Ertach Kernow - Celtic feast days and later Cornish traditions
The ancient Celtic feast day of Samhain on 1st November is growing in popularity and it’s interesting to see how many festival events are either still taking place or springing back to life. The recognition of Cornish ethnic nationality within the United Kingdom, as one of the four indigenous Celtic peoples, seems to have helped reignite greater cultural interest in our pagan history. More people throughout Cornwall are engaging with our unique Cornish Celtic past and wider cultural heritage including the more recent St Piran’s national day. Ever larger numbers are young people who are happy to identify as Cornish but also take part in a wide range of our Celtic cultural activities. Cornish music, dance and the growing number of festivals encompassing Cornwall’s historic legends, myths and customs are really fun events helping to increase their popularity.
Much of the information regarding these ancient Celtic festivals or feast days come from Irish and Welsh literary sources, sadly no pre tenth century Cornish records exist. However, due to the closeness of the wider Celtic peoples, before the Anglo-Saxon invasions destroyed much of the Celtic culture across eastern Britain, these would have been celebrated throughout the whole island. Many Cornish festivals held throughout the year today coincide closely with the ancient Celtic calendar. Best known are Beltane on 1st May and Samhain on 1st November together with two others Imbolc on 1st February, and Lammas also known as Lughnasa on 1st August which are known as fire festivals. The Celtic druids or local farming folk would have likely calculated or chosen the dates for these based on the circle of nature and Samhain was likely celebrated after the last harvesting was completed, the actual date likely unimportant. Today these feast days match our later Gregorian calendar for convenience. Four other Celtic feast days, Ostara on 21st March, Litha on 21st June, Mabon on 21st September and Yule on 21st December mark the shortest and longest days and the two equinoxes.
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Here in Cornwall there are Cornish events marking mid-summer such as the Tansys Golowan bonfires held by a number of Old Cornwall Societies. Later around the time of the harvest many of these societies carry out Crying the Neck events including Kernewek within the ceremony. Both the longest and shortest days are reasons to hold festival events today and would have been significant events in prehistorical times. The construction of tombs and monuments which align with the rising sun or moon has been proof of that and of course many people still celebrate mid-summer at Stonehenge.
The Lowender Celtic Festival takes place in Redruth and coincides with Samhain. That Redruth is evolving by reaping the cultural and economic benefits of Cornish cultural heritage is becoming apparent. Many other towns throughout Cornwall either carry on or are re-engaging with their own festivals which have lapsed in the past. Although Lowender at just over 40 years old is relatively new it does embrace Cornish and Celtic traditions and brings together performers from all the Celtic nations for music, dance and other activities.
A glance now at just some of the annual cycle of festivals carried out in Cornwall based on the Celtic Wheel of the Year, now observed by many modern pagans and those carrying on ancient Cornish traditions. Perhaps one of the best-known events is the Padstow Obby Oss, May Day event. This is well known throughout Cornwall and the United Kingdom and celebrates the ancient Celtic feast of Beltane and the approach of summer. The two Obby Oss’s with their teasers and bands process through the town carrying on an age-old tradition and supported by thousands of visitors and local folk. The earliest mention was in 1803 by Joseph Polwhele in his history of Cornwall ‘On May the first is a festival kept here, which is called the hobby-horse, from a man being dressed up in a stallion horse’s skin, led by crowds of men and women through the streets, and at every dirty pool dipping the head in the pool, and throwing out the water upon them.’
Helston Flora Day is another longstanding spring festival celebrating the end of winter and marking the arrival of new vitality and fertility with the trees and flowers bursting into life. The dancing celebrations were first recorded in the Gentleman’s Magazine in 1790 as well as other activities and traditions of the day. This helps illustrate that this celebration of springtime was likely a long-standing event even in 1790. This page will be available to view on the website as it’s too long to transcribe here. Whist the historically named Furry Dance was well known perhaps by another at that time as ‘Faddy’, the letter also mentions the activities of the `Hal-an-Tow` pageant. This now forms an integral part of Flora Day celebrations lapsed during the 19th century but was revived in 1930.
Penzance has more recently embraced both the mid-summer and mid-winter Celtic feast days in a big way. Beginning in 1991 the reestablishment of the Golowan Festival took place, with Golowan festivals recorded in Cornwall by Dr William Borlase in 1754. He wrote: ‘In Cornwall, the festival fires, called bonfires, are kindled on the Eve of St John the Baptist, and St. Peter’s Day, and Midsummer is thence, in the Cornish tongue, called Goluan, which signifies both Light, and Rejoicing.’ The Montol Festival begun in 2007 marks mid-winter. This festival although based on medieval traditions is new and now a six-day community festival including varied activities and workshops. This culminates on 21st December with events including singing and dancing, Guise Guilds roaming the streets, Mummers play, processions through the town and general humorous mayhem. Visitors will see a fantastic collection of costumes, performers, traditional guise beasts, folk musicians, storytellers and include various ‘Obby ‘Osses.
The Bodmin Riding Festival originated in medieval times and there are records from the churchwardens accounts mentioning it. The festival was revived in 1974 but differs from the earlier occasions, evolving to be centred around the ‘Beast of Bodmin’ and its capture. The beast costume is that of a large hairy monster and ‘the beast’ is pursued through the town by ‘helliers’ acting as hunters. Following the capture of the beast it is put on trial for its crimes. When held this event takes place on 1st July and the procession is led by a band playing a Cornish tune called ‘Bodmin Riding’. This tune is popular throughout other Cornish events such as St Ives Feast Day and Penzance Mazey Day.
Following the coming of Christianity the early missionaries coming from Europe and church authorities found it difficult to break people free and were unable to force the abandonment of ancient traditions. The Celtic druids were the educated class, bards and religious figures in Celtic society. Despite the extermination of most of this druidic elite by the Romans many traditions survived. These were continued in Wales and Cornwall and no doubt England throughout this occupation and into the later periods despite the Anglo-Saxon and Norman invasions. The remoteness of much of Wales and the far west of Cornwall ensured that their Celtic languages and many Celtic feast day traditions survived in some form, albeit diminished, with the numbers of speakers and participants now growing.
Samhain is the feast day that celebrates the Celtic New Year and the beginning of winter. Celtic tradition tells us on the eve of this day the veil between our world and the Otherworld is thinnest and became at times visible to those alive. It was believed the Otherworld was a blessed place to live, but anyone who had passed over there would wither and die if they tried to return to the land of the living. Communication with the dead was said to be possible during this time. Irish records from the 9th century mention Samhain and in Britain there are a number of Neolithic tombs aligned with Samhain and Imbolc. The Christian hierarchy transformed the feast of Samhain into ‘All Hallows Day’ or ‘All Saints Day’ and although this ancient feast day is still celebrated it is done so in a more modern fashion. Cornish traditions going back centuries included Mumming and Guising as part of festivals evolving from original Celtic Samhain traditions with records dating from the 16th century. The dressing up is said to have originated as part of a disguise to stop the dead who might want to exact revenge for a wrongdoing recognising them.
When we talk about Celtic peoples it should be mentioned that the name Celt or Celtic for the indigenous peoples of what are becoming increasingly known as the Anglo-Celtic Isles dates to the 17th century. Most people in Cornwall for example may have referred to themselves as Cornish but not likely as part of a wider Celtic group of peoples within Britain. Linguistically the name Celtic was used by Edward Lhuyd relating to the languages in the 18th century. Far back in ancient times it’s unlikely that they called themselves anything beyond the name of their tribe or probably as named and recorded by the Romans.
It's really encouraging to see many towns embracing festivals that originated centuries ago based on the ancient Celtic feast days and historic Cornish traditions. These activities besides being part of the continuance of Cornwall’s intangible heritage are also part of the evolving future and have become important as economic drivers for businesses attracting people to town centres for festivals. Congratulations to those towns who have looked to Cornwall’s past to help secure their future.
