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Golowan
Golowan (sometimes also Goluan) is the Cornish language word for the Midsummer celebrations in Cornwall, UK; they were widespread prior to the late 19th century and most popular in the Penwith area and in particular in Penzance. The celebrations began on St John's Eve (23 June) with bonfires, fireworks, dancing and music, followed by a fair around the town quay on Midsummer Day (feast of St John the Baptist, 24 June) and were repeated on St Peter's Eve (28 June) and St Peter's Day. In 2021, Golowan commissioned an exhibition which celebrated 30 years of the revived festival and explored the historical roots of Penzance's Midsummer revels. It included extensive 19th century newspaper extracts including many first-hand accounts of events across the town, including the wider context of Midsummer bonfires across Europe. The midsummer bonfire ceremonies (''Tansys Golowan'' in Cornish) were revived at St Ives in 1929 by the Old Cornwall Society and since then spread to other soc ...
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Penzance
Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the shelter of Mount's Bay, the town faces south-east onto the English Channel, is bordered to the west by the fishing port of Newlyn, to the north by the civil parish of Madron and to the east by the civil parish of Ludgvan. The civil parish includes the town of Newlyn and the villages of Mousehole, Paul, Cornwall, Paul, Gulval, and Heamoor. Granted various royal charters from 1512 onwards and Incorporation (municipal government), incorporated on 9 May 1614, it has a population of 21,200 (2011 census). Penzance's former main street Chapel Street has a number of interesting features, including the Egyptian House, Penzance, Egyptian House, The Admiral Benbow public house (home to a real life 19th-century smuggling gang and allegedly the inspira ...
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Saint John's Eve
Saint John's Eve, starting at sunset on 23 June, is the eve of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, feast day of Saint John the Baptist. This is one of the very few feast days marking a saint's birth, rather than their death. The Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:26–37, 56–57) states that John the Baptist, John was born six months before Jesus; therefore, the Feast Day, feast of John the Baptist was fixed on 24 June, six months before Christmas. In the Roman calendar, 24 June was the date of the summer solstice, and Saint John's Eve is closely associated with Midsummer festivities in Europe. Traditions are similar to those of May Day and include bonfires (St John's fires), feasting, processions, church services, and gathering wild plants. History Saint John's Day, the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, feast day of Saint John the Baptist, was established by the undivided Christian Church in the 4th century A.D., in honour of the birth of Saint John the Baptist, which the Christian ...
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Serpent Dance
The serpent dance is a traditional Cornish dance associated with the Midsummer festival of Golowan and Cornish cultural events such as nos lowen (earlier spelling noze looan).detailed description of the Golowan serpent dance form An Daras the Cornish culture website Below is a description of the dance as performed in the Golowan fire festival in Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ... in the 19th century from J S Courtney's ''A Guide to Penzance and Its Neighbourhood'' (1845): ''"The proceedings finished by the boys and girls from the quay, whose torches had by this time expired, dancing in a long line hand-in-hand through the streets, in and out and sometimes over the now low burning tar-barrels, crying out, "An eye, an eye". At this shout the top couple hel ...
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Midsummer
Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer, taking place on or near the date of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest Daytime, day of the year. The name "midsummer" mainly refers to summer solstice festivals of European origin. These cultures traditionally regard it as the middle of summer, with the season beginning on May Day. Although the summer solstice falls on June solstice, 20, 21 or 22 June in the Northern Hemisphere, it was traditionally reckoned to fall on 23–24 June in much of Europe. These dates were Christianization of saints and feasts, Christianized as Saint John's Eve and Nativity of John the Baptist, Saint John's Day. It is usually celebrated with outdoor gatherings that include bonfires and feasting. History There is Archaeoastronomy, evidence that the summer solstice has been culturally important since the Neolithic era, with List of archaeoastronomical sites by country, many ancient monuments throughout Eurasia and the Am ...
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Feast Of Saints Peter And Paul
The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul or Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul is a liturgical feast in honor of the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which is observed on 29 June. The celebration is of ancient Christian origin, the date selected being the anniversary of either their death or the translation of their relics. Eastern Christianity For Eastern Orthodox and some Eastern Catholic Christians this feast also marks the end of the Apostles' Fast (which began on the Monday following All Saints' Sunday, i.e., the second Monday after Pentecost). While not considered among the twelve great feasts, it is one of five additional feasts ranked as a great feast in the Eastern Orthodox tradition and is often celebrated with an all-night vigil starting the evening before. In the Julian calendar, 29 June falls on the Gregorian calendar date of 12 July from 1900 to 2099, inclusive. In the Russian Orthodox tradition, Macarius of Unzha's Miracle of ...
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Margaret Ann Courtney
Margaret Ann Courtney (16 April 1834 – 12 May 1920) was a Cornish poet and folklorist based in Penzance, Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, .... Family life Margaret Ann Courtney was born at Penzance in 1834, the eldest daughter of Sarah Mortimer Courtney and John Sampson Courtney.William Henry Kearley Wright''West Country Poets: Their Lives and Works''(E. Stock 1896): 122. Her mother was from Scilly; her father from Devon. One brother, John Mortimer Courtney, was a government official in Canada; another, Leonard Henry Courtney, was a British politician. Her younger sister Louise d'Este Courtney married Richard Oliver, a New Zealand politician from Cornwall. Publications M. A. Courtney is perhaps best known for her book ''Cornish Feasts and Folk-Lore'' (1 ...
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Penwith
Penwith (; ) is an area of Cornwall, England, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former Non-metropolitan district, local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. The area is named after one of the ancient administrative hundreds of Cornwall which derives from two Cornish language, Cornish words, ''penn'' meaning 'headland' and ''wydh'' meaning 'at the end'. Natural England have designated the peninsula as national character area 156 and named it West Penwith. It is also known as the Land's End Peninsula. Geography The Penwith peninsula sits predominantly on granite bedrock that has led to the formation of a rugged coastline with many fine beaches. The contact between the granite and the adjoining sedimentary rock (mostly shales) is most clearly seen forming the cliffs at Land's End, the most westerly point in the district and this geology has resulted in the mining that has made Cornwall famous. Tin and copper have been min ...
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Petty Session
Courts of petty session, established from around the 1730s, were local courts consisting of magistrates, held for each petty sessional division (usually based on the county divisions known as hundreds) in England, Wales, and Ireland. The session's work dealt with matters such as minor theft and larceny, assault, drunkenness, bastardy examinations, arbitration and deciding whether to refer a case to the quarter sessions. From 1872 the courts of petty sessions were also responsible for approving licences to sell alcohol in alehouses and public houses. They were also later established in British colonies, including Australia. They were abolished in New South Wales on 31 December 1984. Following the abolition of the courts of quarter sessions, which were also presided over by magistrates, the courts of petty sessions gradually became synonymous with "magistrates' courts", a term which had previously been used to refer to both the petty and quarter sessions. Magistrates' courts conti ...
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Saint Jonas' Festival
Saint Jonas' Festival, also known as ''Rasos'' (''Dew Holiday''), ''Joninės'', ''Kupolė'', Midsummer Day or Saint John's Day) is a midsummer folk festival celebrated on 24 June all around Lithuania. The celebrations often involve flower wreaths, bonfires and torchlit processions, and music and dancing. Background The festival is a Christan festival celebrated widely in the Baltics, and is celebrated the night before the Feast Day of Saint John the Baptist. This coincides with the summer solstice, when the day is longest and the night the shortest in the year, and so the festival also has pagan roots. The festival is also called Rasos or Kupolė (the Feast of the Dews). Celebrations may include reference to the hunt for the magic fern flower, torchlight processions, and traditional dance and music. A bonfire or pyrotechnics shows are also common elements of the celebrations, as well as weaving flower crowns out of flowers and herbs. Some rituals involved girls decorating a ...
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Jāņi
Jāņi () is an annual Latvians, Latvian festival celebrating the summer solstice. Although, astronomically the solstice falls on the 21st or 22nd of June, the public holidays—Līgo Day and Jāņi Day—are on the 23rd and 24th of June. The day before Jāņi is known as Līgosvētki, Līgovakars or simply known as Līgo. On Jāņi, people travel from the city into the countryside to gather and eat, drink, sing and celebrate the solstice by observing the ancient folk traditions relating to renewal and fertility. It is celebrated both in Latvia and in many areas where the Latvian diaspora lives such as the United States, Canada, Argentina, and Australia. Etymology The name stems from the pre-Christian Latvian name of Jānis and had been found in written sources as early as the 19th century. The name stems from the verb ''jāt'' 'to come/ride/go' as a reference to the passage of the seasons and the advance of the cosmic flow. The name ''Līgo'' or ''Līgosvētki'' was first u ...
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Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall (, meaning "goose back") is a small headland in West Cornwall, England. It is north of Land's End near the town of St Just.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' Until the first Ordnance Survey in the early 19th-century, Cape Cornwall was believed to be the most westerly point in Cornwall.Joseph, Peter. 2006. ''Cape Cornwall Mine. British Mining No. 79.'' Sheffield: Northern Mine Research Society; p. 111. . Most of the headland is owned by the National Trust. National Coastwatch has a look-out on the seaward side. The only tourist infrastructure at present is a car park (owned by the National Trust), public toilets, and a refreshments counter during the summer. The Brisons, two offshore rocks, are located approximately southwest of Cape Cornwall. They mark the starting line of the annual swimming race ending at Priest Cove. Etymology The name Cape Cornwall appeared first on a maritime chart around the year 1600. The original Cornish name, ...
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