by Marina Stein

Created on: May 06, 2010   Last Updated: May 07, 2010

Golowan festival is an old tradition of the people of Cornwall, UK, to celebrate the midsummer days. The name "Golowan" means "Feast of John" in Cornish dialect and it is celebrated on the Eve of St.John's day - 24th of June. Interesting enough is that the date also is the one of summer solstice. The main place to celebrate Golowan is the city of Penzance in Cornwall. Actually, the name of the city - Penzance - means "Holy Head" and refers to St. John himself. Festival is conducted till 28th of June - Mazey Day - which is the highest point of the festival.

Though festival is celebrated in honor of St.John, the roots of the holiday are pagan which is obvious from the way of celebration. The Druidic traditions of worshipping Sun can be seen very easily. Druids were known to lit fires in honor of Baal who was considered the God of Sun. It was also believed that jumping over the fire protects the person from evil for the year to come. Nowadays it is very common to have huge bonfires all over the countryside as well and people still jump over the fires. On the next day they immerse themselves into the sea waters since it is full summer now and it is considered to be safe to swim.

The celebration involves Mock Mayor election, dances and games on the streets, the most popular being a serpent dance where the long lines of people holding hands run through the streets. Once in a while they form "an eye": the last two people in the line raise their arms and the whole line runs through that "eye" so the last person becomes the first in line.

One of the most famous features of Golowan festival is the appearance of Obby 'Oss (Cornish for Hobby Horse) by the name of Penglaz. Penglaz is the center figure of the festival and is represented by a man wearing a horse head and a cape. Penglaz usually appears late at night hours and is considered to be a dark frightening force. Nobody knows where or when it will come to scare the festival folks snapping its mouth and stamping its feet.

Golowan celebration was forbidden at the end of the 19th century for being too dangerous and wild. In 1991 community of Penzance decided to revitalize the old tradition. Since then Golowan festival has developed into the massive celebration with all traditional features. It attracts a lot of local artists and performers as well as thousands of tourists. It is interesting to notice that almost every European country has similar traditions of celebrating the summer solstice.

Sources:

http://www.golowan.org/

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/prwe/prwe095.htm

http://www.penglaz.co.uk/

Learn more about this author, Marina Stein.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.