundle, Godolphin, with the formula
repeated by the children on this occasion (now almost forgotten):
"Hen-cock, han-cock, give me a 'tabban' (morsel), or else 'Col-perra'
shall come to your door."
Boys at St. Ives, Scilly, and other places, went about with stones
tied to strings, with which they struck the doors, saying:--
"Give me a pancake, now! now! now!
Or I'll knock in your door with a row, tow, tow!"
This custom has only lately (if it has yet) quite died out. The rhyme
at Polperro ran thus:--
"Nicky, Nicky, Nan,
Give me some pancake, and then I'll be gone,
But if you give me none
I'll throw a great stone,
And down your door shall come."
T. Q. Couch.
Cock-fighting at Shrovetide was once a very favourite amusement in
Cornwall, and in some of the most remote western villages has until
recently been continued. "The Cock-pit" at Penzance, a small part
of which still remains as a yard at the Union Hotel, belonged to and
was kept up by the Corporation until (I think) the beginning of the
present century.
"Sir Rose Price, when young, was a great patron of the pit between
the years 1780-1790. His father disapproved, and in consideration
of his son giving up cock-fighting bought him a pack of hounds,
the first foxhounds west of Truro."--(T.S.B.)
"At St. Columb, about sixty years ago, on Shrove Tuesday, each child
in a dame's school was expected by the mistress to bring an egg,
and at twelve o'clock the children had an egg-battle. Two children
stood facing each other, each held an egg, and struck the end of it
against that of the opponent lengthwise, the result being that one
or both were broken.
"An unbroken egg was used again and again to fight the rest, and
so the battle raged until all, or all but one, of the eggs were
broken. The child who at the end of the fight held a sound egg was
considered to be the conqueror, and was glorified accordingly. To
save the contents of the eggs, which were the perquisite of the
mistress, she held a plate beneath; and at the end of the battle
the children were dismissed. And the old lady having picked out all
the broken shells, proceeded to prepare her pancakes, of which she
made her dinner."--(Fred. W. P. Jago, M.B., Plymouth, W. Antiquary,
March, 1884.)
"It must be now about thirty years ago that I was a day-scholar at
the National School of St. Columb, and it was the custom then for each
boy and girl to bring an egg. One of the senior boys stood at a table
and wrote the name of the donor upon each. At about eleven o'clock the
schoolmaster would produce a large punchbowl, and as he took up each
egg he read the name, and broke the egg into the bowl. Eggs at that
time were sold at three for a penny."--(W. B., Bodmin, W. Antiquary,
March, 1884.)
In the eastern part of the county at the beginning of Lent a straw
figure dressed in cast-off clothes, and called "Jack-o'-lent," was not
long since paraded through the streets and afterwards hung. Something
of this kind is common on the Continent.
The figure is supposed to represent Judas Iscariot. A slovenly ragged
person is sometimes described as a "Jack-o'-lent."
1st March.--In Mid-Cornwall, people arise before the sun is up, and
sweep before the door to sweep away fleas.--(T. Q. Couch, W. Antiquary,
September, 1883.)
5th March.--St. Piran's day is a miners' holiday. St. Piran is the
patron saint of "tinners," and is popularly supposed to have died
drunk. "As drunk as a Piraner" is a Cornish proverb.
The first Friday in March is another miners' holiday, "Friday in
Lide." It is marked by a serio-comic custom of sending a young man
on the highest "bound," or hillock, of the "works," and allowing him
to sleep there as long as he can, the length of his siesta being the
measure of the afternoon nap of the "tinners" throughout the ensuing
twelve months.--(T. Q. Couch.) Lide is an obsolete term for the month
of March still preserved in old proverbs, such as "Ducks won't lay
'till they've drunk Lide water.
Of a custom observed at Little Colan, in East Cornwall, on Palm Sunday,
Carew says: "Little Colan is not worth observation, unlesse you will
deride or pity their simplicity, who sought at our Lady Nant's well
there to foreknowe what fortune should betide them, which was in this
manner. Upon Palm Sunday these idle-headed seekers resorted thither
with a Palme cross in one hand and an offring in the other. The offring
fell to the Priest's share, the crosse they threwe into the well;
which if it swamme the party should outliue the yeere; if it sunk a
short ensuing death was boded; and perhaps not altogether vntimely,
while a foolish conceite of this 'halsening' myght the sooner helpe
it onwards."
Holy Thursday.--On that Thursday, and the two following Thursdays,
girls in the neighbourhood of Roche, in East Cornwall, repair to
his holy or wishing well before sunrise. They throw in crooked pins
or pebbles, and, by the bubbles that rise to the surface, seek to
ascertain whether their sweethearts will be true or false. There was
once a chapel near this well, which was then held in great repute for
the cure of all kinds of diseases, and a granite figure of St. Roche
stood on the arch of the building that still covers it.
"Goody Friday" (Good Friday) was formerly kept more as a feast than a
fast in Cornwall. Every vehicle was engaged days beforehand to take
parties to some favourite place of resort in the neighbourhood, and
labourers in inland parishes walked to the nearest seaport to gather
"wrinkles" (winkles), &c.
On the morning of Good Friday at St. Constantine, in West Cornwall,
an old custom is still observed of going to Helford river to gather
shell-fish (limpets, cockles, &c.); this river was once famous for
oysters, and many were then bought and eaten on this day.
"Near Padstow, in East Cornwall, is the tower of an old church
dedicated to St. Constantine. In its vicinity the feast of
St. Constantine used to be annually celebrated, and has only
been discontinued of late years. Its celebration consisted in the
destruction of limpet-pies, and service in the church, followed
by a hurling match."--(Murray's Cornwall.) Another writer says:
"The festival of St. Constantine" (March 9th) "was until very lately
kept at St. Merran" (Constantine and Merran are now one parish) "by an
annual hurling match, on which occasion the owner of Harlyn" (a house
in the neighbourhood) "had from time immemorial supplied the silver
ball. We are informed, on good authority, that a Shepherd's family,
of the name of Edwards, held one of the cottages in Constantine for
many generations under the owners of Harlyn, by the annual render
of a Cornish pie, made of limpets, raisins, and sweet herbs, on the
feast of St. Constantine."--(Lysons' Magna Britannia.)
At St. Day a fair was formerly held on Good Friday, now changed to
Easter Monday.
"On Good Friday, 1878, I saw a brisk fair going on in the little
village of Perran Porth, Cornwall, not far from the curious oratory of
St. Piran, known as Perranzabuloe."--(W. A. B. C., Notes and Queries,
April 23rd, 1881.)
But, although many still make this day a holiday, the churches are
now much better attended. Good Friday cross-buns of many kinds are
sold by the Cornish confectioners; some, highly spiced, are eaten
hot with butter and sugar; a commoner bun is simply washed over the
top with saffron, and has a few currants stuck on it. There is one
peculiar, I believe, to Penzance: it is made of a rich currant paste
highly covered with saffron; it is about an eighth of an inch thick,
and four inches in diameter, and is marked with a large cross that
divides it into four equal portions.
"In some of our farmhouses the Good Friday bun may be seen hanging
to a string from the bacon-rack, slowly diminishing until the return
of the season replaces it by a fresh one. It is of sovereign good in
all manners of diseases afflicting the family or cattle. I have more
than once seen a little of this cake grated into a warm mash for a
sick cow."--(T. Q. Couch, Polperro.) There is a superstition that
bread made on this day never gets mouldy.
Many amateur gardeners sow their seeds on Good Friday; superstition
says then they will all grow. "There is a widely known belief
in West Cornwall, that young ravens are always hatched on Good
Friday."--(T. Cornish, W. Antiquary, October, 1887.)
On Easter Monday, at Penzance, it was the custom within the last twenty
years to bring out in the lower part of the town, before the doors,
tables, on which were placed thick gingerbread cakes with raisins in
them, cups and saucers, etc., to be raffled for with cups and dice,
called here "Lilly-bangers." Fifty years since a man, nicknamed
Harry Martillo, with his wife, the "lovelee," always kept one of
these "lilly-banger stalls" at Penzance on market day. He would call
attention to his gaming-table by shouting--
"I've been in Europe, Ayshee, Afrikee, and Amerikee,
And come back and married the lovelee."
I have heard that both used tobacco in three ways, and indulged
freely in rum, also "tom-trot" (hardbake), strongly flavoured with
peppermint. Of course a lively market would influence the dose, and
as for "lovelee," it must have been in Harry's partial eyes.--(H.R.C.)
"Upon little Easter Sunday, the freeholders of the towne and mannour
of Lostwithiel, by themselves or their deputies, did there assemble,
amongst whom one (as it fell to his lot by turne), bravely apparelled,
gallantly mounted, with a crowne on his head, a scepter in his hand,
a sword borne before him, and dutifully attended by all the rest
also on horseback, ride thorow the principal streete to the Church;
there the Curate in his best 'beseene' solemne receiud him at the
Church-yard stile, and conducted him to heare diuine seruice; after
which he repaired with the same pompe to a house fore-prouided for
that purpose, made a feast to his attendants, kept the table's end
himselfe, and was serued with kneeling, assay, and all other rites
due to the estate of a Prince; with which dinner the ceremony ended,
and every man returned home again."--(Carew.)
The ancient custom of choosing a mock mayor was observed at
Lostwithiel, on 10th October, 1884, by torchlight, in the presence of
nearly a thousand people. The origin of both these customs is now quite
forgotten. "A custom still existing at St. John's, Helston, and also at
Buryan. The last mayor of the Quay, Penzance, was Mr. Robinson, a noted
authority on sea fishing, etc. He died about ten years ago."--(H.R.C.)
April 1st. The universal attempts at fooling on this day are carried on
in Cornwall as elsewhere, and children are sent by their schoolfellows
for penn'orths of pigeon's milk, memory powder, strap-oil, etc., or
with a note telling the receiver "to send the fool farther." When one
boy succeeds in taking in another, he shouts after him, Fool! fool! the
"guckaw" (cuckoo).
Towednack's (a village near St. Ives) "Cuckoo" or "Crowder" feast is on
the nearest Sunday to the 28th April. Tradition accounts for the first
name by the story of a man who there gave a feast on an inclement
day in the end of April. To warm his guests he threw some faggots
on the fire (or some furze-bushes), when a cuckoo flew out of them,
calling "Cuckoo! cuckoo!" It was caught and kept, and he resolved
every year to invite his friends to celebrate the event. This, too,
is said to be the origin of the feast.
"Crowder" in Cornwall means a fiddler, and the fiddle is called a
"crowd." In former days the parishioners of Towednack were met at
the church door on "feasten" day by a "crowder," who, playing on his
"crowd," headed a procession through the village street, hence its
second name.
The only May-pole now erected in Cornwall is put up on April 30th,
at Hugh Town, St. Mary's, Scilly. Girls dance round it on May-day with
garlands of flowers on their heads, or large wreaths of flowers from
shoulder to waist. Dr. Stephen Clogg, of Looe, says that "May-poles
are still to be seen on May-day, at Pelynt, Dulver, and East and
West Looe."--(W. Antiquary, August, 1884.) In the beginning of this
century, boys and girls in Cornwall sat up until twelve o'clock on the
eve of May-day, and then marched around the towns and villages with
Musical Instruments, collecting their friends to go a-maying. May-day
is ushered in at Penzance by the discordant blowing of large tin
horns. At daybreak, and even earlier, parties of boys, five or six in
number, assemble at the street corners, from whence they perambulate
the town blowing their horns and conchshells. They enter the gardens
of detached houses, stop and bray under the bed-room windows, and
beg for money. With what they collect they go into the country, and
at one of the farmhouses they breakfast on bread and clotted cream,
junket, &c. An additional ring of tin (a penn'orth) is added to his
horn every year that a boy uses it.
Formerly, on May-morn, if the boys succeeded in fixing a "May bough"
over a farmer's door before he was up, he was considered bound to
give them their breakfasts; and in some parts of the county, should
the first comer bring with him a piece of well-opened hawthorn,
he was entitled to a basin of cream.
"In West Cornwall it is the custom to hang a piece of furze to a door
early in the morning of May-day. At breakfast-time the one who does
this appears and demands a piece of bread and cream with a basin of
'raw-milk' (milk that has not been scalded and the cream taken off).
"In Landrake, East Cornwall, it was the custom to give the person
who plucked a fern as much cream as would cover it. It was also a
practice there to chastise with stinging nettles any one found in
bed after six on May-morning."--(Rev. S. Rundle, Vicar, Godolphin.)
Young shoots of sycamore, as well as white thorn, are known as May in
Cornwall, and from green twigs of the former and from green stalks
of wheaten corn the children of this county make a rude whistle,
which they call a "feeper."
Until very lately parties of young men and women rose betimes on
May-day and went into the country to breakfast; going a "a junketing"
in the evening has not yet been discontinued.
At Hayle, on May-day (1883), as usual, groups of children, decorated
with flowers and gay with fantastic paper-clothes, went singing through
the streets. In the evening bonfires were lit in various parts of the
town, houses were illuminated with candles, torches and fire-balls
burnt until a late hour. The last is a new and dangerous plaything:
a ball of tow or rags is saturated with petroleum, set fire to,
and then kicked from one place to another; it leaves a small track
of burning oil wherever it goes.
"On May-morning, in Polperro, the children and even adults go
out into the country and fetch home branches of the narrow-leaved
elm, or flowering boughs of white thorn, both of which are called
'May.' At a later hour all the boys sally forth with bucket, can,
or other vessel, and avail themselves of a license which the season
confers--to 'dip' or wellnigh drown, without regard to person or
circumstance, the passenger who has not the protection of a piece of
'May' conspicuously stuck in his dress; at the same time they sing,
'The first of May is Dipping-day.' This manner of keeping May-day is,
I have heard, common in Cornwall. We are now favoured with a call
from the boy with his pretty garland, gay with bright flowers and
gaudily-painted birds'-eggs, who expects some little gratuity for
the sight."--(T. Q. Couch.)
"At East and West Looe the boys dress their hats with flowers, furnish
themselves with bullocks' horns, in which sticks of two feet long are
fixed, and with these filled with water they parade the streets and
dip all persons who have not the sprig of May in their hats."--(Bond.)
"First of May you must take down all the horse-shoes (that are nailed
over doors to keep out witches, &c.) and turn them, not letting them
touch the ground."--(Old farmer, Mid-Cornwall, through T. Q. Couch,
W. Antiquary, September, 1883.)
May-day at Padstow is Hobby-horse day. A hobby-horse is carried through
the streets to a pool known as Traitor's-pool, a quarter of a mile
out of the town. Here it is supposed to drink: the head is dipped
into the water, which is freely sprinkled over the spectators. The
procession returns home, singing a song to commemorate the tradition
that the French, having landed in the bay, mistook a party of mummers
in red cloaks for soldiers, hastily fled to their boats and rowed away.
"The May-pole on the first of May at Padstow has only been discontinued
within the last six or eight years (1883). It was erected in connection
with the 'Hobby-horse' festival by the young men of the town, who on
the last eve of April month would go into the country, cut a quantity
of blooming yellow furze, and gather the flowers then in season, make
garlands of the same; borrow the largest spar they could get from
the shipwright's yard, dress it up with the said furze and garlands,
with a flag or two on the top, and hoist the pole in a conspicuous
part of the town, when the 'Mayers,' male and female, would dance
around it on that festival-day, singing--
'And strew all your flowers, for summer is come in to-day.
It is but a while ago since we have strewed ours
In the merry morning of May,' &c.
"The May-pole was allowed to remain up from a week to a fortnight,
when it was taken down, stripped, and the pole returned."--(Henry
Harding, Padstow, W. Antiquary, August, 1883.)
"Formerly all the respectable people at Padstow kept this anniversary,
decorated with the choicest flowers; but some unlucky day a number of
rough characters from a distance joined in it, and committed some sad
assaults upon old and young, spoiling all their nice summer clothes,
and covering their faces and persons with smut. From that time--fifty
years since--(1865) the procession is formed of the lowest.
"The May-pole was once decorated with the best flowers, now with
only some elm-branches and furze in blossom. The horse is formed
as follows: The dress is made of sackcloth painted black--a fierce
mask--eyes red, horse's head, horse-hair mane and tail; distended
by a hoop--some would call it frightful. Carried by a powerful man,
he could inflict much mischief with the snappers, &c. No doubt it is
a remnant of the ancient plays, and it represents the devil, or the
power of darkness. They commence singing at sunrise.
'THE MORNING-SONG.
'Unite and unite, and let us all unite,
For summer is comen to-day;
For whither we are going we all will unite,
In the merry morning of May.
'Arise up, Mr. ----, and joy you betide,
For summer is comen to-day;
And bright is your bride that lays by your side,
In the merry morning of May.
'Arise, up Mrs. ----, and gold be your ring,
For summer is comen to-day;
And give us a cup of ale, the merrier we shall sing
In the merry morning of May.
'Arise up, Miss ----, all in your smock of silk,
For summer is comen to-day;
And all your body under as white as any milk,
In the merry morning of May.
'The young men of Padstow might if they would,
For summer is comen to-day;
They might have built a ship and gilded her with gold,
In the merry morning of May.
'Now fare you well, and we bid you good cheer,
For summer is comen to-day;
He will come no more unto your house before another year,
In the merry morning of May.'"
(George Rawlings, September 1st, 1865, through
R. Hunt, F.R.S., Droles, &c., Old Cornwall.)
Mr. Rawlings all through his song has written "For summer has come
unto day," but this is clearly a mistake. He also gives another which
he calls the "May-Song," but it is not as well worth transcribing:
it bears in some parts a slight resemblance to that sung at the
Helston Hal-an-tow.
Mr. George C. Boase, in an article on "The Padstow May-Songs," has many
additional verses in "The Morning-Song." He also gives "The Day-Song,"
sung in honour of St. George, of which I will quote the first verse,
and the last paragraph of his paper.
"Awake, St. George, our English knight O!
For summer is a-come and winter is a-go,
And every day God give us His grace,
By day and by night O!
Where is St. George, where is he O!
He is out in his long boat, all on the salt sea O!
And in every land O! the land that ere we go.
Chorus--And for to fetch the summer home, the summer and the May O!
For the summer is a-come and the winter is a-go,
etc."
The only account of "The Hobby-horse" found in the Cornish histories is
in Hitchins and Drew's Cornwall (vol. i., p. 720; vol. ii., pp. 525,
529), where it is stated that there is a tradition of St. George
on horseback having visited the neighbourhood of Padstow, where
the indentation of his horse's hoofs caused a spring of water to
arise. The spot is still known as St. George's well, and water is
said to be found there even in the hottest summer.--(W. Antiquary.)
In East Cornwall they have a custom of bathing in the sea on the
three first Sunday mornings in May. And in West Cornwall children
were taken before sunrise on those days to the holy wells, notably to
that of St. Maddern (Madron), near Penzance, to be there dipped into
the running water, that they might be cured of the rickets and other
childish disorders. After being stripped naked they were plunged three
times into the water, the parents facing the sun, and passed round the
well nine times from east to west. They were then dressed, and laid
by the side of the well, or on an artificial mound re-made every year,
called St. Maddern's bed, which faced it, to sleep in the sun: should
they do so and the water bubble it was considered a good sign. Not
a word was to be spoken the whole time for fear of breaking the spell.
A small piece torn (not cut) from the child's clothes was hung
for luck (if possible out of sight) on a thorn which grew out of
the chapel wall. Some of these bits of rag may still sometimes be
found fluttering on the neighbouring bushes. I knew two well-educated
people who in 1840, having a son who could not walk at the age of two,
carried him and dipped him in Madron well (a distance of three miles
from their home,) on the first two Sundays in May; but on the third
the father refused to go. Some authorities say this well should be
visited on the first three Wednesdays in May; as was for the same
purpose another holy well at Chapel Euny (or St. Uny) near Sancred.
The Wesleyans hold an open-air service on the first three Sunday
afternoons in May, at a ruined chapel near Madron well, in the south
wall of which a hole may be seen, through which the water from the
well runs into a small baptistry in the south-west corner.
Parties of young girls to this day walk there in May to try for
sweethearts. Crooked pins, or small heavy things, are dropped into the
well in couples; if they keep together the pair will be married; the
number of bubbles they make in falling shows the time that will elapse
before the event. Sometimes two pieces of straw formed into a cross,
fastened in the centre by a pin, were used in these divinations. An old
woman who lived in a cottage at a little distance formerly frequented
the well and instructed visitors how to work the charms; she was never
paid in money, but small presents were placed where she could find
them. Pilgrims from all parts of England centuries ago resorted to
St. Maddern's well: that was famed, as was also her grave, for many
miraculous cures. The late Rev. R. S. Hawker, Vicar of Morwenstow, in
East Cornwall, published a poem, called "The Doom Well of St. Madron,"
on one of the ancient legends connected with it.
"A respectable tradesman's wife in Launceston tells me that the
townspeople here say that a swelling in the neck may be cured by the
patients going before sunrise on the first of May to the grave of
the last young man (if the patient be a woman), to that of the last
young woman (if a man) who had been buried in the churchyard, and
applying the dew, gathered by passing the hand three times from the
head to the foot of the grave, to the part affected by the ailment. I
may as well add that the common notion of improving the complexion by
washing the face with the early dew in the fields on the first of May
prevails in these parts (East Cornwall), and they say that a child
who is weak in the back may be cured by drawing him over the grass
wet with the morning dew. The experiment must be thrice performed,
that is, on the mornings of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of May."--(H. G. T.,
Notes and Queries, 14th December, 1850.)
The 8th of May is at Helston given up to pleasure, and is known as
Flora-day, Flurry-day, Furry-day, and Faddy. To "fade" meant in old
English to dance from country to town. A legend says this day was
set apart to commemorate a fight between the devil and St. Michael,
in which the first was defeated. The name Helston has been fancifully
derived from a large block of granite which until 1783 was to be seen
in the yard of the Angel hotel, the principal inn of the place. This
was the stone that sealed Hell's mouth, and the devil was carrying
it when met by St. Michael. Why he should have burdened himself with
such a "large pebble" (as Cornish miners call all stones) is quite
unknown. The fight and overthrow are figured on the town-seal.
The week before Flora-day is in Helston devoted to the "spring-clean,"
and every house is made "as bright as a new pin," and the gardens
stripped of their flowers to adorn them.
The revelry begins at day-break, when the men and maidservants
with their friends go into the country to breakfast; these are the
"Hal-an-tow." They return about eight, laden with green boughs,
preceded by a drum and singing an old song, the first verses of which
ran thus:--
"Robin Hood and Little John
They both are gone to fair, O!
And we will to the merry greenwood
To see what they do there, O!
And for to chase--O!
To chase the buck and doe.
Refrain--With Hal-an-tow! Rumbelow!
For we are up as soon as any O!
And for to fetch the summer home,
The summer and the May O!
For summer is a-come O!
And winter is a-gone O!
The whole of this song may be found with the music in the Rev. Baring
Gould's "Songs of the West," and the first verse set to another
tune in Specimens of Cornish Provincial Dialect, by Uncle Jan
Trenoodle. (Sandys.)
The Hal-an-tow are privileged to levy contributions on strangers
coming into the town.
Early in the morning merry peals are rung on the church-bells,
and at nine a prescriptive holiday is demanded by the boys at the
grammar-school. At noon the principal inhabitants and visitors dance
through the town. The dancers start from the market-house, and go
through the streets; in at the front doors of the houses that have
been left open for them, ringing every bell and knocking at every
knocker, and out at the back, but if more convenient they dance
around the garden, or even around a room, and return through the
door by which they entered. Sometimes the procession files in at one
shop-door, dances through that department and out through another,
and in one place descends into a cellar. All the main streets are
thus traversed, and a circuit is made of the bowling-green, which
at one end is the extreme limit of the town. Two beadles, their
wands wreathed with flowers, and a band with a gaily-decorated
drum, head the procession. The dance ends with "hands across" at
the assembly room of the Angel hotel, where there is always a ball
in the evening. Non-dancers are admitted to this room by a small
payment (which must be a silver coin), paid as they go up the stairs
either to the landlord or a gentleman,--one stands on each side of
the door. The gentlemen dancers on entering pay for their partners,
and by established custom, should they be going to attend the evening
ball, they are bound to give them their tickets, gloves, and the
first dance. The tradespeople have their dance at a later hour,
and their ball at another hotel.
The figure of the Furry dance, performed to a very lively measure,
is extremely simple. To the first half of the tune the couples dance
along hand-in-hand; at the second the first gentleman turns the second
lady and the second gentleman the first. This change is made all down
the set. Repeat.
I have appended the tune, to which children have adopted the following
doggerel:--
"John the bone (beau) was walking home,
When he met with Sally Dover,
He kissed her once, he kissed her twice,
And he kissed her three times over."
Some writers have made the mistake of imagining that the tune sung
to the Hal-an-tow and the Furry dance are the same.
Formerly, should any person in Helston be found at work on Flora-day,
he was set astride on a pole, then carried away on men's shoulders to
a wide part of the Cober (a stream which empties itself into Loe-pool
close by), and sentenced to leap over it. As it was almost impossible
to do this without jumping into the water, the punishment was remitted
by the payment of a small fine towards the day's amusement. Others
say the offender was first made to jump the Cober and then set astride
on a pole to dry.
In many of the villages around Helston the children, on Flora-day, deck
themselves with large wreaths, which they wear over one shoulder and
under the other arm; and at Porthleven I observed, in 1884, in addition
to these wreaths, several children with large white handkerchiefs
arranged as wimples, kept on their heads with garlands of flowers.
One of the first objects on entering the village of St. Germans
(East Cornwall) is the large walnut-tree, at the foot of what is
called Nut-tree Hill. Many a gay May-fair has been witnessed by
the old tree. In the morning of the 28th of the month splendid fat
cattle from some of the largest and best farms in the county quietly
chewed the cud around its trunk; in the afternoon the basket-swing
dangled from its branches filled with merry, laughing boys and girls
from every part of the parish. On the following day the mock mayor,
who had been chosen with many formalities, remarkable only for their
rude and rough nature, starting from some "bush-house" where he had
been supping too freely of the fair-ale, was mounted on wain or cart,
and drawn around it, to claim his pretended jurisdiction over the
ancient borough, until his successor was chosen at the following
fair. Leaving the nut-tree, which is a real ornament to the town, we
pass by a spring of water running into a large trough, in which many
a country lad has been drenched for daring to enter the town on the
29th of May without the leaf or branch of oak in his hat.--(R. Hunt,
F.R.S., Drolls, &c., Old Cornwall.)
The wrestlers of Cornwall and their wrestling-matches are still famous,
and in the May of 1868 4,000 assembled one day on Marazion Green,
and 3,000 the next, to see one. The wrestlers of this county have a
peculiar grip, called by them "the Cornish-hug."
Any odd, foolish game is in West Cornwall called a May-game
(pronounced May-gum), also a person who acts foolishly; and you
frequently hear the expression--"He's a reg'lar May-gum!" There is a
proverb that says--"Don't make mock of a May-gum, you may be struck
comical yourself one day."
Whit-Sunday.--It was formerly considered very unlucky in Cornwall to
go out on this day without putting on some new thing. Children were
told that should they do so "the birds would foul them as they walked
along." A new ribbon, or even a shoe-lace, would be sufficient to
protect them. Whit-Monday is generally kept as a holiday, and is often
made an excuse for another country excursion, which, if taken in the
afternoon, ends at some farm-house with a tea of Cornish "heavy-cream
cake," followed (in the evening) by a junket with clotted-cream.
Carew speaks of a feast kept in his time on Whit-Monday at the
"Church-house" of the different parishes called a "Church-ale." It was
a sort of large picnic, for which money had been previously collected
by two young men--"wardens," who had been previously appointed the
preceding year by their last "foregoers." This custom has long ceased
to exist.
The Wesleyans (Methodists) in Cornwall hold an open-air service
on Whit-Monday at Gwennap-pit. The pit is an old earth-round,
excavated in the hill-side of Carn Marth, about three miles from the
small village of Gwennap, and one from Redruth. This amphitheatre,
which is then usually filled, is capable of holding from four to
five thousand people, and is in shape like a funnel. It is encircled
from the bottom to the top with eighteen turf-covered banks, made by
cutting the earth into steps. It is admirably adapted for sound, and
the voice of the preacher, who stands on one side, about half way up,
is distinctly heard by the whole congregation. Wesley, when on a visit
to Cornwall, preached in Gwennap-pit to the miners of that district,
and this was the origin of the custom. Many excursion-trains run to
Redruth on Whit-Monday, and a continuous string of vehicles of every
description, as well as pedestrians, may be seen wending their way
from the station to the pit, which is almost surrounded by "downs,"
and in a road close by rows of "standings" (stalls) are erected for
the sale of "fairings." An annual pleasure-fair goes on at the same
time at Redruth, and many avail themselves of the excursion-trains
who have not the least intention of attending the religious service.
"In Mid-Cornwall, in the second week of June, at St. Roche and in one
or two adjacent parishes, a curious dance is performed at their annual
'feasts.' It enjoys the rather undignified name of 'Snails' creep,'
but would be more properly called 'The Serpent's Coil.'
"The following is scarcely a perfect description of it:--The young
people being all assembled in a large meadow, the village band
strikes up a simple but lively air, and marches forward, followed by
the whole assemblage, leading hand-in-hand (or more closely linked
in case of engaged couples), the whole keeping time to the tune
with a lively step. The band or head of the serpent keeps marching
in an ever-narrowing circle, whilst its train of dancing followers
becomes coiled around it in circle after circle. It is now that the
most interesting part of the dance commences, for the band, taking
a sharp turn about, begins to retrace the circle, still followed as
before, and a number of young men with long, leafy branches in their
hands as standards, direct this counter-movement with almost military
precision."--(W. C. Wade, W. Antiquary, April, 1881.)
A game similar to the above dance is often played by Sunday-school
children in West Cornwall, at their out-of-door summer-treats, called
by them "roll-tobacco." They join hands in one long line, the taller
children at the head. The first child stands still, whilst the others
in ever-narrowing circles dance around singing, until they are coiled
into a tight mass. The outer coil then wheels sharply in a contrary
direction, followed by the remainder, retracing their steps.
23rd of June. In the afternoon of Midsummer-eve little girls may be
still occasionally met in the streets of Penzance with garlands of
flowers on their heads, or wreaths over one shoulder.
This custom was, within the last fifty years, generally observed
in West Cornwall. And in all the streets of our towns and villages
groups of graceful girls, rich as well as poor, all dressed in white,
their frocks decorated with rows of laurel-leaves ("often spangled
with gold-leaf"--Bottrell), might in the afternoon have been seen
standing at the doors, or in the evening dancing along with their
brothers or lovers.
In Penzance, and in nearly all the parishes of West Penwith,
immediately after nightfall on the eves of St. John and St. Peter,
the 23rd and 28th of June, lines of tar-barrels, occasionally broken
by bonfires, were simultaneously lighted in all the streets, whilst,
at the same time, bonfires were kindled on all the cairns and hills
around Mount's Bay, throwing the outlines in bold relief against
the sky. "Then the villagers, linked in circles hand-in-hand,
danced round them to preserve themselves against witchcraft, and,
when they burnt low, one person here and there detached himself from
the rest and leaped through the flames to insure himself from some
special evil. The old people counted these fires and drew a presage
from them."--(Bottrell.)
Regularly at dusk the mayor of Penzance sent the town-crier through
the streets to give notice that no fireworks were allowed to be let
off in the town; but this was done simply that he should not be held
responsible if any accident happened, for he and all in Penzance knew
quite well that the law would be set at defiance. Large numbers of men,
women, and boys came up soon after from the quay and lower parts of
the town swinging immense torches around their heads; these torches
(locally known as "to'ches") were made of pieces of canvas about
two feet square, fastened in the middle either to a long pole or a
strong chain, dipped until completely saturated in tar. Of course
they required to be swung with great dexterity or the holder would
have been burnt. The heat they gave out was something dreadful,
and the smoke suffocating. Most of the inhabitants dressed in their
oldest clothes congregated in groups in the street, and a great part
of the fun of the evening consisted in slyly throwing squibs amongst
them, or in dispersing them by chasing them with hand-rockets. The
greatest good humour always prevailed, and although the revellers
were thickest in a small square surrounded by houses, some of them
thatched, very few accidents have ever happened. A band stationed
here played at intervals. No set-pieces were ever put off, but there
were a few Roman-candles. Between ten and eleven a popular mayor might
often have been seen standing in the middle of this square (the Green
Market), encircled by about a dozen young men, each holding a lighted
hand-rocket over the mayor's head. The sparks which fell around him
on all sides made him look as if he stood in the centre of a fountain
of fire. The proceedings finished by the boys and girls from the
quay, whose torches had by this time expired, dancing in a long line
hand in hand through the streets, in and out and sometimes over the
now low burning tar-barrels, crying out, "An eye, an eye." At this
shout the top couple held up their arms, and, beginning with the
last, the others ran under them, thus reversing their position. A
year or two ago, owing to the increasing traffic at Penzance,
the practice of letting off squibs and crackers in the streets was
formally abolished by order of the mayor and corporation. Efforts
are still made and money collected for the purpose of reviving it,
with some little success; but the Green Market is no longer the
scene of the fun. A few boys still after dusk swing their torches,
and here and there some of the old inhabitants keep up the custom of
lighting tar-barrels or bonfires before their doors. A rite called
the Bonfire Test was formerly celebrated on this night. Mr. R. Hunt,
F.R.S., has described it in his Drolls, &c. Old Cornwall:--"A bonfire
is formed of faggots of furze, ferns, and the like. Men and maidens,
by locking hands, form a circle, and commence a dance to some wild
native song. At length, as the dancers become excited, they pull each
other from side to side across the fire. If they succeed in treading
out the fire without breaking the chain, none of the party will die
during the year. If, however, the ring is broken before the fire
is extinguished, 'bad luck to the weak hands,' as my informant said
(1865). All the witches in West Cornwall used to meet at midnight on
Midsummer-eve at Trewa (pronounced Troway), in the parish of Zennor,
and around the dying fires renewed their vows to their master, the
Devil. Zennor boasts of some of the finest coast scenery in Cornwall,
and many remarkable rocks were scattered about in this neighbourhood;
several of them (as does the cromlech) still remain, but others have
been quarried and carted away, amongst them one known as Witches'
Rock, which if touched nine times at midnight kept away ill-luck,
and prevented people from being 'over-looked' (ill-wished)."
On Midsummer-day (June 24th) two pleasure fairs are held in Cornwall:
one at Pelynt, in the eastern part of the county, where in the evening,
from time immemorial, a large bonfire has been always lighted in an
adjoining field by the boys of the neighbourhood (some writers fix on
the summer solstice as the date of Pelynt fair, but this, I believe,
is an error); and the second on the old quay at Penzance. It is called
"Quay Fair," to distinguish it from Corpus Christi fair, another and
much larger one held at the other extremity of the town, and which
lasts from the eve of Corpus Christi until the following Saturday. Quay
fair was formerly crowded by people from the neighbouring inland towns
and villages; their principal amusement was to go out for a short row,
a great number in one boat, the boatmen charging a penny a head. This
was taking a "Pen'nord of Say." When not paid for, a short row is a
"Troil." (Troil is Old-Cornish for a feast).
Although this fair has not yet been discontinued, the number of those
attending it grows less and less every year, and not enough money is
taken to encourage travelling showmen to set up their booths. The
old charter allowed the public-houses at the quay to keep open all
night on the 24th of June, but such is no longer the case. Quay
fair was sometimes known as Strawberry fair, and thirty years ago
many strawberries were sold at it for twopence a quart. They were
not brought to market in pottles, but in large baskets containing
some gallons, and were measured out to the customers in a tin pint
or quart measure. They were eaten from cabbage-leaves. Before the
end of the day, unless there were a brisk sale, the fruit naturally
got much bruised. They are still sold in the same way, but are not
nearly as plentiful. Many of the strawberry fields, through which the
public footpaths often went, have been turned up, and are now used
for growing early potatoes. On St. John's-day Cornish miners place
a green bough on the shears of the engine-houses in commemoration of
his preaching in the wilderness.
This day is with Cornish as with other maidens a favourite one for
trying old love-charms. Some of them rise betimes, and go into the
country to search for an even "leafed" ash, or an even "leafed"
clover. When found, the rhymes they repeat are common to all England.
An old lady, a native of Scilly, once gave me a most graphic
description of her mother and aunt laying a table, just before midnight
on St. John's-day, with a clean white cloth, knives and forks, and
bread and cheese, to see if they should marry the men to whom they
were engaged. They sat down to it, keeping strict silence--
"For, if a word had been spoken,
The spell would have been broken."
As the clock struck twelve, the door (which had purposely been left
unbarred) opened, and their two lovers walked in, having, as they
said, met outside, both compelled by irresistible curiosity to go
and see if there were anything the matter with their sweethearts.
It never entered the old lady's head that the men probably had an
inkling of what was going on, and to have hinted that such was the
case would, I am quite sure, have given dire offence.
The following charm is from the W. Antiquary:--Pluck a rose at
midnight on St. John's-day, wear it to church, and your intended
will take it out of your button-hole.--(Old Farmer, Mid-Cornwall,
through T. Q. Couch.)
"It was believed that if a young maiden gathered a rose on
Midsummer-day, and folding it in white paper, forbore to look at
it or mention what she had done until the following Christmas-day,
she would then find the flower fresh and bright; and further if she
placed it in her bosom and wore it at church, the person most worthy
of her hand would be sure to draw near her in the porch, and beseech
her to give him the rose."--Neota--Launcells. Charlotte Hawkey.
In connection with Midsummer bonfires, I mentioned those on
St. Peter's-eve; although they are no longer lighted at Penzance,
the custom (never confined to West Cornwall) is in other places still
observed. Many of the churches in the small fishing villages on the
coast are dedicated to this saint, the patron of fishermen, and on
his tide the towers of these churches were formerly occasionally
illuminated.
On St. Peter's-eve, at Newlyn West, in 1883, many of the men were
away fishing on the east coast of England, and the celebration of the
festival was put off until their return, when it took place with more
than usual rejoicings. The afternoon was given up to aquatic sports,
and in the evening, in addition to the usual bonfires and tar-barrels,
squibs, hand and sky-rockets were let off. The young people finished
the day with an open-air dance, which ended before twelve. In this
village effigies of objectionable characters, after they have been
carried through the streets, are sometimes burnt in the St. Peter's
bonfire. I have often in Cornwall heard red-haired people described
"as looking as if they were born on bonfire night." At Wendron, and
many other small inland mining villages, the boys at St. Peter's-tide
fire off miniature rock batteries called "plugs."
I must now again quote from Mr. T. Q. Couch, and give his account of
how this day is observed at Polperro.
"The patron saint of Polperro is St. Peter, to whom the church, built
on the seaward hill (still called chapel hill) was dedicated. His
festival is kept on the 10th of July (old style). At Peter's-tide is
our annual feast or fair. Though a feeble and insignificant matter,
it is still with the young the great event of the year. On the eve of
the fair is the prefatory ceremony of a bonfire. The young fishermen go
from house to house and beg money to defray the expenses. At nightfall
a large pile of faggots and tar-barrels is built on the beach, and,
amid the cheers of a congregated crowd of men, women, and children
(for it is a favour never denied to children to stay up and see the
bonfire), the pile is lighted. The fire blazes up, and men and boys
dance merrily round it, and keep up the sport till the fire burns
low enough, when they venturously leap through the flames. It is a
most animated scene, the whole valley lit up by the bright red glow,
bringing into strong relief front and gable of picturesque old houses,
each window crowded with eager and delighted faces, while around the
fire is a crowd of ruddy lookers-on, shutting in a circle of impish
figures leaping like salamanders through the flames.
"The next day the fair begins, a trivial matter, except to the
children, who are dressed in their Sunday clothes, and to the
village girls in their best gowns and gaudiest ribbons. Stalls, or
'standings,' laden with fairings, sweetmeats, and toys, line the
lower part of Lansallos Street, near the strand. There are, besides,
strolling Thespians; fellows who draw unwary youths into games
of hazard, where the risk is mainly on one side; ballad-singers;
penny-peep men, who show and describe to wondering boys the most
horrid scenes of the latest murder; jugglers and tumblers also display
their skill. In the neighbouring inn the fiddler plays his liveliest
tunes at twopence a reel, which the swains gallantly pay. The first
day of the fair is merely introductory, for the excitement is rarely
allayed under three. The second day is much livelier than the first,
and has for its great event the wrestling-match on the strand, or
perhaps a boat-race. On the third day we have the mayor-choosing,
never a valid ceremony, but a broad burlesque. The person who is
chosen to this post of mimic dignity is generally some half-witted or
drunken fellow, who, tricked out in tinsel finery, elects his staff
of constables, and these, armed with staves, accompany his chariot
(some jowster's huckster's cart, dressed with green boughs) through
the town, stopping at each inn, where he makes a speech full of large
promises to his listeners, of full work, better wages, and a liberal
allowance of beer during his year of mayoralty. He then demands a
quart of the landlord's ale, which is gauged with mock ceremony,
and if adjudged short of measure is, after being emptied, broken on
the wheel of the car. Having completed the perambulation of the town,
his attendants often make some facetious end of the pageant by wheeling
the mayor in his chariot with some impetus into the tide."--Polperro,
1871, pp. 156-159.
The ceremony of choosing a mock mayor was also observed at Penryn (near
Falmouth), but it took place in the autumn, on a day in September or
October, when hazel-nuts were ripe, and "nutting day" was kept by the
children and poor people. The journeymen tailors went from Penryn and
Falmouth to Mylor parish, on the opposite side of the river Fal. There
they made choice of the wittiest among them to fill that office. His
title was the "Mayor of Mylor." When chosen, he was borne in a chair
upon the shoulders of four strong men from his "goode towne of Mylor"
to his "anciente borough of Penryn." He was preceded by torch-bearers
and two town-sergeants, in gowns and cocked hats, with cabbages instead
of maces, and surrounded by a guard armed with staves. Just outside
Penryn he was met with a band of music, which played him into the
town. The procession halted at the town-hall, where the mayor made a
burlesque speech, often a clever imitation of the phrases and manners
of their then sitting parliamentary representative. This speech was
repeated with variations before the different inns, the landlords of
which were expected to provide the mayor and his numerous attendants
liberally with beer. The day's proceedings finished with a dinner at
one of the public-houses in Penryn. Bonfires, &c., were lighted, and
fireworks let off soon after dusk. It was popularly believed that this
choosing of a mock mayor was permitted by a clause in the town charter.
A festival, supposed to have been instituted in honour of
Thomas-à-Beckett, called "Bodmin-Riding," was (although shorn of its
former importance) until very recently held there on the first Monday
and Tuesday after the 7th of July.
In the beginning of this century all the tradespeople of the town,
preceded by music and carrying emblems of their trades, walked in
procession to the Priory. They were headed by two men, one with a
garland and the other with a pole, which they presented and received
back again from the master of the house as the then representative
of the Prior. Mr. T. Q. Couch had the following description of this
ceremony from those who took part in its latest celebration:--
"A puncheon of beer having been brewed in the previous October,
and duly bottled in anticipation of the time, two or more young
men, who were entrusted with the chief management of the affair,
and who represented 'the Wardens' of Carew's Church-ales, went
round the town (Bodmin) attended by a band of drummers and fifers,
or other instruments. The crier saluted each house with--'To the
people of this house, a prosperous morning, long life, health,
and a merry riding.' The musicians then struck up the riding-tune,
a quick and inspiriting measure, said by some to be as old as the
feast itself. The householder was solicited to taste the riding-ale,
which was carried round in baskets. A bottle was usually taken in,
and it was acknowledged by such a sum as the means or humour of the
townsmen permitted, to be spent on the public festivities of the
season. Next morning a procession was formed (all who could afford to
ride mounted on horse or ass, smacking long-lashed whips), first to
the Priory to receive two large garlands of flowers fixed on staves,
and then in due order to the principal streets to the town-end, where
the games were formerly opened. The sports, which lasted two days,
were of the ordinary sort--wrestling, foot-racing, jumping in sacks,
&c. It is worthy of remark that a second or inferior brewing from the
same wort was drunk at a minor merry-making at Whitsuntide."--(Popular
Antiquities, Journal Royal Institute of Cornwall, 1864.)
In former days the proceedings ended in a servants'-ball, at which
dancing was kept up until the next morning's breakfast-hour.
A very curious carnival was originally held under a Lord of Misrule,
in July, on Halgaver Moor, near Bodmin, thus quaintly described
by Carew:--
"The youthlyer sort of Bodmin townsmen vse to sport themselves by
playing the box with strangers whom they summon to Halgauer. The name
signifieth the Goat's Moore, and such a place it is, lying a little
without the towne, and very full of quauemires. When these mates meet
with any rawe seruing-man or other young master, who may serue and
deserue to make pastime, they cause him to be solemnely arrested,
for his appearance before the Maior of Halgauer, where he is charged
with wearing one spurre, or going vntrussed, or wanting a girdle,
or some such felony. After he had been arraygned and tryed, with
all requisite circumstances, iudgement is given in formal terms, and
executed in some one vngracious pranke or other, more to the skorne
than hurt of the party condemned. Hence is sprung the prouerb when we
see one slouenly appareled to say he shall be presented at Halgauer
Court (or take him before the Maior of Halgauer).
"But now and then they extend this merriment with the largest, to
preiudice of ouer-credulous people, persuading them to fight with
a dragon lurking in Halgauer, or to see some strange matter there,
which concludeth at least with a trayning them into the mire."--(Survey
of Cornwall.)
Heath says in his Description of Cornwall, "These sports and pastimes
were so liked by King Charles II., when he touched at Bodmin on his
way to Scilly, that he became a brother of the jovial society."
"Taking-day."--"An old custom, about which history tells us nothing,
is still duly observed at Crowan, in West Cornwall. Annually, on
the Sunday evening previous to Praze-an-beeble fair (July 16th)
large numbers of the young folk repair to the parish church, and at
the conclusion of the service they hasten to Clowance Park, where
still large crowds assemble, collected chiefly from the neighbouring
villages of Leeds-town, Carnhell-green, Nancegollan, Blackrock, and
Praze. Here the sterner sex select their partners for the forthcoming
fair, and, as it not unfrequently happens that the generous proposals
are not accepted, a tussle ensues, to the intense merriment of passing
spectators. Many a happy wedding has resulted from the opportunity
afforded for selection on 'Taking-day' in Clowance Park."--(Cornishman,
July, 1882.)
At St. Ives, on the 25th July, St. James's-day, they hold a quiennial
celebration of the "Knillian-games." These have been fully described
by the late J. S. Courtney in his Guide to Penzance, as follows:--
"Near St. Ives a pyramid on the summit of a hill attracts
attention. This pyramid was erected in the year 1782, as a place of
sepulture for himself, by John Knill, Esq., some time collector of
the Customs at St. Ives, and afterwards a resident in Gray's Inn,
London, where he died in 1811. The building is commonly called
'Knill's Mausoleum'; but Mr. Knill's body was not there deposited,
for, having died in London, he was, according to his own directions,
interred in St. Andrew's church, Holborn. The pyramid bears on its
three sides respectively the following inscriptions, in relief, on the
granite of which it is built: 'Johannes Knill, 1782.' 'I know that my
Redeemer liveth.' 'Resurgam.' On one side there is also Mr. Knill's
coat-of-arms, with his motto, 'Nil desperandum.'
"In the year 1797, Mr. Knill, by a deed of trust, settled upon the
mayor and capital burgesses of the borough of St. Ives, and their
successors for ever, an annuity of ten pounds, as a rent-charge,
to be paid out of the manor of Glivian, in the parish of Mawgan,
in this county, to the said mayor and burgesses in the town-hall
of the said borough, at twelve o'clock at noon, on the feast of the
Nativity of St. John (Midsummer-day) in every year; and, in default,
to be levied by the said mayor and burgesses by distress on the said
manor. The ten pounds then received are to be immediately paid by the
mayor and burgesses to the mayor, the collector of customs, and the
clergyman of the parish for the time being, to be by them deposited
in a chest secured by three locks, of which each is to have a key;
and the box is left in the custody of the mayor.
"Of this annuity a portion is directed to be applied to the repair and
support of the mausoleum; another sum for the establishment of various
ceremonies to be observed once every five years; and the remainder
'to the effectuating and establishing of certain charitable purposes.'"
The whole affair has, however, been generally treated with ridicule. In
order, therefore, to show that Mr. Knill intended a considerable
portion of his bequest to be applied to really useful purposes,
we annex a copy of his regulations for the disposal of the money:
"First. That, at the end of every five years, on the feast-day of
St. James the Apostle, Twenty-five pounds shall be expended as follows,
viz. Ten pounds in a dinner for the Mayor, Collector of Customs,
and Clergyman, and two persons to be invited by each of them, making
a party of nine persons, to dine at some tavern at the borough. Five
pounds to be equally divided among ten girls, natives of the borough,
and daughters of seamen, fishermen, or tinners, each of them not
exceeding ten years of age, who shall between ten and twelve o'clock
in the forenoon of that day dance, for a quarter of hour at least,
on the ground adjoining the Mausoleum, and after the dance sing the
100th Psalm of the Old Version, 'to the fine old tune' to which the
same was then sung in St. Ives church.
"One pound to the fiddler who shall play to the girls while dancing
and singing at the Mausoleum, and also before them on their return
home therefrom.
"Two pounds to two widows of seamen, fishermen, or tinners of the
borough, being 64 years old or upwards, who shall attend the dancing
and singing of the girls, and walk before them immediately after the
fiddler, and certify to the Mayor, Collector, and Clergyman that the
ceremonies have been duly performed.
"One pound to be laid out in white ribbons for breast-knots for
the girls and widows, and a cockade for the fiddler, to be worn by
them respectively on that day and the Sunday following. One pound
to purchase account-books from time to time and pay the Clerk of the
Customs for keeping the accounts. The remaining Five pounds to be paid
to a man and wife, widower, or widow, 60 years of age or upwards,
the man being an inhabitant of St. Ives, and a seaman, fisherman,
tinner, or labourer, who shall have bred up to the age of ten years
and upwards, the greatest number of legitimate children by his or
her own labour, care, and industry, without parochial assistance,
or having become entitled to any property in any other manner.
"Secondly. When a certain sum of money shall have accumulated in
the chest, over and above what may have been required for repairs
of the Mausoleum and the above payments, it is directed that on
one of the fore-mentioned days of the festival 'Fifty' pounds
shall be distributed in addition to the 'Twenty-five' pounds spent
quiennially in the following manner; that is Ten pounds to be given
as a marriage-portion to the woman between 26 and 36 years old,
being a native of St. Ives, who shall have been married to a seaman,
fisherman, tinner, or labourer, residing in the borough, between the
31st of December previously, and that day following the said feast-day,
that shall appear to the Mayor, Collector, and Clergyman, the most
worthy, 'regard being had to her duty and kindness to her parents,
or to her friends who have brought her up.'
"Five pounds to any woman, single or married, being an inhabitant of
St. Ives, who in the opinion of the aforesaid gentlemen shall be the
best knitter of fishing-nets.
"Five pounds to be paid to the woman, married or single, inhabitant
of St. Ives, or otherwise, who shall, by the same authorities, be
deemed to be the best curer and packer of pilchards for exportation.
"Five pounds to be given between such two follower-boys as shall
by the same gentlemen be judged to have best conducted themselves
of all the follower-boys in the several concerns, in the preceding
fishing-season. (A follower is a boat that carries a tuck-net in
pilchard-fishing.)
"And Twenty-five pounds, the remainder of the said Fifty, to be
divided among all the Friendly Societies in the borough, instituted
for the support of the Members in sickness or other calamity, in
equal shares. If there be no such Society, the same to be distributed
among ten poor persons, five men and five women, inhabitants of
the borough, of the age of 64 years or upwards, and who have never
received parochial relief."
The first celebration of the Knillian games, which drew a large
concourse of people, took place in Knill's lifetime on July 25th, 1801.