| Where: | St Blazey, Cornwall starting at Landreath Place, moving to King Edwards Gardens, St Blaise's Church on Church Street and the Football Club on Station Road |
| When: | February 3rd |
| Time: | 5.30 music, 6 pm Lantern parade, 6.30 pm Church Service |
An illuminated ram is the centrepiece in a lantern parade marking the feast of St Blaise, patron saint of both the woollen industry and sore throats, on February 3rd . The event was revived in the early twenty-first century and is going from strength to strength, organised by the St Blazey Reclaimed and a host of other local groups including the schools, church and Town Council. The Feast Day of St Blaise, patron Saint of wool combers, coincides with the Celtic feast of Imbolc which marks the earliest stirrings of spring-which is good reason to celebrate at this time of year. The lanterns illuminate the dark lanes of the town accompanied by traditional Cornish music and led by the Bishop of Truro together with a local Boy Bishop, before a special Blessing of the Throats service at St Blaise church which involves the Bishop and Vicar, ably assisted by the Boy Bishop, holding crossed candles up to the throat of each person being blessed and repeating a special prayer. When we went, halfway through the parade there was a stop at King Edwards Gardens for hot apple juice and some very tuneful Cornish wassailing songs around a tree in the park; after the service, refreshments follow, usually at the Football Club, which, whenever possible, includes regional speciality saffron buns.
Helpful Hints
Check the Facebook page below for updates and to confirm timings etc. The Feast is always held on 3rd even when it falls on a Sunday. It goes ahead whatever the weather so be prepared to wrap up well and if you haven’t a lantern, a torch could be useful.
Click here for the Town Council website: http://www.stblaisetowncouncil.co.uk
here for the village Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/413691915475978/photos/
and here for Church contacts: http://www.achurchnearyou.com/st-blaise/
Thanks to Ross Parish for drawing this event to my attention!
St Blaise’s Feast Day as celebrated at St Blazey in Cornwall was mentioned on 03 Feb 2021 on Petroc Trelawny’s Radio 3 classical breakfast show, A message was sent to Petroc by the well-known Consultant Laryngologist Declan Costello about St Blaise Patron Saint of Throats. He mentioned that a lantern parade marking the feast of St Blaise, patron saint of both the woollen industry and sore throats is held on February 3rd in St Blazey, Cornwall, where lanterns illuminate the dark lanes of the town accompanied by traditional Cornish music and led by the Bishop of Truro, before a special Blessing of the Throats service at St Blaise church. Petroc went on to say that in the Church of St Blaise at St Blazey (South aisle east) there is a stained glass window depicting St Blaise between St Fimbar and St Petroc. There is also a statue of Saint Blaise in the lobby of the [old] Royal National Throat, Ear & Nose Hospital, Gray’s Inn Road, London. Petroc also mentioned that St. Blaise (d.316) was Bishop of Sebastea in the East Roman Empire in the 3rd century, who was formerly a physician, and was associated with healing conditions of the throat as early as the 5th century.
Interesting! There’s another blessing of the throats at St Etheldreda’s Church in Holborn, but it’s a much simpler service without all the attendant festivities at St Blazey. There used to be a big event in the past at Bradford, (as St Blaise is also patron saint of woolcombers, and they were at the centre of the woolen cloth trade) but though there are occasional hints at revivals it doesn’t seem to happen- maybe one day!