Cornish Feasts and Folk-lore

Courtney, M. A. (Margaret Ann), 1834-1920Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 411K words
Chapters: 42

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Cornish Feasts and Folk-lore by M. A. CourtneyAuthor: Courtney, M. A. (Margaret Ann), 1834-1920,Language: English, Class: GR: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation: Folklore, Release Date: Apr 30, 2017

Editor's review

This book is one of the representative achievements of British folklore collecting from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Courtney takes the festivals, customs, and oral tales of Cornwall as her subject, recording a wealth of local rituals, dietary conventions, superstitious beliefs, and folk narratives. Its value lies in preserving the details of local life from the pre-industrial era, offering quotable primary material for folklore studies, social history, and local cultural research. The prose carries the narrative style of Victorian folklore writing, with the material arranged by theme, reading like a hybrid of local gazetteer and story collection. For general readers, it is more a window onto the rural traditions of southwestern England; for researchers, attention should be paid to the period character of its recording perspective and classificatory framework. It is suited to a combination of casual reading and browsing in fragments, with no need to read it straight through.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Casual readers interested in British local folklore and festival traditions
Students of folklore, social history, or cultural studies consulting primary records
Readers who enjoy folk tales and rural narratives, suitable for fragmentary reading
Travelers planning to visit Cornwall who wish to understand its local cultural background

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a systematic textbook of folklore theory or a methodological introduction
Readers seeking only a collection of complete,连贯 folk tales
Readers with no interest in British local history who need quick practical information

Reading tips

Use the thematic table of contents to jump among chapters on festivals, weddings and funerals, and superstitions rather than proceeding from page one.
Keep a notebook to record memorable custom entries for later comparison with folklore material from other regions.
Consult a map when encountering unfamiliar place names to build a sense of Cornwall's geography.
Read alongside general works on British folklore to understand the book's position between material recording and theoretical explanation.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a systematic introductory book on Cornish folklore?

It is not a theoretical introductory textbook but a compilation of local folklore material centered on collecting and recording. The book organizes a wealth of observations by theme—festivals, customs, stories, and so on—and is suited to consultation and fragmentary reading. To first establish basic folklore concepts, pair it with a general introductory work.

Are the folk tales in the book suitable for telling to children?

Some stories and superstition records contain elements of death and supernatural punishment, and the narrative manner is old-fashioned, so they may not be suitable for direct telling to young children. Parents who wish to use them should first select and adapt them. For adult readers or adolescent researchers, these materials better reflect local beliefs and narrative traditions.

Do I need to know Cornish geography and history to read it?

It helps. Cornwall lies at the southwestern tip of England and has a distinctive Celtic cultural background and local festival traditions. Readers who first understand its geography and local livelihoods such as mining and fishing will more easily grasp the context of the customs in the book. A map on hand is enough for basic needs.

Is the English in this book difficult to read?

Overall it is narrative English of the nineteenth to early twentieth century, with long sentences, and some local vocabulary and old spellings require checking. Readers with general English reading ability can grasp the gist, but there are many local terms for things and places, so interest-driven, fragmentary reading is recommended rather than insisting on reading it through.

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About the author

Courtney, M. A. (Margaret Ann), 1834-1920 Author

Margaret Ann Courtney (M. A. Courtney, 1834–1920) was an English recorder of folklore and local culture, though public information about her life and education is limited. She is best known for Cornish Feasts and Folk-lore, a collection of festivals, legends, and local customs from Cornwall that belongs to the tradition of English regional folklore compilation. The book describes seasonal celebrations, local beliefs, and rural tales, reflecting her interest in everyday life and oral tradition; such material preserves valuable records for later study of Cornish local culture. Only one of her works is currently held in the collection, and biographical material is scarce, so her contribution is best understood through the work itself.