Obby Oss at Padstow

Now is the month of Maying, when merry lads are playing! Fa la la la la!
Each with his bonny lass, a-dancing on the grass, fa la la la la!
The Spring, clad all in gladness, doth laugh at Winter's sadness! Fa la la la la!
And to the bagpipes’ sound, the nymphs tread out the ground! Fa la la la la!

Fie! Then why sit we musing, youth’s sweet delight refusing? Fa la la la la!
Say, dainty nymphs and speak! Shall we play barley break? Fa la la la la!

- Sir Thomas Morley

It is the 1st of May in Cornwall - May poles, fertility festivals, the return of Bel the sun God, spring in the air, ancient celebrations of being Cornish.

We travelled to Padstow for Obby Oss - one of the oldest and continuing pagan celebrations in Britain. Padstow is is a small and very pretty fishing village on the north coast of cornwall. These days it is famous for Rick Stein and his seafood restaurants. Thousands of people packed into Padstow for Obby Oss 2010 and it was a spectacular sight with the town draped in flags and streamers intertwined with greenery and flowers.

Nobody is too sure about the origins of the Obby Oss ritual. Obby Oss is dialect for Hobby Horse and dancing the Obby Oss is linked with fertility and new life (enough said). Originally there was one Oss (the red one - the Old Oss) and people used to drink a lot and dance the Oss with a traditional folk tune on accordion and drums. The Temperance Movement didn't like all the drinking so they created the Peace Oss (the blue one) as an alternative. In the end good old drinking won and now both Osses are danced through the streets of Padstow with much wassailing. The Osses are released from their stable (the Golden Lion Inn) an hour apart and people can choose whether they want to side with the Old Oss or the Peace Oss. Revellers dress in white with sashes appropriate to the colour of their chosen Oss. Where I say choose, it is more like that you follow the Oss that your family has been aligned to for the past 1000 years or so. Loyalties are well established but it is a wonderful celebration not a competition and all of it is very great fun.

We celebrated with the throng and managed to find a good spot to watch the Oss and the dancers go past. We smiled at the little toddler being carried on his Dad's shoulders. They were supporting the Blue Oss and the little boy had his white and blue costume on with the words 'Oss Oss Wee Oss' emblazoned on his jumper. We were priveleged to be in a spot where the hypnotic dancing and music paused and the revellers voices were raised as one in a May Day song which sounded like a lament followed by the lively tune of the May Day dance (mourningful death followed by the new life of spring). We followed the Oss with the crowd for a bit and then turned to the left to take a look at the beautiful harbour and town we were in. Lovely! Fishing boats and pleasure yachts in the small harbour. Little stone buildings and shops. We followed a path up and out of the town and along the river-estuary. The sun came out and it was quite warm and muggy (I mean it - it was!). The river sparkled and coastline stretched away in rolling hills. Massive grassy sand dunes were on the other side of the river. We sat on one of the many park benches overlooking the river for a while and enjoyed the sun and the view. Stef got a little sneezy with hayfever, a sure sign that spring is here.

Back into Padstow and we found a nice terrace cafe overlooking the river and the town. Here we had our first proper cream tea with clotted cream. Earl Grey tea (tea bag much to the disgust of us tea puritans) with two large scone halves smothered in strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream. YUM! Can you believe that we have been here 4 months and this was our first proper cream tea? Can you believe we have been here 4 months? Where does the time go?

There was a plan to have fish and chips for lunch at Rick Stein's but we weren't very hungry after our scones and Padstow was just too crowded on this day. We walked back through the town and looked in at Rick Stein's restaurants just so we could say that we have. I'm sure we will get back to Padstow and surrounds another time as there are walks to be done and views to be seen in this part of Cornwall.