Cornish Feasts and Folk-lore

‘Cornish Feasts and Folk-lore’ is a book by Margaret Ann Courtney, first published in 1890. Drawing on observations in and around Penzance, it records the saints’ day “feasten” Sundays and Mondays, parish legends, seasonal customs, superstitions, charms, fairies, ballads, games, and everyday foodways that shaped community life in late-Victorian Cornwall. Written in clear, accessible prose, it reads like an on-the-ground ethnography of West Cornwall’s traditions and social history.

Beyond its local colour, the book became a durable reference point for later collectors and writers on Cornish culture. Because it preserves practices and dialect at the moment they were fading, it’s frequently reissued and digitised today, making it a useful primary source for researchers, family historians, historical novelists, and anyone interested in the roots of festivals such as parish “feasten” times and related village celebrations.