Cornish Easter Traditions

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So, I suppose the first thing to do is to wish you a very “Pask Lowen”, which is Cornish for Happy Easter. Hopefully you will get lots of “Oys Pask”, yes, you guessed it, Easter Eggs!

In Cornwall, Good Friday was celebrated as a feast day known as “Goody Friday”. This was contrary to the mourning day marked by the rest of the country.

On Good Friday it is still very popular, especially for young people, to go for outdoor walks and enjoy the beautiful Cornish springtime landscape. In the west of the county St Michaels Mount is a very popular spot to go for a stroll and take in the air. So, why not do this yourself and get everyone out for a coastal walk?

Another popular activity was going to the river or the beach to gather some “Trigg Meat”. Any guesses as to what this might be? It is, of course, not meat! It’s the local delicacy, cockles. If you are planning to do a spot of “trigging”, to keep future stocks plentiful, please don’t pick any smaller than a 20 pence coin.

Now, of course, it wouldn’t be Cornwall and it wouldn’t be Easter if there wasn’t some form of eating involved.

Cornish Fairings are a type of traditional ginger biscuit. The name Fairings comes from the name given to the treats sold at fairs around the country. They are spicy and round in shape and baked in the oven. The Cornish version of the Fairing became famous in Victorian times, and are still a popular Cornish snack to this day. They were a treat that parents bought their children, or men bought for their sweethearts.

In all Cornish communities the eating of cakes, buns and spiced breads was extremely popular at Easter, sometimes locals got together and held markets selling these goodies.

So, will you stick to chocolate this year, or will you have a tasty Fairing instead after your trigg meat?

Thinking about food and drink, you might want to check our our recipe for Elderflower Cordial.