Some very strange-looking creatures, called ‘Osses, first appeared at the Orchard Wassail in 2022, alongside the Raffidy Dumitz band. The ‘Osses danced around the fire, looking majestic and wild in their tatters & tassels.
They were introduced as Pen Hood, Kasek Nos and Morvagh the Dark Sea Oss.
Kasek Nos ‘Oss Photo credit Robin Markland
Penhood ‘Oss Photo credit Gabrielle McVey
Morvargh the Dark Sea Oss Photo credit Kei Langley
Wassail Oss
Photo credit Robin Markland
Photo credit Gabrielle McVey
Photo credit Robin Markland
Hobby Horses or ‘Obby ‘Osses as they are known in Cornwall, traditionally come out at all sorts of events, at various celebrations of the seasons like Montol Festival in Penzance and now at our St Ives Wassail . The beasts are often accompanied by Guisers or Teasers who dance and help guide them. Read more about them on //thedarkgathering.co.uk/mari-lwyds-osses/
Morvagh the Dark Sea Oss often travels with Boekke and the Penkvyll the Land’s End Oss – you can follow their antics on boekka.wordpress.com/ and //www.facebook.com/boekkaandpenkevylltheoss
Penkvyll is Cornish for horse’s head.
Pen Hood reckons he’s West Cornwall’s naughtiest Oss – //www.facebook.com/PenhoodPz
There’s a new St Ives Oss, created by Mattie Pochee – Kasek Byghan (little mare in Cornish)
Kasek Nos at our St Ives Wassail
Guising
Guising, Guise or Goose dancing is a mid-winter celebration of mischief and includes processions, drama, song, music and games. The main focus being disguise, with elaborate costumes, masks and headgear, often with animal imagery such as horns, beaks, bull and horse heads and cross-dressing. Mock posh costumes with top hats, cloaks and long skirts are also often worn. ‘Osses would often accompany them.
People traditionally would go from house to house and pub to pub, singing and making noise and on arriving at a door asking for admittance, food and drink. In return, they would gain entrance by singing, dancing or winning a rhyming competition with the inhabitants. This competition could go on for some time and include many insults. Eventually, they would be let in for food, drink and merriment which they would enjoy until moving on to the next house or pub and starting all over again.
In a fascinating article written by Tom Goskar, a born-again guise dancer in southwest Cornwall we learnt more about it’s origins.
Read the full account on //tradfolk.co/customs/customs-customs/guise-dancing/
In 1846 the Royal Cornwall Gazette reported on a lecture given by Richard Edmonds on traditions and customs:
“The guise dancers (the same as the guisards of Scotland) may be seen in the streets of Penzance in the evenings from Christmas Day to Twelfth Day, going to and from the houses wherein they are permitted to perform, attired in fantastic costume and variously disguised. A well-known character amongst them, about thirty years ago [~1816], was the ‘hobby horse,’ or person carrying a piece of wood carved into the form of the head and neck of a horse, with some contrivance for opening and shutting the mouth with a loud snapping noise, the performer being so covered with a horse cloth, or hide of a horse, as to resemble the animal, whose curvettings, biting, and other motions he imitated. Some of these ‘guise dancers’ occasionally masked themselves with the heads, horns, and skins of bullocks, a practice not entirely discontinued.“
But guise dancing wasn’t universally enjoyed, as the historian Margaret Courtenay wrote in 1886:
“These “goose-dancers” became such a terror to the respectable inhabitants of Penzance that the Corporation put them down about 10 years since, and every Christmas Eve a notice is posted in conspicuous places forbidding their appearance in the streets, but they still perambulate the streets of St. Ives.”
“Every year since the 1860s, guise dancing, or wearing any disguise at all in the streets of St Ives, was expressly forbidden, with posters displayed in prominent places reminding one and all of the ban. Every year, it was spectacularly ignored.”
It’s possible that the spectacular St Ives New Year’s eve fancy dress celebration originated from this tradition.
At the Montol Festival in Penzance, you can experience ‘guise dancing’, in all of its grotesque and curious glory. Montol – the Cornish word for ‘balance’ – is held annually on the 21st of December, the Winter Solstice and traditional date of the feast of St Thomas the Apostle the theme is Light and Darkness, uniting us in defeating darkness and celebrating the annual return of the light. Created in 2007, it is a modern festival that brings together various Cornish wintertime customs. Fire performers and ‘Obby ‘Osses, guise beasts and musicians parade the street, dance around bonfires. People wear traditional masks and mock formal costumes and are often adorned with horns, beaks, moss, leaves, tatters and much more.
Guilds are invited to the Montol to parade, with names such as The Ancient Company of the Corn-Market Revellers and The Glorious Company of the Egyptian House, based on the tradition of friends getting together in small groups and producing costumes, stage props and songs linking to their theme. New Guilds are invited to formally enter their name into the Montol Register and introduce themselves to the other Guilds. In 2023, a group of St Ives friends created the Scaleybacks of Hakey Bay and entered as a new guild for the first time. Along with a few other new Guilds; The Federation of Frolicking Fish, The Coddiwomplers of The Golden Bell and Scroll, and The Hedgerows of Constantine.
Wassailling
Wassailers often travelled between the households of farmers and landowners wishing them luck for the coming season. The custom was incorporated into nineteenth century Cornish Guize Dance tradition either as a song that was taken from house to house or used as the finale to a mummer’s play. Many different variations of the song and custom evolved across Cornwall.
Wassails are enjoying a revival in 21st century Cornwall as we become increasingly aware of the importance of appreciating and celebrating the natural world around us. In essence it is a custom involving a song that blesses the apple tree and wishes good luck for the coming year’s crop. It is of course accompanied with cider from the previous year’s crop.
The word wassail is derived from an Anglo Saxon / Old english expression “Waes Hael” wishing you good health.
The ancient custom of Wassailing dates back as far back as the eighth century, most commonly practiced in the cider orchards of southern England. It could have arrived in Cornwall as early as the ninth or tenth century, where rural farming communities would come together, seeking to awaken nature from its winter slumber, and would bless their apple trees, in the hope that an abundant harvest would follow. Wassailing usually takes place in early January, marking a return of light and life, after the long, dark days of winter. Some orchards celebrate it in early December.
The ceremony traditionally begins just before dark, when the wassailing drink is prepared – usually a warming, mulled cider. Those taking part will gather around the oldest & most venerated apple tree in the orchard, some carrying lanterns, others – drums, whistles, pans with a spoon… anything to create some noise.
The wassailing ceremony would begin by ‘serenading’ the tree with a wassail song. The leader of the ceremony would give praise and thanks for the fruitfulness of the previous harvest and would bless the tree with good wishes for the seasons ahead. Those partaking of the wassail drink may then pour a little onto the roots of the tree and pieces of toast may be dipped in the wassail and hung upon the branches of the tree, in an offering of gratitude and thanks. The drumming, singing and noise making is believed to awaken the spirit of the apple trees from its winter slumber. The term ‘Wassail’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon ‘Waes hael’ meaning ‘good health’.
This lively and joyful ceremony reminds us to be grateful of the bounty which nature provides for us each year and affords us an opportunity to give thanks, whilst making merry with our neighbours and friends.
Old apple tree we wassail thee
And hoping thou will bear
For the Lord doth know where we shall be
‘Til apples come another year
For to bear well and to bloom well
So merry let us be
Let everyone take off their hats
And cry out to the old apple tree
Old apple tree we wassail thee
And hoping thou will bear
Hat fulls, cap fulls, three bushel bag fulls
in a little heap under the stairs
Huzza! Huzza!
(NB: ‘Huzza’ – a fabulous old English word to express approval or delight – like Hooray.)
Source: Maud Karpeles, Cecil Sharp’s Collection of English Folk Songs, II, 528. Noted by Cecil Sharp from William Crockford at Bratten, Somerset, 12 September 1906.
See our other wassail songs
“Here’s to thee/ Old apple tree!/ Whence thou mayst bud,/ And whence thou mayst blow,/ And whence thou mayst bear,/ Apples enow:/ Hats full,/ Caps full,/ Bushels,/ bushels, sacks full,/ And my pockets full, too!/ Huzza! huzza!”
The cider-jug is then passed around, and with many a hearty shout, the party fire off their guns, charged with powder only, amidst the branches.
Read more about St Ives Community Orchard Wassails
Guise Dancing may have originated from when Wassailers used to travel between the households of farmers and landowners wishing them luck for the coming season. Children used to also go house to house wassailing, singing songs such as this one.
More about Oss’s
People have shared a special bond with horses for 1000’s of years and they have been revered as strong, mythical, creatures in many stories, which may explain why horse skulls are used in these events. This film shows a fun re-enactment of a dark mythical legend with Penkevyl the Landsend Oss.
The Padstow ‘Hobby Hoss’ attends the annual May Day parade in Padstow has been held from time immemorial to ‘welcome in Summer’.
The exact origin of the centuries-old ‘Obby ‘Oss celebration is unknown, however it is thought it could be linked to the ancient Celtic festival of Beltane. Two black-framed costumes or “‘osses” parade through the streets accompanied by dancers, drums and accordions.
References:
-//thedarkgathering.co.uk/mari-lwyds-osses/
-//tradfolk.co/customs/customs-customs/guise-dancing/
Guise Dancing: the Christmastime mumming tradition of West Cornwall
If anyone has any information about these topics that you’d like to share, please email info@stivesorchard.co.uk
Written by Elise Langley, 17th Jan 2024