1. St Piran is the main man in all of these celebrations. He is the Patron Saint of Cornwall… and of tin miners. He isn’t your basic kind of Saint though, he had miraculous powers which is why a group of kings threw him into the sea in Ireland in the first place; they couldn’t have his miracles ruining their King status. However, he washed up on the shores of Perranporth and began working his magic in Cornwall instead, cheers Ireland!!

2. You know the Cornish flag? The black one with the white cross? Well, it’s called St Piran’s Flag and it’s all to do with tin. Legend has it that St Piran rediscovered tin smelting. He smelted some ore containing tin which caused a white cross to appear on his black hearth stone and thus the symbolic flag was born.

3. Have you heard of the phrase ‘drunk as a perraner?’ That’s stems from the fact the people who celebrate St Piran’s Day do so with plenty of alcohol. We don’t know for sure, but we think St Piran himself would have approved.

4. St Piran’s day is the 5th of March. This is quite an important thing to know about St Piran’s Day and should probably come higher up our list. After all, if you don’t know the date it could just pass you by!

5. Perrantide is the week leading up to St Piran’s Day. It’s a time to eat, drink and be merry. There are usually all sorts of activities and events happening across the county to mark the occasion and the list of Perrantide things to do is growing year on year – click here to see a full list. Spoiler Alert: Expect pasties and ukuleles.

6. ‘Trelawny’ or ‘The Song of The Western Men’ is a rousing song about Cornishmen matching to London to heroically free the unjustly imprisoned Trelawny from the tower. We’re not sure if it was John Trelawny or Jonathan Trelawney, but that’s a minor detail. Basically it’s a song about how brave and amazing us Cornish folk are which is why it’s become the unofficial Cornish anthem. This brings us on to our next point….

7. The Trelawny Shout began in 2015 and is fast becoming one of our favourite St Piran’s Day traditions. It’s basically a large singalong happening in pubs throughout Cornwall at the same time! The song of choice is ‘The Song of The Western Men’.

8. Parades and processions will be taking place across Cornwall and most Cornish towns celebrate with a furry dance. This doesn’t involve animal hide or excessive hair growth because a ‘furry’ is actually just a processional dance performed in rows of four and often by children.

9. Cornish Tartan is a thing; a jolly nice thing at that! When we do tartan our motto is go bold or go home which is why the Cornish tartan is a mix of gold, white and black. Look out for it on St Piran’s Day – there’s bound to be a few men braving the cold in a traditional Cornish kilt.

10. St Piran’s Day was observed until the late 1700s, but then fell out of favour for a while. Luckily, it became popular again back in the 1950s and here at The Bowgie Inn, Crantock we aim to keep it going year on year!

You must be feeling fully informed on St Piran’s Day now, so all that’s left for you to do is grab a pasty and celebrate!
Happy St Piran’s Day Everyone!

Image sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Piran%27s_Flag
https://www.visitcornwall.com/whats-on/food-and-drink/cornish-pasty-week-2018
https://www.cornish-tartans.co.uk