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The 'Obby 'Oss
Unite and unite, for summer is a-come in today.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Harbour town; festival on May Day
- Legend from
- Recorded early 1800s
- Best time
- 1 May
- Tone
- Light-hearted
Midnight at the Golden Lion. The Night Song starts, and summer is coming in.
Every May Day Padstow is taken over by its 'Obby 'Oss festival. Singing begins at midnight outside the Golden Lion with the Night Song, which heralds the summer. In the morning two 'Osses dance out: the Blue Oss from the Institute at 10am and the Red Oss from the Golden Lion stable at 11am, each a dancer in a hooped black frame with a fierce mask, dancing through the crowds. Robert Hunt recorded that the hobby-horse was once taken to the water and plunged in the sea, which old people believed kept the town's cattle free from disease.