Picrous Night was celebrated by the tinners of Blackmore Stannary, on the second Thursday before Christmas [i] and involved the retelling of the story of Jan Sturtridge and how he was “Piskie Laden”.  In short, the rather hungover Jan wakes up in the wine cellar of SquireTremayne of Heligan. When asked to explain himself Jan describes how he was waylaid by piskies whilst making his way home to Luxulyan after celebrating St Picrous Night. They then flew him to Par Beach for a fairy revel and then across the Clay Country whereupon he passed out and was apparently left to sleep it off in the cellars of Heligan House. Tremayne was predicably unimpressed and as a local magistrate well placed to deliver “justice”.   Jan was sentenced to death but before this was carried out, he was rescued by the little people and flown across to join the “Free Piskies” in Brittany. Although the cynical amongst us will wonder if the “Free Piskies” were not in fact the “Free Traders” plying between Cornwall and Britanny in avoidance of the Revenue Men!

Today St Picrous night is celebrated at the Kings Arms in Luxulyan. The story is retold at the beginning of the evening and leads naturally to a traditional Cornish “Shout” or singing session. The details of Jan Sturtridge experiences will vary according to the storyteller, but the story was captured in verse by  Rev John Isabell and set to music by Ralph Dunstan in 1929.[ii] In 1988 Cornish performers, Gwaryoryon, toured a version of the story in the form of a folk play with traditional music and dance.[iii]

Ralph Dunstan’s arrangement:[i] Hunt, Robert (1865). Popular Romances of the West of England. London: John Camden Hotten. p. 311..

[ii] Ralph Dunstan, Rev John Isabell, John Sturtridge and the Piskies, The Cornish Song Book, Lyver Canow Kernewek, (London, Reid Bros Ltd 1929). P25.

[iii] Gwaryoryon, Lowender Peran Archive, 1988.