What is Cornwall's St Piran's Day and how can I join the celebrations?

St Piran's Day is the national day of Cornwall and is held on 5 March each year, although some communities hold events at the weekend.

The current trend of marking the day started in the late 19th century and it became widespread in the 1950s.

Now nearly every community in the county holds an event to mark the day.

There have been calls for the day to become a public holiday in Cornwall and some local councils give staff the day off.

Who was Saint Piran?

According to the Cornwall Heritage Trust, St, Piran was “the merriest, hardest drinking, hardest living holy man Cornwall ever knew.” However, legend has it he wasn’t Cornish.

He was actually Irish and was an advisor to King Aengus of Munster.

When the King wanted to leave his wife for a younger woman Piran said it was his duty to forbid it.

Aengus had him bound to a millstone and thrown off the highest cliff in Munster. However the stone floated and it filled ashore on the north coast of Cornwall.

He built a church, which to this day still exists near Perranporth, St Piran’s Oratory, or praying-place, the oldest Christian church in Britain.

Piran was very popular, especially after discovering how to smelt tin, so he became known as the Tinner’s Saint and that’s why the flag of Cornwall is a white cross on a black background.

It shows the light of God in a dark world, and also the white tin metal against the black rock

Why do people in Cornwall sing ‘Trelawny’?

Cornwall, or Kernow in Cornish, was an independent nation until the 11th century.

The Cornish language was declared extinct in the last century but has had a revival and teaching Cornish started to get government backing in 2014.

Trelawny, or The Song of the Western Men is about the Cornish reaction to the imprisonment of Sir Jonathan Trelawny by King James II.

It refers to a protest march to London calling for his release (although in reality the march stopped in Bristol). The song is seen by many as The Cornish National Anthem.

Celebration events

There will be a parade in Truro starting at Waterfall Gardens on St George’s Road at 1pm.

It will head towards the War Memorial on Boscawen Street, ending at High Cross, where there will be brief speeches and songs.

There’s a parade and dance by St Just and Pendeen Primary Schools starting at 1.30pm.

They will assemble in the Pen an Gwary then march around the square and back down Cape Cornwall Street.

In Falmouth the St Piran’s Day Parade will be leaving The Moor at 10.00am via Webber St, out along Prince of Wales Pier and through the main street to Church Corner.

In Newquay people taking part in the parade should be at Beachfield Avenue from 3.30pm, then the parade starts at 4.00pm departing from Gover lane, passing through Bank Street and then East Street finishing at The Hotel Victoria.

In Launceston at 10am children from schools across the town will come together in the town square to celebrate with Cornish dancing, Cornish singing and a performance from the newly composed folk dance for Launceston.

Bodmin’s Big Parade starts at 11am with more than 500 children from local schools gathering to mark this iconic day in the Cornish calendar, before parading through the town.