Montol - Cornish Solstice Festival

 

Montol - Penzance, 2021

Photos from Cornwall Live (source)

Montol is a traditional midwinter festival for the solstice, held annually in Penzance. Penglaz and other 'Obby 'Oss and mock formal folks gather for a parade, party and bonfire!

It's one of Cornwalls revived holidays - restarting in 2007 it's become a firm date in the Cornish Traditional Year. It's currently organised by the Cornish Cultural Association and the same folks organise it's opposite Golowan. As well as the Montol Parade - Montol week is 6 days of arts, crafts and community that leads up to the march. It involves the Guise Guild (those in masks and mock formal attire) and the wider Penzance community! The festival incorporates Mummers, mask-making workshops, roving bands, and more traditionally Christian Carols.

The culmination is a parade and burning of the mock yule log after beacons are lit through the town.

Montol organisers website: http://montolfestival.co.uk/

 

A rambling idea of devotion

You do not have to be good
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting
You only have to left the soft animal of your body
love what it loves

 - Wild Geese, Mary Oliver

Maybe it is the pub-lover in me (not the 'spoons kind, the rural pub kind), but I can never conceptualise myself as a moderated, temperance-based, minimalist philosophy type of devotee. Of course, those that choose a monastic path will feel the opposite to me and we have a healthy amount of respect for each other (I hope!), but so much of my life is built around hearth and sharing and communality and unbridled love that devotion without indulgence seems too far removed.

I know in my path, it is impossible to separate devotion FROM indulgence. It includes good food, good drink, overindulging with friends, well stocked pack lunches on hikes, warm fires and too many blankets. It explicitly requires letting go a little, no longer having a death-grip on life. What will be, will be, everything will happen EVENTUALLY, life is a ride and I'm a passenger. Of course, not to say I let it roll by passively. I seize life with both hands knotted into it's mane and hold on for dear life. A devotion that's clean and pristine is something I can't stand, I want to be devoted with dirty fingers and a bloody mouth and look half unhinged while I scream at the sea all my loves and woes.

Perhaps it's rooted in the land, or rooted in the rebellious Celtic identity, or rooted in the systematic othering a broken state does to its marginalised peoples, or all of the above. Maybe it's the anarcho-animism, maybe its the inherent desire to be more like a beast! Maybe it's the late night winter madness when the fire is still burning too bright to look at. The Bucca would never discriminate in mazing, or madness. 

It's something I realised and truly crystallised during a camp near Stonehenge - what's the point in my life if not to get drunk and high in some freezing woods, on sacred ground, screaming at a burning effigy of parliament half naked? A deity that demands nothing concrete beyond to be the best version of yourself leaves so many pathways open to devotion. Perhaps it's Bucca Dhu's introspection that's made this spiral into base animal needs, or maybe it's fun to strip back all the fanciness of human-animals and show that maybe badgers, rats, foxes, choughs and fish have it right in the way they live to live.

Maybe I should take back the language of lunatics and madness for spirituality too, and not just the political spectrum. A lunatic is based in being driven wild by the moon and I think that's just the finest thing to be. 

Newbie Devotee Challenge #11

 Day 11 - Try using a different method, one that you have either never used or rarely used, to try speaking to your deity. Discuss the results.

I tried candle scrying - I was originally going to try sea scrying but the weather has been fairly awful and I don't feel like catching a cold right now.

I used a question so it'd be a more pointed session - the Bucca found it deeply entertaining as usual with new methods and was happy to indulge me in this new game. I grabbed a quick list of someone's meanings so I didn't need to spend any longer on researching (found here) and set up with a little candle I save for things like this & sealing up jars.

The question - "Will I get any more dreams of Annown before I leave Cornwall" and the answer was fun! The flame was tall & strong and leaned towards me and slightly to the left - two counts for yes/I know the answer and one that was about going through a cycle of wanting a dream (and the reasons why). I don't know if it'd be something I do again because of how many variables there are to affect the flame but it was certainly fun to try :-)

Newbie Devotee Challenge #10

 Day 10: What method(s) do you usually use to contact your deity? (Tarot, godphone, etc.) Why do you like using that method?

A solid mix between tarot, journeying and a little bit of clairvoyance. I enjoy tarot for how easy it is and how little prep is involved - I can light incense and gently call to Them and They'll chat with me. Journeying to Annown and flash clairvoyant images are more taxing but offer a more in-depth communication experience :-)

Newbie Devotee Challenge #9

 Day 9: Discuss your daily/weekly/monthly/etc. worship “schedule.” What do you do for your deity? What offerings do you give? How often do you pray? And so on. Are you happy with how much/little time you give your deity? If not, what could you do to change that?

At the minute I'm remaking my schedule for worship and devotion, I work best when I have a general idea of what I'm doing in the next week/month. I use notion and a template I found for it, with some editing, and I'm trialling it as a way of organising myself this week :-).

I give offerings on a semi-regular basis, and it's all kinds (cups of coffee/tea, food, trinkets, etc) as well as devotional acts like painting. I'd love to spend more time in a much more dedicated space, but for now I'm working with what I've got :-)

21 Day Newbie Devotee challenge #8

 Day 8: Describe what you have placed on your altar for this deity. If you don’t have an altar yet, discuss what you would put on the altar if you had one. Is there anything “missing” on your altar/are there items you wish you could add? What are they, and why do you want to add them?

At the minute I have a very sparse altar for Bucca - I desperately want to set Them up Their own place but there's limited room in my current living situation for that. 

They do have a painting I created for them, a selection of candles, two offering bowls (one for food, the other for gifts - the latter currently contains a blue Worm on a Sting & a soy sauce fish), a teacup and a little bronze cup for drinks gifts. 

Some things I would like include a goat or ram skull, a little dancing goat figurine I found on etsy and a soft toy version of them. One day I'd love a larger more detailed sculpture piece but it's expensive to have those commissioned and I'm never satisfied with what I find online. 

As well as that, I'd love more room to leave flowers and other softer more ephemeral gifts :)

21 day Newbie Devotee challenge #7

 Day 7: Discuss your UPG for your deity. What inspired those UPG? Afterwards, do a little research and try to find other popular UPG. Do you agree or disagree with that UPG, and why?

Where do I start with the UPG. Most things about the Bucca are UPG because of the previously-mentioned force synchronisation by the church.

Rook mentioned food, so food I shall start with (plus it's easy to write about!). Bucca adores fish, any and all fish, fish native to the coast of Cornwall or fish from far off places. Pie, Sushi, Sandwiches, anything. Absolutely anything.

They don't enjoy red meat so much, at least not farmed animal meat. I've offered to obtain venison or wild meat and They've seemed deeply interested in that possibility, so I wonder if it's more tied to their role as a feral deity.

They have a particular fondness for pies as a way of food prep - and of open fire/camp cooking as a devotional activity. I don't really know what the appeal of a pie is aside from a good sensory experience, but They are absolutely in love with it.

Drinks-wise (which I'm counting it along with food), They are absolutely taken by any type of alcohol, they enjoy coffee too and tea is a particular preference. I often make them a cup when I invite them to sit with me at my desk :-)