What is Montol?

To outside eyes Montol can look impenetrable or even a bit sinister and there is still massive confusion among some members of the community about it's very nature, not understanding its origins or misrepresenting the entire experience.   So what exactly is the Montol? First of all the name itself, it is on the Teer Ha Tavaz website that we find the reference to "Montol" being Cornish for Midwinter Solstice. In the inaugural year of the festival a choice of name was sought and Montol was chosen over the more well known "Chewidden Thursday". If you click here it will take you through to the Teer Ha Tavas page and you will be able to see the page in question.

Montol is in fact a celebration of the Christmas and Midwinter traditions common in Cornwall right up to the 1930s, a focus for the amazing cultural heritage of the Winter season in this special place. What you see at Montol therefore was accepted as normality at Winter feast days, especially the 12 days of Christmas. The most obvious tradition being celebrated is that of Guise Dancing. Guise dancing was exceptionally popular in Penzance in the early 19th Century, some even compared the costumed splendour in Penzance to the Venice Carnival, a truly amazing accolade.  Despite its name, Guise Dancing encompasses a wide tradition of disguise and misrule. Dance, drama, music. processions all have a place here and you will see all these strands at Montol. Guise dancing requires its celebrants to be in "maximum disguise" a disguise that consists of a mask or veil to cover the face and a costume that reflects the theme of "Topsy Turvey". Poor people mocking the rich by adopting their costume, men sometimes dressed as women and visa versa and the very rich adopting coloured rags and ribbons in imitation of the lower elements of society.At Montol you can see all of these.

During the proceedings of the evening there are other Cornish customs on display. The "Mock" or Cornish Yule Log forms the centre of the 10pm procession at Montol, it was and is ceremonially marked with a chalk stick figure of a man and then burnt. It is at the 10pm procession that you will see all of the "Guise Beasts" together, the Green Man (based on a tradition from St Ives), Old Ned the Crow, Skulldugger, Ramesses, Ratael and ultimately "Kasek Nos" the "Night Mare" who emerges from the Admiral Benbow at 10pm. These "beasts" were common among the Guise dancers of old, some comedic and some scary.

You will hear at Montol the singing of Carols, some unfamiliar to the modern ear, that once were the very root and marrow of a Cornish Christmas. From the tunes of Merrit to Wassail songs, you will hear them at Montol. 

Everyone who attends Montol is encouraged to dress the part, process with us, and be a part of the festival.  So what is Montol? Montol is the celebration of the wonderful anarchic and colourful traditions of the Midwinter here in Cornwall, and Cornwall is a better place for it.

Mix a little bit of Allantide with your Halloween.

The Cornish people have their own version of Halloween, held on the 31st of October every year. The Cornish Culture Association hold a campaign every year encouraging people to "Mix a little Allantide in your Halloween". So what is Allantide?  Allantide is part of world wide group of traditions which include Mexico's Day of the Dead, Halloween, Hop-Tu-Naa and many others. It has a great number of customs many of which are associated with Apples. First and foremost the large red apples known as "Allan Apples" are given to friends and family. These are eaten the day after on All Saints Day or Allan Day and are used by younger females to discover the identity of the their future husbands. This is done by placing the Allan Apple under your pillow with the hope that dreams would be of a future spouse. Other members of the family receive them as a luck gift. The traditional apples were aromatic, large red apples, no variety can be definitely identified and in the modern era any red apples are used.  These apples were sold at large Allan Apple Markets which were particularly popular in St Ives and Penzance.  A game is also played at Allantide using apples, a sort of reverse apple bobbing. A wooden cross piece is nailed together and four apples hung from each end. Candles are secured on the of the wood. The idea is to grab and apple with your mouth without getting splashed with hot wax.  There are also a tradition of throwing a chestnut into a fire, in the modern era we do this emphasize our desire that the twelve months ahead will be a good while. The former tradition was that if the chestnut popped in the fire then you would expect to die in the next 12 months. So this year why don't you mix a little Allantide with your celebration of Halloween? Why not for example make a Allantide candle game and use it as a decoration, or give an apple to your loved ones.  The Cornish Culture Penzance Allantide event is on the 31st of October at 8pm Penzance Cricket club.  (Below Allantide videos).

The Guldize Pudding part 2.

In preparation for this years Guldize celebrations in Penzance I have been researching in more detail the recipes I can get my hands on for the Guldize pudding. Those that I can find are for huge amounts of food aimed at feeding great feasts, cooking these recipes would be deeply impractical for most modern celebrants. Using a bit of maths and cobbling together the recipes I have had view of I have been able to create a recipe for a small (still over 2 lbs in weight!) Guldize pudding.


Ingredients

9 oz of bread crumbs

2 oz of plain flour

7 oz of suet

8 oz for fresh plums

6 oz of currants

6 oz of sugar

2-3 eggs (If you prefer a richer pudding you can add more eggs)

3/4 of a ground nutmeg

A generous helping of dried ginger and candied peel to taste


Method

Chop and stone the fresh plums and chop the candied peel as needed. Mix with the all the other ingredients in a large bowl. Place a disk of grease proof paper in a large bowl and stuff the pudding mixture into it.


Cover with a double layer of greaseproof paper pleating it to allow for expansion, then tie with string (keep the paper in place with a rubber band while tying). Trim off any excess paper. Now the bowl on a large sheet of foil and bring the edges up over the top, then put another sheet of foil over the top and bring it down underneath to make a double package (this makes the pudding watertight). Tie with more string, and make a handle for easy lifting in and out of the pan.

Boil or steam for 7 (Yes you read that correctly) hours.

The pudding then can be served hot after this process or reheated on the evening of Guldize itself.

Always serve with clotted cream!

Depredation among the fire folk - The ancient Golowan in Penzance.

The Golowan festival is upon us once again here in Penzance. Golowan is now a major community arts festival with a programme of traditions in and around a spectacular display of civic pride. The modern Golowan shares with it's ancient ancestor some traditions, that of Mock Mayor, The Serpent Dance, St John's Eve and of course the fire work. Golowan circa 1860 would have been a very much different event, and was world famous.

The festival can be seen as part of the wider St John's Eve Midsummer traditions of Cornwall that gradually faded from the rest the Duchy leaving only Mount's Bay as a bastion of the "firey carnival". After the festivities of May day and Whitsun the people of the town would start collecting firewood to use on St John's Eve, this would have included gorse which was often used in Cornwall as fuel anyway. At 5pm people started to assemble their fires in the middle of the street and on every street corner. A large fire was created in the Green Market (Yes I know its quite narrow there!).   In some places "tar barrels" were laid out ready to burn (please note that they were never carried as in Ottery St Mary).

At Sun down the people of the town would congregate at the Green Market to elect a Mock Mayor (The Mock Mayor of the Quay) and following his or her election would shower him with sparks from "squibs", large sparking fire works,

When the light finally faded pandemonium would break loose the ,various bonfires were lit an thousands upon thousands of fireworks let off in the street. Then hundreds of torches appeared all being swung in a peculiar manner around the head. Some torches where 6 feet long with tar soaked sail cloth used as a wick, some were fireballs on chains, some improvised from whatever people could find. Candles would also be lit by residents and placed in their windows, a bough of Bay or St John's wort were could also be found fixed above peoples doors.  Girls would often dress with "Golowan garlands" large wooden hoops decorated with flowers.

When the fires and fireworks has died down a strange half game half dance would begin known as the "Serpent Dance". This is not the rather graceful serpent dances of recent Cornish revival but a near scrum. Hand in hand the people of the town would form a long line, dancing between the embers of the fires. Now and again "dancers" in the middle of the line would shout "An Eye" An Eye" and raise their arms to form a gateway for the front of the dance to rush through in imitation of thread and needle. Sometimes the line would have to leap through the embers to avoid being burnt.

Midnight (1am BST actually) would mean the end of the this display and a return to the taverns of the Dock area where the town would drink itself into a stupor.

The next day was of course Midsummers day and in the quay area there was a fair, Market stalls would spring up to sell strawberries served on a cabbage leaf while some "took a pennorth of sea" in other words, took a boat excursion into the bay.

So what happened? It was though for many years that the festivities has died out in the 1870's but there is now evidence that the celebration lasted in some form up to the 20th century. As early as 1815 we have references to attempts to ban the festival especially Penzance Mayor "Henry Boase" who wrote in his diary of the "Depredation of the Fire Folk".By the 1870 some of the town council, eventually succeeded in moving the celebrations to the Promenade area where it declined.. By the advent of WW1 it was but a cherished memory.

We owe a huge debt to those people who 25 years ago had enough imagination and determination to start a revived Golowan albeit a somewhat different one to the old. It was without doubt their intention to use the past to inspire the future and to gradually restore and revive. Will we ever see a firey carnival on the 23rd of June again? It is certainly unlikely that fires will be randomly lit on street corners, fireworks thrown at people or any of the seriously dangerous activities that would quite clearly endanger public safety. I think however it would be possible to recreate some of the display with skilled, trained people, to use modern theatrical techniques to recreate the awe inspiring sight of the Midsummer fire.

The Raffidy Dumitz Band Project - Part 1.

Over the past 3 weeks I have been having a good think about tunes that would be good for the CCA's new musical project. I have come up with a provisional list that I think will work. These are about 70% Cornish and 30% from people I like the sound of that would work in a Cornish Context. These tunes are listed below and would not necessarily be played in the format you see here.  

1) Cornish March - One of three tunes I have included from the repertoire of the former Turkey Rhubarb Band, this tune is synonymous with Montol after being introduced to the festival in 2008.

a) The original by Saor Patrol 

b) A 2009 version by the Turkey Rhubarb Band

c) The Montol Band's version at this years Montol. 

2) An Awhesyth - (The Lark in Cornish) a very soft melody that if sped up would be excellent for the kind of music I am thinking of.

a) Youtube version

3) An Culyek Hos - (The Mallard Duck) 

a) Youtube version.

4) Breton March (Actually Bretonisher Marche) a very simple tune that would be very effective.

a) Breton March on youtube

5) Newlyn Reel - A classic of Cornish Music, the Turkey Rhubarb band were very strong on this particular number.

6) Horatio's Carol - A original tune by Tamsyn "Gurdybird" Swingler and used as the signature tune of the Egyptians guild at Montol.  

a) Horatio's carol played by Tamsyn live - vimeo.

7) Ton Garrow - A original Cornish tune by Henry Tamblin - I really love this and it has a great energy about it.

a) Ton Garrow on youtube.

8) Noel Nouvelete - This one is from an era I am fascinated with. A french standard carol from the Renaissance usually played slowly or sung slowly. The paced up version on a hurdy gurdy below would be ideal for Montol. It would need to adapted into a part a and part b however.

a)  Noel Nouvelete Gregory Joilvet - Youtube

9) Kabm Vean - :Love the tune and would add an element of "euphoria" to any performance a) Crowd Kabm Vean

10) Morvoren - By the super talented Richard Trethewey 

a) Link to midi file on the kesson "Kyt's tunery" site 

11) Rokatanc - A medieval style tune by Vox Vulgaris - 

a) Youtube 

These are only ideas - and I know many of us don't play the instruments being played here. My idea is that we think about different ways to create different sounds. The first Raffidy Dumitz band session will be held on the 21st of February 2015. Details to follow.

Candlemas

Candlemas is an important occasion in many traditional ritual calenders including that of the Irish and Scots where the feast of Imbolc (Imbolg and the feast of St Brighit were alternative names) was celebrated as one of the 4 principle quarter days (Imbolc is actually the day before Candlemas but the former is often translated as the later).  In medieval Christianity the feast marked the purification of Mary at the temple or the presentation of Christ as the temple and was also the time when special beeswax candles were blessed by priests for distribution to the faithful. The following day is St Blaise's Feast (Or St Blazey Feast in Cornwall) where bonfires were commonly lit in most northern European cultures. In paganism practiced in the modern era"Imbolc" has become one of the major events of the year and certainly early Irish literature suggests very ancient origins indeed. Before the reformation Candlemas was also often seen as the last of the Christmas celebrations, a time to host feasts, pay rents , settle debts, and afterwards take down the greenery that had been on display since Christmas.  It is in the guise that you find Candlemas in Cornwall.  The most famous of these customs was the rent collection ritual at Godolphin House, an account of this occasion follows from "The Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customsby T. Sharper Knowlson" in 1910.

'This being Candlemas Day, the old Cornish manor house of Godolphin, now a farm-house, was visited, telegraphs our Penzance correspondent, by the reeve of the manor of Lamburne, who came to collect, with time-honoured ceremony, a rent-charge upon the estate. In the presence of a crowd of curious neighbours and sight-seers, the reeve knocked thrice upon the oaken door. "I come," he cried, "to demand my lord's just dues--eight groats and a penny, a loaf, a cheese, a collar of brawn, and a jack of the best beer in the house. God save the King and the lord of the manor."When the doors were opened, the reeve and some forty guests sat down to breakfast together."

An older account from 1883 says;

"On Candlemas Day (February 2nd), before sunrise, the reeve must appear at the outer door and give three distinct knocks, saying “Oh yes! Oh Yes! Oh Yes! Here comes I, the reeve of the Manor of Lamburne, to demand my Lord’s dues: three groats and a penny in money, a loaf, a cheese, a collar of brawn and a jug of the best beer in the house; God save the King and the Lord of the Manor.” 

The Cornish Culture Association celebrates Candlemas in a way similar to that at Godolphin, with a twist. Because Candlemas is the end of traditional festive season we also consider it the end of the "guising" season. Our members and guests attend a "Candlemas Feast" dressed in Guise costume where we enact a somewhat similar ritual. This time the Lord of Misrule from the Montol festival collects his or her symbolic rent from the masters of the Penzance Guise Guilds. The rent in this case being "3 groats and a Penny, a collar of brawn, bread, a jack of beer and the finest cheeses known to man". A "rough" feast of gammon (found as payment in other rent rituals in Cornwall). pea soup (eaten traditionally on Nickanan Night, a feast very close in date to Candlemas), hot bread, brawn (vegan brawn is also available!) and cheese then follows. The whole event is treated as a "Mock Civic Feast" very much in keeping with the history and traditions of Guise Dancing and ends with a set of bizarre toasts all topped up with Cornish festive drinks like mahogany (gin and black treacle) and shenagrum (hot dark beer, mixed with brown sugar, lemon and nutmeg).  

Montol Festival Statement.

The Cornish Culture Association is pleased to announce that as of today the 25th of September we have taken over responsibility for the organisation of Penzance's Montol Festival. The Cornish Culture Association would like to thank all those who contributed to the festival's success over the last few years, especially members of the Turkey Rhubarb Band whose hard work and commitment allowed the festival to continue as a central feature of the Penzance and Cornish communities.  As there are a number of significant changes to the towns infrastructure this years festival will use a number of new locations. The 5:45pm procession will now start from Chapel Street instead of  St John's Hall (which is undergoing major structural works) and will follow a new route (to be confirmed). There will also be a significant expansion of the traditional Cornish parts of the festival, following detailed research by members of the association,which will take place in the town centre between 7pm and 10pm (full details to be confirmed). We hope that the festival's popular legacy of "celebrating the Cornish traditions of Winter" will not only remain under our leadership but thrive and prosper.

Simon Reed - Secretary and Organiser Cornish Culture Association for and on behalf of the trustees of the association.