What is the name of the May Day horse-figure festival in Padstow, Cornwall? It is the 'Obby 'Oss festival.
Held each May 1 in the North Cornish town of Padstow, the festival features two processions built around large stylized hobby horses, or 'Obby 'Osses. Dancers concealed beneath black, frame-hung capes and masks move through the streets with musicians, attendants called Teasers, and crowds singing traditional May songs.
The two principal horses are the Old 'Oss and the Blue Ribbon 'Oss, also called the Peace 'Oss. Each has its own supporters and stable, and the processions can take roughly twelve hours to complete. The festival begins on May Eve at midnight with the Night Song and ends with the horses' symbolic death and anticipated resurrection the following year.
The custom's exact origin is unknown. The earliest documented mention of Padstow's 'Obby 'Oss dates from 1803, although later folklorists speculated about pre-Christian fertility rites. That theory is not established fact. “Hobby horse” is the broader type of figure; “'Obby 'Oss” is Padstow's local name.