All three photos by Barry Ennor, "'Obby 'Oss day in Padstow, Cornwal," https://www.flickr.com/photos/ennor/
"The term hobby horse is used, principally by folklorists, to refer to the costumed characters that feature in some traditional seasonal customs, processions and similar observances around the world. They are particularly associated with May Day celebrations, Mummers Plays and the Morris dance in England." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_horse)
The following text is copied directly from:
http://www.padstowlive.com/events/padstow-may-day
"Padstow May Day
"May Day (or 'Obby 'Oss Day as it is known outside of Padstow) is the biggest day in Padstow's calendar. It is not unusual to see 30,000 people crammed into our little town. It is a day when Padstonians from all over the world return to their roots.
"History of May Day
"There have been many conflicting theories about the origins of the Obby Oss. Some say its roots are in pagan times, others that it's a rain maker, a fertility symbol, a deterrent to a possible landing by the French some centuries ago or even a welcome to summer. Whatever, the mists of time and the helping hand of successive generations of Padstonians have blunted the true reasons for its creation. The fearsome mask of today's Obby Oss regalia is set into a body covering costume built around a six feet wide circular wooden hoop. This is carried on the wearer's shoulders and covered in sailcloth that is draped down to the ground. Because it is heavy, internal shoulder straps enable the carrier to bear the strain more easily.
"The wearer then proceeds through Padstow's streets, swirling and dancing and accompanied by a Teazer, who leads the dance with theatrical movements and the use of the Teazer's club, a leather pad colourfully painted and mounted on the end of a wooden rod. The Teazer's accompanying retinue are dressed in white their costumes decorated with ribbons and sprays of cowlips and bluebells. As the procession moves around the town dancers perform a traditional gyrating dance to the sound of the accompanying musicians and drummers. Last, but not least, are the followers, young and old who follow the procession every year and join in the singing of the traditional May Song."
The following text is copied directly from:
http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/events/obby_oss.htm
"Padstow's Obby Oss celebration is one of the oldest surviving festivals in the UK, famous for both its age and its uniqueness. Thought to have its origins in Pagan fertility rites, the Obby Oss is primarily a celebration of Beltane, the Celtic feast which honours the approach of summer.
"Every year, in preparation for the first of May (unless this falls on a Sunday, in which case the festival takes place on Monday 2nd), Padstow's narrow streets and ancient harbour are extravagently decorated with flowers, flags and greenery, the focus of which is a tall and colourful May Pole. What follows is a grand procession, usually attended by thousands, in which two groups of dancers, accompanied by drums, triangles and marching accordion players, make their way through the town, one of each team dressed in a stylized recreation of a horse and wearing a striking and faintly terrifying mask. These are the Old and Blue Ribbon Osses, both of whom have stables from which they emerge in the morning and to which they return at night.
"Led by teaser and trailed by crowds of followers dressed in white with red and blue sashes and a number of junior Osses operated by children, the two main Osses pretend to try to catch maidens as they pass through the narrow streets. This bizarre dance continues all day long until, at midnight, the townsfolk join together to sing Padstow's unique 'May Song';
"'Unite and unite and let us all unite,
For Summer is a come unto day,
And wither we are going we will all unite,
In the merry morning of May.'
"The Blue Ribbon Oss, also called the Peace Oss is the newer of the two, created in the 19th century by members of a temperance group trying to discourage the over-consumption of alcohol during the proceedings by the Old Oss' followers. Today, family loyalties decide whether an individual follows the Old Oss, whose stable is the Golden Lion Inn, or the Blue Ribbon Oss, whose stable is the Institute."
"After the first world war the imperative of temperance was lost, and the 'oss became known as the Peace 'Oss. ... Sometimes in the late afternoon, the 'osses may meet at the maypole and dance together."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Obby_%27Oss_festival)
Celtic calendar image found on http://www.angelfire.com
"Medieval Irish and Welsh calendars
"Among the Insular Celts [originating in the British Isles], the year was divided into a light half and a dark half. As the day was seen as beginning after sunset, so the year was seen as beginning with the arrival of the darkness, at Samhain (in modern times 1 November). The light half of the year started at Beltaine (in modern times 1 May)."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Celtic_calendar)
The following text is directly copied from:
http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/events/darkie_day.htm
"It is not just the Mayday Obby Oss festival for which Padstow is famous. Every year on Boxing Day and New Year's Day the townsfolk take to the streets once more for their corresponding winter festival, traditionally known as Darkie Days.
"Darkie Days forms part of an ancient tradition of Pagan midwinter festivals that were until quite recently celebrated all over Cornwall between Christmas Day and Twelfth Night. The festivals centred on the practice of guise dancing (also known as goose dancing), which usually involved the performance of a traditional play (known as a Mummer's or Mumming play) whilst wearing a disguise, traditionally a blackened face, which allowed the players to lose their inhibitions and perform outlandishly in return for food or money. The practice of blacking one's face signalled a contrast to the summer festivals, such as the Obby Oss, during which white would be worn to herald the spring."
The following text is copied directly from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummer%27s_Day
"Mummer's Day, or 'Darkie Day' as it is sometimes known (a corruption of the original 'Darking Day'), is an ancient Cornish midwinter celebration that occurs every year on Boxing Day and New Year's Day in Padstow, Cornwall. It was originally part of the pagan heritage of midwinter celebrations that were regularly celebrated throughout Cornwall where people would take part in the traditional custom of guise dancing, which involves disguising themselves by painting their faces black or wearing masks.
"The dark face paint, masks and dark clothing are symbols of the celebration of the winter solstice, and is in contrast to the 'white' summer solstice festivals of Cornish towns such as the 'Obby 'Oss festival in Padstow and Golowan in Penzance. The Montol Festival in Penzance is a similar winter solstice celebration, during which people guise dance with darkly painted skin or masks to disguise themselves.
"There has been recently controversy in the British media regarding Mummer's Day, due to the blackened faces and the term 'Darkie Day,' with commentators misinterpreting the festival as racist. The name 'Darkie Day' is actually a corruption of the original "Darking Day", which refers to the 'darking' (darkening) of the faces. Both the face painting and the term 'Darkie' have no connection to black people as a group.[1]
"[1] M. Davey, Guizing: Ancient Traditions and Modern Sensitivities, Philip Payton (ed), Cornish Studies 14 (Exeter, 2006) p229."
The following text is directly copied from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummers_play
"Mummers and 'guisers' (performers in disguise) can be traced back at least to the Middle Ages, though when the term 'mummer' appears in medieval manuscripts it is rarely clear what sort of performance was involved. A key element was visiting people in disguise at Christmas. . . . Although usually broadly comic performances, the plays seem to be based on underlying themes of duality and resurrection and generally involve a battle between two or more characters, perhaps representing good against evil. . . . In mummers’ plays, the central incident is the killing and restoring to life of one of the characters.
"Occasionally, the performers will wear face-obscuring hats or other kinds of headgear, which create the impression of being masked. Some mummers' faces are blackened or painted red by way of disguise. Many mummers and guisers, however, have no facial disguise at all.
"Mummering, at any rate in the South of England, had its heyday at the end of the 19th century and the earliest years of the 20th century. Most traditional mummers groups (known as 'sides') stopped with the onset of the first World War. To most groups, mumming was a way of raising extra money for Christmas and the play was taken round the big houses. . . . Those involved with mummering groups were often unwilling to admit to it as they did not like to confess to begging. However it seems that it could be quite lucrative, it is said that three nights of mumming often raised as much as a whole month's wages for the agricultural labourers who mostly made up the groups.
"Some groups continued after the first World War and even beyond the second, but most did not. The groups were normally based in a village and each village had a slightly different version of the play. In the second half of the 20th century many groups were revived, mostly by folk music and dance enthusiasts. The revived plays are frequently taken around inns and public houses around Christmas time and the begging done for some charity rather than for the mummers themselves."
"Medieval Irish and Welsh calendars
"Among the Insular Celts [originating in the British Isles], the year was divided into a light half and a dark half. As the day was seen as beginning after sunset, so the year was seen as beginning with the arrival of the darkness, at Samhain (in modern times 1 November). The light half of the year started at Beltaine (in modern times 1 May)."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Celtic_calendar)
The following text is directly copied from:
http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/events/darkie_day.htm
"It is not just the Mayday Obby Oss festival for which Padstow is famous. Every year on Boxing Day and New Year's Day the townsfolk take to the streets once more for their corresponding winter festival, traditionally known as Darkie Days.
"Darkie Days forms part of an ancient tradition of Pagan midwinter festivals that were until quite recently celebrated all over Cornwall between Christmas Day and Twelfth Night. The festivals centred on the practice of guise dancing (also known as goose dancing), which usually involved the performance of a traditional play (known as a Mummer's or Mumming play) whilst wearing a disguise, traditionally a blackened face, which allowed the players to lose their inhibitions and perform outlandishly in return for food or money. The practice of blacking one's face signalled a contrast to the summer festivals, such as the Obby Oss, during which white would be worn to herald the spring."
The following text is copied directly from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummer%27s_Day
"Mummer's Day, or 'Darkie Day' as it is sometimes known (a corruption of the original 'Darking Day'), is an ancient Cornish midwinter celebration that occurs every year on Boxing Day and New Year's Day in Padstow, Cornwall. It was originally part of the pagan heritage of midwinter celebrations that were regularly celebrated throughout Cornwall where people would take part in the traditional custom of guise dancing, which involves disguising themselves by painting their faces black or wearing masks.
"The dark face paint, masks and dark clothing are symbols of the celebration of the winter solstice, and is in contrast to the 'white' summer solstice festivals of Cornish towns such as the 'Obby 'Oss festival in Padstow and Golowan in Penzance. The Montol Festival in Penzance is a similar winter solstice celebration, during which people guise dance with darkly painted skin or masks to disguise themselves.
"There has been recently controversy in the British media regarding Mummer's Day, due to the blackened faces and the term 'Darkie Day,' with commentators misinterpreting the festival as racist. The name 'Darkie Day' is actually a corruption of the original "Darking Day", which refers to the 'darking' (darkening) of the faces. Both the face painting and the term 'Darkie' have no connection to black people as a group.[1]
"[1] M. Davey, Guizing: Ancient Traditions and Modern Sensitivities, Philip Payton (ed), Cornish Studies 14 (Exeter, 2006) p229."
The following text is directly copied from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummers_play
"Mummers and 'guisers' (performers in disguise) can be traced back at least to the Middle Ages, though when the term 'mummer' appears in medieval manuscripts it is rarely clear what sort of performance was involved. A key element was visiting people in disguise at Christmas. . . . Although usually broadly comic performances, the plays seem to be based on underlying themes of duality and resurrection and generally involve a battle between two or more characters, perhaps representing good against evil. . . . In mummers’ plays, the central incident is the killing and restoring to life of one of the characters.
"Occasionally, the performers will wear face-obscuring hats or other kinds of headgear, which create the impression of being masked. Some mummers' faces are blackened or painted red by way of disguise. Many mummers and guisers, however, have no facial disguise at all.
"Mummering, at any rate in the South of England, had its heyday at the end of the 19th century and the earliest years of the 20th century. Most traditional mummers groups (known as 'sides') stopped with the onset of the first World War. To most groups, mumming was a way of raising extra money for Christmas and the play was taken round the big houses. . . . Those involved with mummering groups were often unwilling to admit to it as they did not like to confess to begging. However it seems that it could be quite lucrative, it is said that three nights of mumming often raised as much as a whole month's wages for the agricultural labourers who mostly made up the groups.
"Some groups continued after the first World War and even beyond the second, but most did not. The groups were normally based in a village and each village had a slightly different version of the play. In the second half of the 20th century many groups were revived, mostly by folk music and dance enthusiasts. The revived plays are frequently taken around inns and public houses around Christmas time and the begging done for some charity rather than for the mummers themselves."