Friday, May 02, 2008

Obby Oss

Now sometimes playing on the internet can be seen as a negative thing, taking up too much time and getting in the way of real life. Yesterday, however, it was a factor in motivating me to do something: last year I blogged about the Obby Oss going on, but I didn't actually go. This year, I didn't want to blog the same (of course, I could simply have not mentioned it, but there was no way that was going to happen, the Obby Oss deserves blogging about). It was not the only motivating factor, (things like it being fun, wanting to take T to his first Oss and regretting not going last year played a part too!) but it was there in the background.

Padstow's Obby Oss festival is a Celtic celebration of Beltane: the coming of Summer and return of the sun god Bel, and it's debatably the oldest such festival in Europe, certainly the oldest in the UK.

So after school I gathered the troops and we zipped down to Padstow on a whim. Last time we went, we followed the original Old Oss from the Golden Lion on its merry jaunt, but this year we began with the Blue Ribbon Oss. T jigged along to the music, although he didn't like the scary face of the Oss.

One year I'd like to go for the whole day and camp nearby, I think, leaving the kids with my Mum so I could get entirely immersed in the revelry. It's no great hardship that the Osses are stabled in pubs, you see.


The Blue Ribbon Oss

The Old Oss

Blue Oss supporter

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Had never heard of this, it looks good mad fun.

Mephitis said...

It is quite barmy with a fantastic atmosphere. :D