Thousands Participate in Cornish Montol Festival

On Saturday, the longest night of the year, thousands of individuals gathered in the streets of Penzance. The Montol Festival, a revitalization of various traditional midwinter customs, has been an annual event in the town since 2007. The term “Montol” translates to “solstice” in Cornish and aligns with the winter solstice. Stephen Reynolds, who serves as the Mayor of Penzance, stated that the event has evolved into a “highlight of the year” and fostered community cohesion. Participants in the festival don costumes and engage in a parade and dancing through the streets of Penzance. To facilitate the creation of masks for the evening’s festivities, a mask-making workshop was conducted on 17 December. For this year’s event, Penzance Council provided £5,000 in grant funding to the Montol Organising Committee to support the festival. BBC Cornwall can be followed on X, Facebook, and Instagram. Story ideas can be submitted to spotlight@bbc.co.uk. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights are reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for material found on external websites. Information regarding our external linking policy is available.