Author: Purple Brolly

Cornwall is the long protruding county in south-west England with coastline stretching all around up to its border with Devon. As such, the setting of a chain of bonfires from one end to the other at midsummer is an evocative image. Their ancient purpose was to implore the Sun to shine on the crops for the rest of the summer until harvest-time. These fire festivities were eventually halted in the 1890s due to ‘health and safety’ concerns.

However, the Cornish Midsummer’s Eve Bonfires were resumed in the late 1920s, albeit in a more toned down fashion. The ‘Eve’ refers to 23rd June, the day before the feast of St. John the Baptist, as this pagan tradition was adjusted to fit into the Christian calendar.

In Penzance it is called the Golowan Festival and it extends over a weekend. In fishing towns it is the eve of the feast of the fisherman St. Peter, 28th June, which is celebrated instead. Generally the bonfire is accompanied by Cornish songs and prayers and the throwing of herbs and flowers into the flames. Sometimes there is even a performance of a breathtaking old custom (not to be tried at home, folks), as seen here:

(Top image: Talskiddy at Wikimedia Commons: CC BY 3.0)

Notting Hill is a district in west London and in the 1950s it became home to immigrants from the West Indies and elsewhere. Claudia Jones (1915-64) had the idea of organising a week-long event to bring the community together. This was the indoor Notting Hill Fayre & Pageant, first held in 1959 in local halls. She is often credited as being the ‘mother’ of the Notting Hill Carnival (NHC), but there is another claimant ~ Rhaune Laslett (1919-2002), organiser of the first outdoor event in 1966.

Women are very much behind the success of what has become the world’s second biggest carnival (after Brazil’s Rio), not least in the numerous hours spent sewing the glittery, sequin- and feather-adorned costumes and masks. NHC takes place every year at August Bank Holiday, come rain or shine, over three nights and two days.

Up to two million visitors and 12,000 police officers fill the streets, which are closed to traffic. The carnival procession makes its way along Great Western Road, Westbourne Park, Ladbroke Grove and Kensal Road. The fun includes steel band competitions, calpyso music, sound systems, Afro-Caribbean food, dancing, street and stage performers, and thousands of volunteers help to make NHC the main celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture in the country.

(Image: Maja Kucova at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)