Cornish tinners kept the second Thursday before Christmas as Picrous Day with a supper and merrymaking, and the owner of the tin-stream paid a shilling a man towards it. Tradition said the feast honoured a man named Picrous who first found tin. Thomas Quiller Couch, quoted by Hazlitt, wondered whether Picrous’s honours had passed to St Piran.
Picrous Day
the first Thursday on or after 11 December · Cornwall
No longer kept
this feast is intended to commemorate the discovery of tin by a man named 'Picrous.'
From Hazlitt's Faiths and Folklore, vol. 2, p. 490. Read the original
Get a copy: Amazon · Bookshop.org · AbeBooks
We may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.
Questions and comments