Tom Bawcock's Eve is an annual festival, held on 23 December, in

Mousehole Mousehole (; kw, Porthenys) is a village and fishing port in Cornwall, England, UK. It is approximately south of Penzance on the shore of Mount's Bay. The village is in the civil parish of Penzance. An islet called St Clement's Isle lies ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. The festival is held in celebration and memorial of the efforts of legendary Mousehole resident

Tom Bawcock Tom Bawcock is a legendary character from the village of Mousehole, Cornwall, England. He appears to have been a local fisherman in the 16th century. According to the legend, one winter had been particularly stormy, meaning that none of the fish ...

to lift a famine from the village by going out to fish in a severe storm. During this festival

Stargazy pie Stargazy pie (sometimes called starrey gazey pie, stargazey pie and other variants) is a Cornish dish made of baked pilchards (sardines), along with eggs and potatoes, covered with a pastry crust. Although there are a few variations using othe ...

(a mixed fish, egg and potato pie with protruding fish heads) is eaten and depending on the year of celebration a lantern procession takes place.

Origins

There are several theories of the origins of this festival, but the first recorded description was made by

Robert Morton Nance Robert Morton Nance (1873–1959) was a British writer and leading authority on the Cornish language, a nautical archaeologist, and joint founder of the Old Cornwall Society. Nance wrote many books and pamphlets on the Cornish language, inclu ...

in 1927 in the magazine ''Old Cornwall''. Nance described the festival as it existed around the start of the 20th century. Within this work Nance also speculated that the name Bawcock was derived from Beau Coq ( French) - he believed the cock was a herald of new light in Pagan times and the origins of the festival were pre-Christian. The most likely derivation of the name 'Bawcock' is from

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

use (influenced by French) where "bawcock" is a nickname for a fine or worthy fellow. An example of such use can be found in Shakespeare's ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...

'' Act 3. Scene 4: "Why, how now, my bawcock!" As the name Tom was often used as a generic description for any man, it is likely that Tom Bawcock was a symbolic name for 'any fine fellow' who risked his life in pursuit of fishing.

Midwinter Midwinter is the middle of the winter. The term is attested in the early Germanic calendars. Attestations Midwinter is attested in the early Germanic calendars, where it appears to have been a specific day or a number of days during the winter ha ...

celebrations were also common in one of Cornwall's other principal traditional occupations:

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

. Picrous Day and Chewidden Thursday seem to have similar origins to Tom Bawcock's Eve. The only similar tradition in the British Isles that can be traced is St. Rumbold's night at Folkestone in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. This celebration also took place near Christmas time where eight whitings were offered in a feast to celebrate St. Rumbold In Italy, a Christmas Eve feast including numerous fishes is called 'Il Cenone', 'Big Dinner', or sometimes 'Cena della Vigilia' ( the dinner of the vigil). Today the observance the feast of the Vigil is rarely practised in Italy, but survives in

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

households, where it is better known as the

Feast of the Seven Fishes The Feast of the Seven Fishes ( it, Festa dei sette pesci) is an Italian-American celebration of Christmas Eve with dishes of fish and other seafood. Origins and tradition The Feast of the Seven Fishes is part of the Italian-American Christmas ...

''The Mousehole Cat''

The children's book '' The Mousehole Cat'' by

Antonia Barber Antonia Barber (real name Barbara Anthony; 10 December 1932 - 4 April 2019), was an English author of books for children and adults. Barber resided in Kent and Mousehole, Cornwall. Her book ''The Mousehole Cat'' was adapted as an animated film a ...

was inspired by the traditions and practice of Tom Bawcock's Eve and resulted in a television production of the same name. (Ms Barber lists Star-Gazy Pie as a staple of Mousehole diet ''before'' Tom's heroic fishing expedition, however, whereas according to tradition it dates from his return and legendary catch.)

Folk music traditions

There is an ongoing folk music tradition associated with Tom Bawcock's Eve. The words were written by Robert Morton Nance in 1927, to a traditional local tune called the 'Wedding March'. It is believed that Nance first observed the festivities around the start of the 20th century. His version runs as follows: The dialect used in the words of the song translate as follows:- * 'Morgy' = Morgey: Cornish 'seadog' is still the term used in Cornwall and Scotland for Dogfish * 'Lances' = Sometimes 'Launces'

Sand eels Sand eel or sandeel is the common name used for a considerable number of species of fish. While they are not true eels, they are eel-like in their appearance and can grow up to in length. Many species are found off the western coasts of Europe ...

* Rauning/Running = Hungry or Ravenous * 'Scad' =

Horse Mackerel Horse mackerel is a vague vernacular term for a range of species of fish throughout the English-speaking world. It is commonly applied to pelagic fishes, especially of the Carangidae (jack mackerels and scads) family, most commonly those of the gen ...

* 'Fair Maids' = Smoked

Pilchards "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Ital ...

- a corruption of 'formade', from the Spanish word 'fumade' or smoked. * 'bra' thrusty jades' = Bra' is short for 'brave' and 'Jade' is an old word used in England and Scotland to mean 'Wild young woman' * 'Oozles' = Throats (windpipes) * 'Clunk' = to swallow; Cornish ; ''kolennki'' 'swallow' * Bumpers = large glass, full to overflowing The song appears on four of the albums by Cornish singer

Brenda Wootton Brenda Wootton (née Ellery) (10 February 1928 – 11 March 1994) was a British folk singer and poet and was seen as an ambassador for Cornish tradition and culture in all the Celtic nations and as far as Australia and Canada. Early l ...

: ''Piper's Folk'' (1968), ''Starry Gazey Pie'' (1975), ''Way Down to Lamorna'' (1984) and ''Voice of Cornwall'' (1996).

References

External links

Sample Stargazy Pie at Tom Bawcock’s Eve in Mousehole
(Eyewitness account of the celebration) {{Culture of Cornwall Festivals in Cornwall Cornish culture December observances Winter events in England Cornish festivals Christmas meals and feasts Mousehole

Origins

''The Mousehole Cat''

Folk music traditions

See also

References

External links