Golowan and Mazey Day

This is the week in which Golowan – Penzance’s midsummer festival - is celebrated. Sadly, festivities had to be cancelled for the past two years due to the Covid pandemic. But - like all British traditional festivals - it has come back with a bang in 2022. 

So what is Golowan and what does the word mean? 

'Golowan' comes from a combination of two words in the Cornish language: gool (a feast, fair or festival) and Jowan – the Cornish for the name John. The name has gone through several mutations over the centuries - in the 1750s it was recorded as 'Golruan' - but loosely translates as 'The Feast of St John', which is celebrated on June 24th (around the time of the Summer Solstice). The Golowan festival takes place over a week leading up to Mazey Day on the 27th June.

On the festival's official website, Tom Goskar explains that the current festival was resurrected in 1991 by a group of enthusiasts from Alverton School, Kneehigh Theatre, the Penwith Peninsula Project and Penzance Town Council. But its history is long and the various events that take place in the modern version - the Feast of St John, the Serpent Dances, the Quay Fair, the election of a Mock Mayor, the display of banners and flags etc. - all have their roots in ancient tradition. 

There is an account from the Cornish Telegraph newspaper on 30th July 1875 which records: 'Gradually the tar-barrels were ignited throughout the length of the principal streets. The scene, even at this stage, is picturesque, though it be barbarous. The thoroughfares are filled with dense smoke; but through this can be seen perhaps fifty torches, the lurid and ever-moving flames crossing and re-crossing each other, and, as they approach you, throwing a light which would have delighted Rembrandt on all around.' 

'In about an hour, “the charm” grows madder. The possessors of hand-rockets – their faces already smirched with the smoke and powder – rush up and down the lines of spectators, peppering their legs from their fiery pepper-castors, or adroitly thread their way, with dancing steps, among the thickest of assembled crowds. From half-past ten to half-past eleven, pandemonium is witnessed. Spite of the stifling smoke a band plays; hobble-de-hoys, with occasionally a female partner, but more frequently in couples of their own sex, waltz and polka; in every direction the bonfires blaze, the hand-rockets hiss, squibs flit hither and thither, and fall in unexpected places, sky-rockets and Roman candles send their many coloured scintillations into the air; the cry of “Fire, fire!” resounds, but it only means that some fair one’s petticoats require a vigorous shaking or she would soon be skirtless; all is rough and unmannerly, yet no offence or harm is meant. So the game proceeds until midnight approaches, when the fun slackens, the police and sweepers appear, and the commemoration of St John burns itself quietly out, and all vestiges of the carnival disappear.' 

Photo: Mouh2Jijel (Creative Commons)

The lighting of bonfires to see in the Summer Solstice is not unique to Cornwall. In fact, in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe it's still the centrepiece of many midsummer celebrations. An editorial piece published in The Cornishman newspaper on 17th June 1880 notes that, 'At one time these fires (such as we shall certainly see in a few days illuminating our town and making it look as if there were a great conflagration in it) were common in most parts of Europe. When our Penzance lads are lighting their fires or waving the torches around their heads it is a strange thought that far to the North, amidst the fjords of Norway, on the crags of Scotland; to the South, amidst the Menhirion of Brittany; to the East, in the forests of Russia, or on the Carpathian peaks, fires will be burning on the same evening in honour of Midsummer-tide. Penzance and Krakow are at one on this point.' 

But it was always popular in Penzance and across the Lands End peninsula and beacons were lit on high clifftops and beaches. Bonfires were also set up in the town - something that Health and Safety officers might sweat over in today's world - and vigorous partying went on all around them. In fact, it was the bonfires that led to the festival's demise in the 1890’s when the Penzance Council outlawed it due to the number of injuries and the rising insurance premiums for the town's business community. The fact that so many people made their own illegal fireworks didn't help matters either.

The festival sadly missed most of the 20th century (although beacon fires were still lit). I missed out on it too as I lived in Penzance during the 1960s. However, it did eventually return in 1991 in a safer, more controlled form that, nevertheless, still has much to enjoy.

One major attraction of the festival is the Serpent Dance - the final parade on Mazey Day. On the letters page of the Royal Cornwall Gazette 4th July 1801 we read: 'Then comes the finale: no sooner are the torches burnt out, than the inhabitants of the quay-quarter, (a great multitude) male and female, young, middle-aged, and old ; virtuous and vicious, sober and drunk, take hands, and forming a long string, run violently through every street, lane, and alley crying “An eye! an eye! an eye!” At last they stop suddenly ; and an eye to this enormous needle being opened by the last two in the string, (whose clasped hands are elevated and arched) the thread of the populace run under, and through: and continue to repeat the same, till weariness dissolves their union, and sends them home to bed, which is never till near the hour of midnight.'  This is a fair description of the modern dance which you can see on this video:

There are several parades during the festival, most featuring huge structures made of wire and papier mache.

Photos: Tiffany Terry (Creative Commons) 

Mazey Day (from the Cornish dialect word 'mazed' which means bewildered, confused or bonkers) is opened by the Mayor and the Mock Mayor and is the centrepiece of Golowan. Artists, schools and other community groups fill the streets with music and giant sculptures in a series of parades. It also features the appearance of Penglaz, the town's sinister-looking Obby Oss - and the Quay Fair. Tens of thousands of people line Market Jew Street, the main street of Penzance, which becomes a huge market place for the day 

(You can see more pictures of Penglas and her gang of 'Teazers' on the Grumpy Old Witchcraft blog here).

Photo: Dennis Axford  (Creative Commons)

Photo: Reedgunner (Creative Commons) 

Pirates have always featured strongly in Penzance lore, tradition and real history. Gilbert and Sullivan certainly popularised the association. And the local rugby team was always called the Penzance Pirates (now the name of the county team). Therefore, there are always more than a few among the revellers. In 2011, the town successfully attempted to beat the Guinness World Record for the most pirates gathered in one place. A total of 8,734 people in fancy dress assembled on Penzance promenade smashing the previous world record set by 6,166 pirates in Hastings in 2010. However, not to be outdone, Hastings snatched the record back in in 2012 with an amazing crowd of 14,231 participants. The record still stands. 

Photos: Tiffany Terry (Creative Commons)

Photos: Simon Colgan (with permission) 

Festivals like Golowan may seem frivolous but they are important. They bring a community together and help to define a shared identity for the town or village they live in. It gives people an event to look forward to every year and provides a focus for people's creative efforts. The pandemic tragically halted many such festivals all over the UK.

But now it's 2022 and we can once again strap on our cutlasses and eye-patches and celebrate the solstice in style.