Title: The Old Cornwall  CHRISTMAS  ANTHOLOGY
Description: Christmastide is very special, and its religious significance has influenced the people of Cornwall like those further afield, but the ways in which it has been celebrated here over the centuries have not all been replicated elsewhere. There will be nostalgic echoes of festivals at home for almost anyone who reads this book, but there will also be the differences which make Cornwall Cornish.
'Old Cornwall' Societies have the motto, "Cuntelleugh an brewyon us gesys na vo kellys travyth", or "Gather the fragments that remain..." and have followed this guidance for over 90 years. From the collected records of our local traditions and culture which have found their way into the pages of the 'Old Cornwall' journal and the archives of individual Societies, George Pritchard, has sifted and sorted a fascinating variety of those relating to Cornish Christmases. To them he has added extensively from Victorian books, local newspapers, other journals and the internet - obviously a labour of love.
So, we can revel in the enduring glow of Christmases past with carols and carolling, ambitious meals and the varied seasonal recipes of yesteryear, the Christmas fun and games, the customs of former times, the guise-dancing, the dutiful munificence of the gentry to those less fortunate, and charity at the workhouse; and we can enjoy humour in dialect yarns, poems, ghost stories, and much more.
Terry Knight
President, Federation of 'Old Cornwall' Societies, 2009-12.
Subjects: Christmas, Cornwall U.K., 18th Centaury Carols, Victorian Party Games
Time periods: Victorian Cornwall and its people.