Cornish Feasts and Folk-Lore

In 1890, a Cornish writer set out to preserve what she feared was vanishing: the rituals, superstitions, and communal traditions of her native Cornwall. The result is a treasure trove of seasonal customs, from the "feasten" Sundays that brought entire parishes together to the Christmas Eve rituals where last-foot visitors carried symbolic bread. Courtney documents saints' days, harvest festivals, and the supernatural beliefs that animated daily life in this Celtic corner of England. Giants dwell in ancient stones. Mermaids lure sailors from the cliffs. Fairies steal children and replace them with changelings. What emerges is not mere nostalgia but a portrait of a living culture where the sacred and the superstitious intertwined. The book's heart lies in its recipes: figgy-pudden for holidays, saffron cakes for fairs, the special breads baked for specific occasions. These are not museum exhibits but edible memories, each tied to a specific moment in the Cornish year. For readers who find magic in the particular, who want to understand how a place holds its history in food and festival, in charms and community bonds, this book offers an intimate window into a world that was already disappearing when Courtney wrote it down.