May day folk traditions - Padstow Old 'Oss and Torrington May fair
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- Опубліковано 11 лип 2024
- May day was originally a pagan celebration! In parts of England they have preserved the old pagan customs to this day! This documentary was filmed over the first four days of May 2019 in Padstow, Cornwall and Great Torrington, Devon. These two West-country towns have each preserved their own distinct May celebrations with rituals dating back to pagan times. In Padstow the event is centred around the hobby horse which they refer to as the "Old Oss", whereas in Torrington the Mayfair involves electing a May queen who is sits on a throne beneath the Maypole in the town square. This is a charming insight into the culture of rural England and a way of life that is sadly lost for most British people.
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00:00 Introduction
00:40 Padstow, Cornwall
13:48 Torrington, Devon
21:21 round the tree race
21:58 parade
When I was younger I never understood how important it was to have knowledge of your lineage's culture. However now that I'm older I am more and more curious to understand the history in my blood.
Me too! It's generations of being told it's bad, and offensive to outsiders. Not al all. They can follow the blue oss. Or go and enjoy their own cultures elsewhere
@@seamusoneill9681 well as for ur last point could u say the same for kidnapping children? Burning priests? And destroying holy sites of rural pagans? It's just group selection, the Celts are a hardy and intelligent people, it makes sense that they were the trend setters for religious conversion, Christianity glorifies destroying the out group and protecting and sacrificing for the in group. As where anglo Saxon paganism was soley about the in group and the self (they saw there was one divine truth, but many ways of interpreting it) the downside to it was the only way to vallhöll was to die in bloody battle, so everyone wanted a "good" death, that doesn't make for cultural longevity
@@kingbillycokebottle5484 I'm a perennialist/pagan and I started avoiding the 'community' because of all the postmodern garbage taking over. Any dissent from it is unacceptable. Every theologically progressive organization is starting to just ape the Frankfurt School/Marcusian ideological line. It's heartbreaking to see them be complicit in tyranny. I'm in the middle politically. Pro life, pro gun, pro country. Pro worker, pro environment, pro science. I even consider myself Progressive in the vein of Teddy Roosevelt. Modernity with honor is what I call it. But there is zero tolerance for people who take things like this seriously in the pagan 'community' in the US. It's just Tumblr doing brunch now.
Same here. I never knew any of this and am fascinated by all of it. I find it speaks to something deep in me.
What must England - and the whole of the British and Irish Isles - have been like before the outbreak of WW1, back at a time when our communities and folk traditions were strong, when every village, town and county all had a uniqueness and character all their own. We have lost so much it is so sad. Thank you Tom for this video to record and promote what is left of our ancient pagan culture.
Edwardian era is peak England.
Mayday in Padstow hasn't changed much.
Padstow is in Cornwall
@@CATin77 Yes. It is.
it was not like that!
tfw no Old 'Oss-following Padstow gf
I love May celebrations, one of the most interesting things in English culture.
May celebrations were observed by the Druids also, long before the Anglo Saxons came to these shores.
We all have similarities in traditions it seems and so this tradition cannot be claimed solely by the Anglo Saxon / English.
Wonderful that we share traditions isn't it :)
So good to see the younger people taking part . That’s great .
Watching those young women talking so excitedly and genuinely about their local traditions and ancestry is the most based thing I’ve seen in long time. ❤
Thank you for showing the Europe that I wish still existed everywhere.
When i was 16 many moons ago, the Mayor of my home town issued all young adults when they reached that age a certificate to show they were officially recognised as a member of the community, I really wish i had kept it. I love old traditions. esp old English ones. I remember dancing the May poll at school. I'm Dorset. The farming community is steeped in ancient pagan traditions esp at harvest time and various times in the year.
I certainly remember dancing round the Maypole when I was a lad, looking back now its clearly a fertility rite as well. I can still remember the names of the prettiest girls in the class 30 years later!
The pagan lindybeige.
We need pagan dancing lessons
@@nuggies48 that qt.3.14 he danced with was hot.
@@c.deg.7982 Can confirm
Happy May Day to all the English and us Americans whose families came from there not so long ago! As long as we live may these traditions never die.
I hope we never loose this ❤️
When I was wee in NZ, we'd do maypole dancing. It was an amazing time
My Grandfather went to NZ from Cornwall after the 1st WW with a girl from Scotland. I came back, the land under foot just feels right if you know what I mean.
@@sb-ant6457 I sure do, brother ❤️
Bloody lucky, us aussies have the May Day celebrations everyday, except without the May Day and more grog 🍻😂
As a young New Zealander, I had no idea about this! Awesome
What great diverse cultures these Isle have. May Woden bless all heathens and give strength to all seasons, Skol.
Hail Woden!!
@@The_Reality_FilterHAIL all Indo-European GODS!
Ah goodness, being a Englishman myself I can't help but feel so disconnected from this sort of thing. I'm happy for the people of this town but also sad that I was not born there. I had the usual up bringing in a modern, diverse, petty bourgeoisie society devoid of any tradition. When i think about this town, I realize that it is a beautiful flower among a field of dead, encroaching thorns.
Gather the natives, organise a mayday celebration and maypole with some friends, see how it grows.
Positive ethnocentrism requires negative ethnocentrism to defend it, so in a perfect scenario, it’d be understood that such a thing was an expressly native ethnic British/English affair, and not some commodity for any fool to waltz in on at a whim
Thats because this is cornish, celtic culture.
not english
These people wouldn't call themselves English though, they would call them selves cornish
@J. Harris. That is right however these particular people wouldn't consider themselves English at all, and have also mixed in cornish traditions although this is not shown on the video
Dancing around the Maypole as a child in Honolulu 1958 was my favorite memory. When we moved to the mainland USA, I searched for this holiday and learned that it was banned bcuz it was Pagan.
I'm glad to see that May day is still alive and well.
I appreciate you keeping European knowledge & ancient culture alive - in a time when most are detached, without knowledge of who we are or were we came from- nothing is worth preserving and we allow ourselves and our children to give up and let anything happen because we don’t know who we are to stand for the right to exist... how can you fight to be something you don’t know? Belonging is a beautiful thing we all deserve- I love all of The diff cultures in the world, it’s beautiful to see all of the different celebrations of life and death, and all have their place to exist- Europeans (like all peoples around the world) need to also keep their roots and identity alive.
As a Frenchman who has lived in England for 8 years, I have to say that May Day is a million times better in England than in France. Wonderful traditions!
In France we do have a few interesting celebrations, like "les feux de la Saint-Jean" around the summer solstice, Fest-noz in Brittany, Caranaval in the North, great Christmas celebrations linked to St Nicholas in Alsace, Saint Vincent's wine celebrations, etc. But despite the political workers bank holiday on 1 May (that has probably replaced older pagan traditions), V-E day on 8 May and Ascension, we have nothing like what is done in England for May Day.
P.S. French cuisine may be great, but I do miss good pasties and ales.
I live in France too...fierce yet gentle folk, but I join you in missing the automatic dedication to our festivities. We really throw a party! Here i am yet to see a traditional event where the whole town follows a theme, gets dressed up, and gets pissed haha! Everyone I've met here thinks, to my utter dismay, that Samhain, for example, is bloody American...
"locals only"! Great stuff, another fine presentation. Salute! Anyone who grew up in England in the 1970's most likely remembers as I do maypole dancing in most cities.
I always remember we used to do it every May day at school. In the 70s.
It must be nice to have roots and a homeland...
I've decided that this year we will have a May Pole in our backyard. I want to teach my sons about their heritage and our forbears. These videos do a great deal to educate and more importantly enlighten British people across the world. I am 2nd gen living in Kansas USA and my grandparents never spoke of our culture. They assimilated to the American life and so much was lost in the transition.
Wow! The thing that most impressed me was, how disciplined and precise the May Queen, Heralds and Attendants were, marching up to the platform. Very serious and respectful children...
This has to be among the most wholesome things I've ever witnessed.
As a New Zealander of British extraction, this brought tears to my eyes. When I was young in the Fifties, the nearest we had to this was the Christmas Santa parade, with floats and the local Pipe Band of course. We also had the much more modern Nov 5th Guy Fawkes fireworks celebration.
Thanks for showing how these traditions are still honoured back in Britain.
Nowadays we are seeing celebration of the Maori event of the rising of the constellation Matariki, (Japanese Subaru, astronomers' Pleiades) and also the Chinese Autumn moon festival, which happens here in Spring, :-) but no worries, we also do Christmas in mid-summer!
Lovely tradition in a lovely town full of lovely people. THIS is what I think of when I think of England! Great video.
Except these are not English, and wouldn't consider themselves English
@@aronsnell2966
The vast majority of these people would definitely see themselves as English.
This is without a doubt the most /comfy/ documentary you've made.
It's so great to see the young folk taking interest and participating! Padstow looks like a proper good time lol
Torrington even more so because there are fewer tourists
Having lived in Cornwall and been to a few Padstow festivals I think you covered it brilliantly. Thanks.
Kind of sad that we are losing our regional accents along with the traditions
work to oppose this
The Cornish accent has been replaced by Yam Yam and Cockney
What a lovely part of the country the SW is. I originate from the London-orbit but now live in the NW. State-mandated multiculturalism has destroyed so much of the country, including much of what is up here but there are pockets all over the place seeking to preserve and protect things. The SW is probably the richest in terms of doing that. A real treat, this footage, the festival looks wonderful. I can almost hear Jon Snow looking at the footage of Padstow! Lmao!
Why am I crying 😭
Based tears
Wow, I can't believe I'm actually seeing British people in Britain!
Yeah because that's not Londonstan. ;-)
@@Joe-ju4cj It's so relieving!
Joe Nunya Good point. Outside of all the big cities, the suburbs in the UK are still very white.
I moved to the countryside 6 years ago after living in a suburb of Manchester and almost immediately noticed the difference in demographics. Went from an approx 50% non-white neighborhood to there literally being 5 people of colour (the Indian family who'd recently bought one of the shops and the black wives of a couple of local lads) in entire village of a few hundred. And to be blunt where I live now is certainly safer, more friendly, more community cohesive than where I lived, heck about 25% of the population attend church.
@@desperatemohammedantheworl5833
When I think back to the 98% white communities of my youth I feel like a terrible crime has been committed.
We say England is not finished! We say England is not dead! Send a message to all the world, England lives and marches on!
Great video. So beautiful to see actual English people enjoying their traditional celebrations. ❤️👍🏻
I have a 5 year plan to escape SE London.
My wife is expecting our first child and hopefully we will be out by the time primary school comes around - my area isn't as bad as it could be and is the last bastion of the English in Greater London but it's only a matter of time. How wonderful it must have been for these people to grow up with some community culture.
Beautiful people and video, well done Jive.
May I ask where abouts in SE London? I'm on the London Borough of Bexley, and I can see the effects of replacement migration.
Brilliant, my favourite type of videos you make.
I love our people and culture. We need to promote the hell out of this stuff.. urgently!
I'm full of envy, but so happy our culture lives on. Not much to be found here in London
Hi Tom, loved the video
In Wales we celebrate "Calan Mai" or sometimes known as "Calan haf" the calend of summer. Villagers in the north would decorate their houses with branches and flowers to celebrate new growth and fertility. Traditions like gware gwr gwyllt stick around where when a man lost his lady to another man he would make a strawman and out it near to where the girl resides. This sometimes led to conflict between the two men. Hope you found this interesting, I enjoyed watching this video
It's a bit like the Notting Hill Carnival, but without the muggings, stabbings, drug dealing and twerking police women.
Great to see these traditions still going. Never see anything like it in the North East, only heard My parents talk about mayday and maypole. Must have died out here.
I am sure everyone now understands how vital it is that we keep our traditions going
Thank you for always keeping European history alive, especially during a time when so many are trying to destroy it, bury it, and pretend it doesn’t exist, pretend we dont have so many cultures and customs. It’s so good to see young people keeping the customs pure and passing them down. It gives me hope.
Have had the pleasure of attending the Obby Oss festival, had a fantastic time meet great local people, will be going again
Fascinating stuff, Tom. It's heartening to see all generations of the community being able to get involved. I'd imagine this provides greater emotional investment for the residents, so they feel more inclined to look after the town and each other.
Really great, wish these kind of traditions were all over the UK. I hope they can be brought back someday.
oss means god.. horse god fertility ... Freyr sacred horse is a potent symbol of intelligence, speed, grace, strength, virality, and fertillity. ..
Living History School Os does mean god in OE but i think it just means horse here
Venus, Gwener, Freya etc 😁 fertility and abundance and the first day of Summer! Bringing fertility and abundance, where she is married to the summer God, leaving the winter God behind for the season. Until she meets him again come Halloween.
She kills both 😂
@@Survivethejive
There is no record of the Padstow 'obby 'oss before 1803. Linking it to some ancient pagan 'Celtic' ritual is simply wishful thinking.
As a Norwegian, I see many parallells to our national day 17th of May. The running race, all day drinking, exhalted moods, games parades and celebration.
I made a video about that in 2019 too
I'm sicilian med+indoeuropean .european proud
What a fun video, I envision myself drinking excessively while walking those streets as I try to learn more about the celebrations.
Wonderful to see tradition like this thriving. I wish we had something like this in Arizona where I live. These types of videos are the main reason this is one of my favorite UA-cam Channels
PC lot my friend wrong to be white
Beautifull! I wish my country had cultural events such as this.
The danes have forgotten their culture, myself included. The only culture we have in Denmark that i am awere of, is drinking culture.
Don’t you guys still have a concept of ‘hygge’? Or is that largely exaggerated by outsiders
Always good to see people enjoying themselves and at the same time keeping an old tradition alive! These sorts of videos are what sets this channel apart from a lot of others that are in a similar vein, it's not all doom and gloom as this vid proves.
Fantastic video, Tom.
Even though Cornwall's not really my land, I have huge admiration for the people for keeping their traditions alive. It seems to be a hotbed for festivities, compared with England.
the hobby horse and maypole are english traditions. Much of what we call Cornish derives from older English customs that died out elsewhere (this includes pasties)
@@Survivethejive Interesting that Cornwall would preserve them so successfully!
@@EyeOfWoden its a secluded province
These old traditions still take place from one end of England to the other, from straw bears to rolling cheeses downhills.
England has more local festivals and traditions than Ireland Scotland and Wales put together. Morris dancing for example predates any of the other contrived dance styles by 100s of years. And there are 1000s of Morris 'sides' Also all over England and there are many ancient annual folk festivals, just Google English folk festivals. Bacup Nut Dances, Hungerford Hocktide etc, plus a dozen or more mass Shrovetide football games thst involve 100s of players on both sides.
Wow what a fantastic video! Amazing to see these traditions not only still going but being enjoyed by so many people!
Good old Devon and Cornwall. I remember being in Padstow a few years back for a WWI remembrance ceremony. Can't wait to move over come autumn. Such a rich culture.
My father's ancestors came from the Cornwall area; thanks man!
Kernow is truly lovely. It's no wonder the nationalists get so sick of holiday-makers, I remember going to Padstow every time we were down there during summer holidays when I was younger. Padsteins is nice and all, but this is a side to Padstow I never got to see. It looks like great fun and I'm very glad to see so many of the locals so engaged in tradition. Cheers for documenting this.
Those girls would be nicer without all that orange fake tan on. Good video.
We have 2 days of sun and 363 days of drizzly rain. Cant blame them it's the only way they can get a tan.
TVR TVR Tans are gross
The505Guys Exactly, natural features are much more beautiful.
@The505Guys But does it really matter what men think? We can dress up without it being specifically for men to gawk at us.
It frustrates me that such beautiful traditions virtually don’t exist in America. My country’s cultural roots are so shallow and possess so few of the qualities that made and still make European cultures so rich.
Fantastic. I really enjoyed this video. There are still may pole festivals in some mountain towns here in Utah.
Dancing round the maypole. Loved doing that when I was a kid
I hope they all say 'scew lockdown' and come out in full force and glory on May Day! Eff Boris!! haha
In my family we have a photograph of my mother when she was a child (late 50s/early 60s) doing a maypole dance in Leeds, Yorkshire. I have vague memories of attending one when I was very young (early 80s). They certainly don't seem to have the tradition there now. There is a village with a maypole somewhere near Chipping Campden too.
In Germany May Day was called Pholstag, which Grimm relates to Phol or Falr as a name of Baldur. Do you think it is possible that the ‘Obby Oss was related to
Falhofnir, Baldur’s horse?
Perhaps yes! but even so it would not necessarily be an exclusive association. Hobby horses have also been used at other calendar celebrations in the UK and are used in other countries in varied contexts.
@@Survivethejive great episode ask jive do episode about paganism in Arabia this be interested than boring Islam and Christianity the walking shitty nonsense that nearly destroyed humanity/ your viewer Khalid from eastern Arabia keep doing great videos peace to you
jon berbank the obby oss isnt a cornish invention
I cried watching this: i've lived in england my whole life and have never seen a celebration even a tenth of what this is. When did we stop? Why did we? fuck man.
There are many celebrations that still happen, at least where I live. But I agree, we should bring it back for everyone!
What an awesome video. So great that you documented this celebration
Experienced many larger than normal beaming grins while watching this.
Survive, come to the Isle of Wight- much history awaits you
Hands down, Survive the Jive is the best channel on UA-cam.
I love America but these types of festivals are something we are sorely lacking over here. Keep your traditions Brits.
We have an old oss parade in Richmond Yorkshire. Its not as big or popular though.
I'd love to see you cover more traditional festivals
Very inspirational. Thanks, Thomas!
Something really nice about this! Thanks for making the video mate
Thank you so much for sharing. As a young girl brought up in the North East had the medieval fayre and ball game. May day parade and maypole dancing learnt the dances at school. The May ueen and her attendants travelled through the village and chosen at the village hall beforehand. The ladies chose them!! I never made the cut gutted!! I loved it xx Lived in Exeter for many years so lovely to see Devon thank you again these traditions must not die out links us to our land xx
So refreshing! Thanks.
Wonderful needs more publicity and more of this across the UK lovely to see this
Man this video made me really emotional. As an American raised in a completely hollowed out, secular consumerist culture with nothing approaching the level of community pride and tradition that these Padstow folk have, I'm both sorrowful about what I've been robbed of, and incredibly happy to see that these folk are fighting hard to keep their traditions alive
Fitting. Watched the original Wicker Man with my mates on Rabbit yesterday.
I may be just short of two years late replying this, but good on you for coming in as the fastest runner with no club association, Tom! Well done!
Love this! ❤️💙
Thanks for that, I used to do May day in and around Rochester - lots of wild Morris, and a good film for 2020!
Enjoyed this video lad, keep it up
A fine video there mate! I wish we had same traditions and festivals here in Lithuania!
Most schools had a May pole in England.
The Oss reminds me of Jagannath.
England lives.
This video is outstanding. Well done.
Wow its great to see so many young people getting involved. Could you cover some of the old mob sports that are still ongoing next year?
Looks fun
Fabulous documentary!
Really enjoyed the old fellow on the guitar
google breezy padstow - he has a few songs up
@@Survivethejive thanks man. Watching a few now and saw your comment on one too.
Its interesting the parallels Germanic Volk have. Because we have the same origin. Northwestern Germans, Dutch, Frisians, and English are mainly Saxons. Now I have both German, Dutch, and English in me, however my DNA test couldn't differentiate Northwestern German and Dutch DNA from English DNA. So I guess that's just the Saxon in me. As the Germans who settled Mecklenburg a formerly Slavic area were mainly Saxon settlers. As we known Saxons made their way to merry old England too. However the Saxons as a tribe identity seem to originate in what's now Niedersachsen or Lower Saxony Germany before moving Eastward becoming Prussians or Westward becoming Englishmen. Others stayed and became Hanoverians, Hamburgers, or Dutchmen or Frisians.
Thank you for the video.
Absolutely beautiful
Beautiful video. Thank you
Love this
Thank you for your respectful report on the Oss, in Padstow, KERNOW, and hats off to the good people of Great Torrington too. Padstow is packed to the rafters on Mayday, so unless you have a strong connection with the town, do consider enjoying it on UA-cam instead. By the by, the Cornish language is going from strength to strength, but it is such a shame the accent is dying - compare with the 1953 clip from the Alan Lomax archive ua-cam.com/video/ISO1QmG_VE4/v-deo.html. I've worked in the Far East for close to thirty years and still sound more Cornish trhan half your interviewees.
Cornish is coming back? Do you have some examples?
cheers mate enjoyed that
So, Hail! Hail! The First of May-o!
For it is the first summer’s day-o!
Cast your cares and fears away,
Drink to the old horse on the First of May!
Happy May Day!
Couldn't help but think about The Wickerman the whole time lol
Excellent! Thank you! 💖😎