Montol Traditions

Montol, Nadelik, and Cornish Christmas and Mid winter traditions revived.

Montol is the Cornish word for the Midwinter Solstice according to Edward Lhuyd in his1700 MSS Vocabulary.

In 1707 Edwhurd Lhuyd also translates Montol as "balance". To the organisers of the festival both interpretations are important: firstly the Montol festival is a balance to the ever popular Golowan festival, secondly it is also the celebration of the Cornish Midwinter and revival of its ancient customs.

The Christmas traditions of the people of Cornwall are vast and rich and have contributed to many of the Christmas and midwinter customs practised worldwide.

They traditions range from:

The Midwinter Obby Oss - Penglaz who came out with the dancers and mummers of the town with a band of followers wearing Venetian style carnival masks and black clothes or "Tatters" ie coloured tattered rags attached to black clothe. Some wore the skin and horns of cattle . The wearing of sprigs of Mistletoe, Ivy, Holly and Yew tree were also part of the celebrations. All participants in Montol will be encouraged to disguise themselves in some way and be masked (Ie a domino eye mask). or mask in the Venetian style or wear tatters .

The Singing of Cornish Carols - Collected by famous folklorists like Davies Gilbert Cornish carols have been described by some as Cornwall's gift to the world. Thomas Merrit, another Cornish carol legend composed many unique carols that are still popular today. What is a little known fact is that most of the traditional carols of Christmas were collected in Cornwall when Christmas was largely uncelebrated outside Cornwall and Yorkshire, Christmas being popularised by Charles Dickens after the publication of A Christmas Carol. For more information about Cornish Carols click here.

The Lighting of the Midwinter "Mock" or Cornish Yule Log - The Mock was a log burned in the family home or at community occasions. A stick man was chalked on the Mock as a symbol of the death of the new year and the birth of the new. Traditionally the Mock was made of ash wood and was in some parts of Cornwall and Devon called an "Ashen Faggot". All the bark was removed from the Mock . In the revived Montol festival we will be burning the Mock outside in our beacon fires (Tan - Cornish Language) for the whole community to share in the experience.

The Candle Dance - A circle dance and cousin of the Serpent dance seen at Golowan. Candles were placed in a basket of sand and young people would dance around them - Many observers commented on the similarity between the candle dance and the Golowan serpent dance in the sense they were both "fire" dances used to sanctify the solstice.

The Guise Dancers - Strangely dressed performers who travelled throughout the town - going door to door celebrating the topsy turvy and the spirit of misrule, the gatecrashing of parties and "testing of the ale" were also traditions associated with Guising or "Geesing". All participants in Montol will be encouraged to disguise themselves in some way and be masked (Ie a domino eye mask). or mask in the Venetian style or wear tatters in the same style as the Guise dancers. Read here an original description of the Geese Dancers in St Ives.

The Guise Dance Plays - Short comedy plays performed by the Guise Dancers with names like Duffy and the Devil and St George and the Turkish Knight. The most popular Europe wide being St George and the Turkish Knight.

All of these traditions form part of the Montol festival.

www.montol.co.uk

Montol Festival

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Penglaz the Penzance 'Obby 'Oss and the Golowan band dressed in the Guise dancer style

The Montol Festival is an annual arts and community festival in Penzance, Cornwall held between the 14th and 22nd of December each year. The festival is a revival or reinterpretation of many of the traditional Cornish midwinter traditions & Christmas traditions formerly practiced in and around the Penzance area and is organised by the same team as the modern Golowan Festival.

Origin of the word Montol

Edward Lhuyd in his 1700 MSS of vocabulary the Cornish language states that Montol means Winter Solstice^[1]. however he later translates the word as balance (in latin Trutina^[2], in Kernewek Kemmyn, Mantol). The organisers of the festival use both interpretations of the word, primarilly the festival is a celebration of the Cornish midwinter and a balance to the Midsummer Golowan celebrations.

[edit] Revived customs

The 2007 Montol beacon at Lescudjack Hillfort

At the very core of the festival are several of the revived customs of the West Cornwall area including, Penglaz the Penzance 'Obby 'Oss, described by many antiquarians as being present at the midwinter celebrations in Penzance at the turn of the 18th century as well as the St John the Baptist celebrations at Midsummer, Guise dancing, the Cornish candle dance and the performance of traditional mummers plays such as St George and the Turkish Knight. Cornish Christmas carols also feature heavily during the festivities.

[edit] Historical basis for revived customs

The historical basis for many of the customs described above are taken from the texts of notable Cornish antiquarians. AK Hamilton Jenkin in his book Cornish homes and customs describes the festival of 1831 as "like an Italian carnival" and further noted that "everyone including the rich and the great came masked and disguised on to the streets".

A detailed description of the Penzance Guise dancers is given by William Bottrell in his book Traditions and hearthside stories of West Cornwall,

“

"During the early part of the last century the costume of the guise dancers often consisted of such antique finery as would now raise envy in the heart of a collector..The Chief glory of the men lay in their cocked hats which were surmounted with plumes and decked with streamers and ribbons, The girls were no less magnificently attired with steeple crowned hats, stiff bodied gowns, bag skirts or trains and ruffles hanging from their elbows ."

en.wikipedia.org