When I was younger I never understood how important it was to have knowledge of your lineage's culture. However now that I'm older I am more and more curious to understand the history in my blood.

What must England - and the whole of the British and Irish Isles - have been like before the outbreak of WW1, back at a time when our communities and folk traditions were strong, when every village, town and county all had a uniqueness and character all their own. We have lost so much it is so sad. Thank you Tom for this video to record and promote what is left of our ancient pagan culture.

I love May celebrations, one of the most interesting things in English culture.

So good to see the younger people taking part . That’s great .

Wow, I can't believe I'm actually seeing British people in Britain!

Thank you for showing the Europe that I wish still existed everywhere.

tfw no Old 'Oss-following Padstow gf

What great diverse cultures these Isle have. May Woden bless all heathens and give strength to all seasons, Skol.

When i was 16 many moons ago, the Mayor of my home town issued all young adults when they reached that age a certificate to show they were officially recognised as a member of the community, I really wish i had kept it. I love old traditions. esp old English ones. I remember dancing the May poll at school. I'm Dorset. The farming community is steeped in ancient pagan traditions esp at harvest time and various times in the year.

I hope we never loose this ❤️ When I was wee in NZ, we'd do maypole dancing. It was an amazing time

Happy May Day to all the English and us Americans whose families came from there not so long ago! As long as we live may these traditions never die.

It must be nice to have roots and a homeland...

The pagan lindybeige.

"locals only"! Great stuff, another fine presentation. Salute! Anyone who grew up in England in the 1970's most likely remembers as I do maypole dancing in most cities.

I appreciate you keeping European knowledge & ancient culture alive - in a time when most are detached, without knowledge of who we are or were we came from- nothing is worth preserving and we allow ourselves and our children to give up and let anything happen because we don’t know who we are to stand for the right to exist... how can you fight to be something you don’t know? Belonging is a beautiful thing we all deserve- I love all of The diff cultures in the world, it’s beautiful to see all of the different celebrations of life and death, and all have their place to exist- Europeans (like all peoples around the world) need to also keep their roots and identity alive.

This has to be among the most wholesome things I've ever witnessed.

As a Frenchman who has lived in England for 8 years, I have to say that May Day is a million times better in England than in France. Wonderful traditions! In France we do have a few interesting celebrations, like "les feux de la Saint-Jean" around the summer solstice, Fest-noz in Brittany, Caranaval in the North, great Christmas celebrations linked to St Nicholas in Alsace, Saint Vincent's wine celebrations, etc. But despite the political workers bank holiday on 1 May (that has probably replaced older pagan traditions), V-E day on 8 May and Ascension, we have nothing like what is done in England for May Day. P.S. French cuisine may be great, but I do miss good pasties and ales.

Dancing around the Maypole as a child in Honolulu 1958 was my favorite memory. When we moved to the mainland USA, I searched for this holiday and learned that it was banned bcuz it was Pagan. I'm glad to see that May day is still alive and well.

Ah goodness, being a Englishman myself I can't help but feel so disconnected from this sort of thing. I'm happy for the people of this town but also sad that I was not born there. I had the usual up bringing in a modern, diverse, petty bourgeoisie society devoid of any tradition. When i think about this town, I realize that it is a beautiful flower among a field of dead, encroaching thorns.

This is without a doubt the most /comfy/ documentary you've made. It's so great to see the young folk taking interest and participating! Padstow looks like a proper good time lol

I've decided that this year we will have a May Pole in our backyard. I want to teach my sons about their heritage and our forbears. These videos do a great deal to educate and more importantly enlighten British people across the world. I am 2nd gen living in Kansas USA and my grandparents never spoke of our culture. They assimilated to the American life and so much was lost in the transition.

Wow! The thing that most impressed me was, how disciplined and precise the May Queen, Heralds and Attendants were, marching up to the platform. Very serious and respectful children...

Lovely tradition in a lovely town full of lovely people. THIS is what I think of when I think of England! Great video.

As a New Zealander of British extraction, this brought tears to my eyes. When I was young in the Fifties, the nearest we had to this was the Christmas Santa parade, with floats and the local Pipe Band of course. We also had the much more modern Nov 5th Guy Fawkes fireworks celebration. Thanks for showing how these traditions are still honoured back in Britain. Nowadays we are seeing celebration of the Maori event of the rising of the constellation Matariki, (Japanese Subaru, astronomers' Pleiades) and also the Chinese Autumn moon festival, which happens here in Spring, :-) but no worries, we also do Christmas in mid-summer!

Having lived in Cornwall and been to a few Padstow festivals I think you covered it brilliantly. Thanks.

Kind of sad that we are losing our regional accents along with the traditions

Brilliant, my favourite type of videos you make.

Why am I crying 😭

Great video. So beautiful to see actual English people enjoying their traditional celebrations. ❤️👍🏻

Thank you for always keeping European history alive, especially during a time when so many are trying to destroy it, bury it, and pretend it doesn’t exist, pretend we dont have so many cultures and customs. It’s so good to see young people keeping the customs pure and passing them down. It gives me hope.

What an awesome video. So great that you documented this celebration

Wow what a fantastic video! Amazing to see these traditions not only still going but being enjoyed by so many people!

I am sure everyone now understands how vital it is that we keep our traditions going

Hands down, Survive the Jive is the best channel on KZfaq.

I have a 5 year plan to escape SE London. My wife is expecting our first child and hopefully we will be out by the time primary school comes around - my area isn't as bad as it could be and is the last bastion of the English in Greater London but it's only a matter of time. How wonderful it must have been for these people to grow up with some community culture. Beautiful people and video, well done Jive.

Always good to see people enjoying themselves and at the same time keeping an old tradition alive! These sorts of videos are what sets this channel apart from a lot of others that are in a similar vein, it's not all doom and gloom as this vid proves.

What a lovely part of the country the SW is. I originate from the London-orbit but now live in the NW. State-mandated multiculturalism has destroyed so much of the country, including much of what is up here but there are pockets all over the place seeking to preserve and protect things. The SW is probably the richest in terms of doing that. A real treat, this footage, the festival looks wonderful. I can almost hear Jon Snow looking at the footage of Padstow! Lmao!

Fascinating stuff, Tom. It's heartening to see all generations of the community being able to get involved. I'd imagine this provides greater emotional investment for the residents, so they feel more inclined to look after the town and each other.

Hi Tom, loved the video In Wales we celebrate "Calan Mai" or sometimes known as "Calan haf" the calend of summer. Villagers in the north would decorate their houses with branches and flowers to celebrate new growth and fertility. Traditions like gware gwr gwyllt stick around where when a man lost his lady to another man he would make a strawman and out it near to where the girl resides. This sometimes led to conflict between the two men. Hope you found this interesting, I enjoyed watching this video

Have had the pleasure of attending the Obby Oss festival, had a fantastic time meet great local people, will be going again

As a Norwegian, I see many parallells to our national day 17th of May. The running race, all day drinking, exhalted moods, games parades and celebration.

Thank you so much for sharing. As a young girl brought up in the North East had the medieval fayre and ball game. May day parade and maypole dancing learnt the dances at school. The May ueen and her attendants travelled through the village and chosen at the village hall beforehand. The ladies chose them!! I never made the cut gutted!! I loved it xx Lived in Exeter for many years so lovely to see Devon thank you again these traditions must not die out links us to our land xx

Very inspirational. Thanks, Thomas!

Fantastic video, Tom.

Wonderful to see tradition like this thriving. I wish we had something like this in Arizona where I live. These types of videos are the main reason this is one of my favorite KZfaq Channels

We say England is not finished! We say England is not dead! Send a message to all the world, England lives and marches on!

Something really nice about this! Thanks for making the video mate

Really great, wish these kind of traditions were all over the UK. I hope they can be brought back someday.

So refreshing! Thanks.

Fantastic. I really enjoyed this video. There are still may pole festivals in some mountain towns here in Utah.

Great to see these traditions still going. Never see anything like it in the North East, only heard My parents talk about mayday and maypole. Must have died out here.

Wonderful needs more publicity and more of this across the UK lovely to see this

I love our people and culture. We need to promote the hell out of this stuff.. urgently! I'm full of envy, but so happy our culture lives on. Not much to be found here in London

Thanks for that, I used to do May day in and around Rochester - lots of wild Morris, and a good film for 2020!

Fabulous documentary!

This video is outstanding. Well done.

Enjoyed this video lad, keep it up

I may be just short of two years late replying this, but good on you for coming in as the fastest runner with no club association, Tom! Well done!

What a fun video, I envision myself drinking excessively while walking those streets as I try to learn more about the celebrations.

It's a bit like the Notting Hill Carnival, but without the muggings, stabbings, drug dealing and twerking police women.

Love this! ❤️💙

Beautiful video. Thank you

Good old Devon and Cornwall. I remember being in Padstow a few years back for a WWI remembrance ceremony. Can't wait to move over come autumn. Such a rich culture.

A fine video there mate! I wish we had same traditions and festivals here in Lithuania!

Thank you for the video.

oss means god.. horse god fertility ... Freyr sacred horse is a potent symbol of intelligence, speed, grace, strength, virality, and fertillity. ..

what a beautiful sight to behold, thx for sharing

I'd love to see you cover more traditional festivals

I'm sicilian med+indoeuropean .european proud

My father's ancestors came from the Cornwall area; thanks man!

Absolutely beautiful

Beautifull! I wish my country had cultural events such as this. The danes have forgotten their culture, myself included. The only culture we have in Denmark that i am awere of, is drinking culture.

Kernow is truly lovely. It's no wonder the nationalists get so sick of holiday-makers, I remember going to Padstow every time we were down there during summer holidays when I was younger. Padsteins is nice and all, but this is a side to Padstow I never got to see. It looks like great fun and I'm very glad to see so many of the locals so engaged in tradition. Cheers for documenting this.

Dancing round the maypole. Loved doing that when I was a kid

cheers mate enjoyed that

Excellent! Thank you! 💖😎

Man this video made me really emotional. As an American raised in a completely hollowed out, secular consumerist culture with nothing approaching the level of community pride and tradition that these Padstow folk have, I'm both sorrowful about what I've been robbed of, and incredibly happy to see that these folk are fighting hard to keep their traditions alive

Love this

In Germany May Day was called Pholstag, which Grimm relates to Phol or Falr as a name of Baldur. Do you think it is possible that the ‘Obby Oss was related to Falhofnir, Baldur’s horse?

Fitting. Watched the original Wicker Man with my mates on Rabbit yesterday.

Great job Tom

So sad and anger inducing to think how many European pagan rituals, rites and celebrations are now long forgotten because of some desert God from over 2000 miles away.

In my family we have a photograph of my mother when she was a child (late 50s/early 60s) doing a maypole dance in Leeds, Yorkshire. I have vague memories of attending one when I was very young (early 80s). They certainly don't seem to have the tradition there now. There is a village with a maypole somewhere near Chipping Campden too.

Even though Cornwall's not really my land, I have huge admiration for the people for keeping their traditions alive. It seems to be a hotbed for festivities, compared with England.

It frustrates me that such beautiful traditions virtually don’t exist in America. My country’s cultural roots are so shallow and possess so few of the qualities that made and still make European cultures so rich.

Looks fun

Very well done but there are lots more May Day festivals all over this green and pleasant land. Minehead Hobby Horse is worth a look and it goes on for a couple of days after May Day. The Bolster Giant at Perranporth. One week later, the Helston Flora Day and on the old Whit Monday (now spring bank holiday) at Combe Martin, the Hunting of the Earl of Rone of which is a hybrid of Padstow and Minehead 'Osses.

Excellent.

We have an old oss parade in Richmond Yorkshire. Its not as big or popular though.

Wow its great to see so many young people getting involved. Could you cover some of the old mob sports that are still ongoing next year?

Excellent great stuff

This was actually brilliant.

Fascinating, must be great to live in a place like that.

I cried watching this: i've lived in england my whole life and have never seen a celebration even a tenth of what this is. When did we stop? Why did we? fuck man.

Survive, come to the Isle of Wight- much history awaits you

I love may day celebrations, the hobby horse is one of my favourite traditions. I also notice how many different parts of england have a hobby horse equivalent like the hooden horse, obby oss, mari lwyd, ram and tup. With the last 3, you would have a sheep or horse head on a pole and add a mechanism to snap the mouth open and close, then have a tarp over the person holding the pole. With Mari Lwyd; it would go to people houses and rhyme about wanting to come in, then the resident of the house would have to in rhyme tell the mari lwyd why they can’t come in. If the resident gives up, then the mari lwyd and his mates will come into your home and raid your pantry and drink your ale. Because the ram, tup and mari lwyd are celebrated so differently to the hobby horse and obby oss, i wouldn’t be sure if they were directly linked to eachother, but you mentioned a horse cult, therfore it might relay back to that. There’s also the fact that (at least from what ive found) the ram, tup and mari lwyd were brought up when welcoming in the new year, whereas the hobby horse and obby oss are brought up on may day to welcome in the summer. I also made a playlist to keep track of the hobby horses; kzfaq.info/sun/PLFaaz1TubN2Z1OoWKJ16QL0F_XniTrqAS And may songs; kzfaq.info/sun/PLFaaz1TubN2aTjoA4l6rd220PTZ4Qf09v (John barleycorn is in my may day playlist, but it shouldnt really be as it should be played on lammas night)

so rejuvenating

Experienced many larger than normal beaming grins while watching this.

Those girls would be nicer without all that orange fake tan on. Good video.

Brilliant!