'Quit the bustle of the bay,
Hasten, virgins, come away:
Hasten to the mountain's brow,
Leave, oh! leave, St. Ives below.
Haste to breathe a purer air,
Virgins fair, and pure as fair.
Quit St. Ives and all her treasures,
Fly her soft voluptuous pleasures,
Fly her sons and all the wiles
Lurking in their wanton smiles;
Fly her splendid midnight halls,
Fly the revels of her balls,
Fly, oh! fly, the chosen seat
Where vanity and fashion meet!
Thither hasten: form the ring,
Round the tomb in chorus sing.'
These games have been repeated every five years up to the present time.
Morvah feast, which is on the nearest Sunday to the 1st August, is said
to have been instituted in memory of a wrestling-match, throwing of
quoits, &c., which took place there one Sunday, "when there were giants
in the land." On the following Monday there was formerly a large fair,
and although Morvah is a very small village without any attractions,
the farmers flocked to it in great numbers to drink and feast, sitting
on the hedges of the small fields common in West Cornwall. "Three on
one horse, like going to Morvah Fair," is an old proverb.
On August 5th a large cattle-fair is held in the village of
Goldsithney, in the parish of Perran-Uthnoe. Lysons, in 1814,
says:--"There is a tradition that this fair was originally held in
Sithney, near Helston, and that some persons ran off with the glove, by
the suspension of which to a pole the charter was held, and carried it
off to this village, where, it is said, the glove was hung out for many
years at the time of the fair. As some confirmation of the tradition
of its removal it should be mentioned that the lord of the manor, a
proprietor of the fair, used to pay an acknowledgment of one shilling
per annum to the churchwardens of Sithney." The same author makes the
statement that Truro fair, on November 19th, belongs to the proprietors
of Truro Manor, as high lords of the town, and that a glove is hung
out at this fair as at Chester; he also says that these same lords
claim a tax called smoke-money from most of the houses in the borough.
In Cornwall the last sheaf of corn cut at harvest-time is "the
neck." This in the West is always cut by the oldest reaper, who
shouts out, "I hav'et! I hav'et! I hav'et!" The others answer, "What
hav'ee? What hav'ee? What hav'ee?" He replies, "A neck! A neck! A
neck!" Then altogether they give three loud hurrahs. The neck is
afterwards made into a miniature sheaf, gaily decorated with ribbons
and flowers; it is carried home in triumph, and hung up to a beam in
the kitchen, where it is left until the next harvest. Mr. Robert Hunt
says that "after the neck has been cried three times they (the reapers)
change their cry to 'we yen! we yen!' which they sound in the same
prolonged and slow manner as before, with singular harmony and effect
three times." After this they all burst out into a kind of loud, joyous
laugh, flinging up their hats and caps into the air, capering about,
and perhaps kissing the girls. One of them gets the "neck," and runs
as hard as he can to the farm-house, where the dairy-maid or one of
the young female domestics stands at the door prepared with a pail of
water. If he who holds the "neck" can manage to get into the house in
any way unseen, or openly by any other way than the door by which the
girl stands with the pail of water, then he may lawfully kiss her; but
if otherwise he is regularly soused with the contents of the bucket.
The object of crying the "neck" is to give notice to the surrounding
country of the end of the harvest, and the meaning of "we yen" is we
have ended.
The last sheaf of the barley-harvest (there is now but little grown)
was the "crow-sheaf," and when cut the same ceremony was gone through;
but instead of "a neck," the words "a crow" were substituted.
When "the neck" is cut at the house of a squire, the reapers sometimes
assemble at the front of the mansion and cry "the neck," with the
addition of these words, "and for our pains we do deserve a glass of
brandy, strong beer, and a bun."--(John Hills, Penryn, W. Antiquary,
October, 1882.)
In East Cornwall "the neck," which is made into a slightly different
shape, is carried to the mowhay (pronounced mo-ey) before it is cried
(a mowhay is an inclosure for ricks of corn and hay). One of the
men then retires to a distance from the others and shouts the same
formula. It is hung up in the kitchen until Christmas-day, when it
is given to the best ox in the stalls.
The harvest-home feast in the neighbourhood of Penzance goes by the
name of "gool-dize," or "gool-an-dize." In Scilly it is known as the
"nickly thize." Farmers there at that season of the year formerly
killed a sheep, and as long as any portion of it was left the feast
went on.
Ricks of corn in Cornwall are often made, and left to stand in the
"arish-fields" (stubble-fields) where they were cut. These are all
called "arish-mows," but from their different shapes they have also
the names of "brummal-mows" and "pedrack-mows."
Probus and Grace fair is held on the 17th of September, through a
charter granted by Charles II. after his restoration, to a Mr. Williams
of that neighbourhood, with whom he had lived for some time during
the Civil Wars.
Probus is in East Cornwall, and its church is famed for its beautiful
tower. Tradition has it that this church was built by Saint Probus,
but for want of funds he could not add the tower, and in his need
asked St. Grace to help him.
She consented, but when the church was consecrated Probus praised
himself, but made no mention of her. Then a mysterious voice was heard,
repeating the following distich:--
"St. Probus and Grace,
Not the first but the la-ast."
This town, consequently, has two patron saints.
I know of no other feasten ceremonies in this month; but here,
as elsewhere, the children of the poor make up parties "to go a
blackberrying." This fruit, by old people, was said not to be good
after Michaelmas, kept by them 10th October (old style); after that
date they told you the devil spat on them, and birds fouled them.
I knew an old lady whose birthday falling on that day she religiously
kept it by eating for the last time that year blackberry-tart with
clotted cream.
This brings me round to the month from which I started. Many of the
feasts are of course omitted, as no local customs are now connected
with them. There must be one for nearly every Sunday in the year,
and a mere record of their names would be most wearisome. I cannot
do better, therefore, than finish this portion of my work with two
quotations. The first, from "Parochalia," by Mr. T. Q. Couch, Journal
Royal Institute of Cornwall, 1865, runs thus:--
"The patron saint of Lanivet feast is not known; it is marked
by no particular customs, but is a time for general visiting and
merry-making, with an occasional wrestling-match. A local verse says:--
"On the nearest Sunday to the last Sunday in A-prel,
Lanivet men fare well.
On the first Sunday after the first Tuesday in May,
Lanivrey men fare as well as they."
In some parishes the fatted oxen intended to be eaten at these feasts
were, the day before they were killed, led through the streets,
garlanded with flowers and preceded by music.