15th Dec 2021
Everyone who celebrates any kind of festival will have their own traditions. Some families hand them down through generations. Others may create new ones along the way. These festive routines bring a sense of comfort in the chaotic rush towards the big day. From ancient times to the present, Christmas traditions keep out the cold each winter. This year, why not be inspired by some of Cornwall's festive traditions?
GET INTO THE FESTIVE SPIRIT WITH PICROUS DAY
East Cornwall’s holiday for tinners falls on the second Thursday before Christmas. If you miss that, Chewidden Thursday (also known as White Thursday) is another option. The last Thursday before Christmas celebrates the birth of smelted (or white) tin.
BAKE SAFFRON BUNS ON CHRISTMAS EVE
The scent of warm current cakes gilded with saffron pervades Christmas Eve. This lustrous spice is thought to have been first exchanged for Cornish tin in 400BC!
In some parts of Cornwall, it was customary to top children's Christmas Eve buns with a bird made of dough. This reminded them that the Angels sang when Christ was born.
Families would also prepare dishes like mackerel pie, muggetty pie and egg-hot. Old Christmas Day (Twelfth Day or Epiphany Day1) was not the same without the Twelfth Day cake. Baked in the middle were often wedding rings, sixpence and thimbles. Spare a thought to the poor souls who found the thimble, destined as they were never to marry.
CATCH THE OLD WOMAN’S GOOSE FEATHERS
If you're lucky, you might make snow angels in the feathers that fall from the Old Sky Woman’s great White goose. Whether you believe the Old Woman is preparing her meal or the White Goose is moulting, no one can resist the charm of this tale.
DREAM WITH THE PISKEYS
Piskeys have a multi-faceted nature. They can be very mischievous, sometimes cruel and rarely compassionate towards people. According to Enys Tregarthen, piskeys can create lovely dreams for good but wisht (disheartened) children. It helps if you keep the outhouse open for wild moorland animals to take shelter on a cold night.
PLAY A GAME OF ROUNDERS
On Christmas Day, it was popular for children to play rounders on the beach. If winter sports don't tempt you, you might enjoy a game of pinny-ninny. The aim was to drop pins onto an upturned bowl so that they formed a cross. Once you made a cross, you could take the pins and the person who ended up with all the pins won the game.
ADORN YOUR HOME WITH FORAGED FOLIAGE AND BOUGHS
Evergreens were a popular choice as they were sold in bunches known as 'Penn'orths of Chris'mas'. M.A. Courtney describes how:
'two hoops fastened one in the other by nails at the centres are gaily decorated with evergreens, apples, oranges, etc., and suspended from the middle beam of the ceiling of the best kitchen. This is the 'bush' or 'kissing bush'. At night a lighted candle is put in it, stick on the bottom nail; but once or twice lately I have seen a Chinese lantern hanging from the top one.'
GO HOUSE TO HOUSE SINGING CURLS2
Listening to carols and carol-singing remain popular traditions at Christmas across the world. What you might not know is that Cornwall bolstered the international love of carols. On 24 December 1879, Truro Cathedral held the first ever Nine Lessons and Carols service (often misquoted as having originated in Cambridge). Bishop E.W. Benson, soon to be the Archbishop of Canterbury, devised this new Christmas Eve service. With the Cathedral closed for restoration, a purpose-built shed housed the first service.
THROW ANOTHER BLOCK ON THE FIRE
Throw a log on the fire (if you have one).
DON'T GO TO A VOW (OR COVE) AT DAWN ON CHRISTMAS DAY
There are dire consequences for anyone who intrudes on the spirit of the Vow. This spirit takes the form of a beautiful woman in white, clasping a red rose between her teeth.
PARADE THE STREETS AS A GOOSE-DANCER (ACTUALLY, DON'T)
Guise or Goose-dancers played havoc in the streets from Christmas to Twelfth Day. Wearing disguises and scaring children, they would enter homes uninvited. The dancers caused chaos until residents paid them to leave. People became so fed up that they began putting up notices forbidding the practice.
There is now a less rowdy version for Penzance's Montol Festival every December.
Nadelik lowen!
Notes
1 Twelfth Day or Epiphany Day was on 5 or 6 January.
2 There are three main types of curl in Cornwall, originating from St Ives, Padstow and North Cornwall. St Ives carols use more local songs, whereas North Cornish carols resemble those in Devon.
Further Reading
Courtney, M.A. Cornish Feasts and Folklore. (1890) Books on Demand, 2018
"Hearing Cornwall’s 'Lost' Christmas Carols is an Utter Delight." Cornwall Live, written by Gillian Molesworth, 25 Dec 2020, https://www.cornwalllive.com/whats-on/music-nightlife/hearing-cornwalls-lost-christmas-carols-4759826
Hunt, Robert. Popular Romances of the West of England. John Camden Hotten, 1865
"Nine Lessons and Carols." Truro Cathedral, 2017, https://www.trurocathedral.org.uk/history/nine-lessons-and-carols
Tregarthen, Enys. North Cornwall Fairies and Legends. Amazon, 2020
"The Truth about Christmas Carols." BBC Two, directed by Jonathan Mayo, 2008
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