This news item surely raised a splutter in this household. I was born and raised in this town. Does she actually know what Feast is. To be precise, it is the anniversary of the consecration of the church in 1336 (Did she know that date without having to look it up?- I did) In 1336, the consecration of a church required the presence of the bishop who had to come from Exeter. Travelling was not of the easiest, so he came in the middle of the summer. However the annual WEEK of celebrations was such that it imperrilled the harvest. So the townsfolk decided (democratically I am sure since that is a strong instinct in the Cornish) to move Feast (not The Feast, just Feast) to the Sunday nearest All Saints' Day (November 1st) So sometimes it falls in late October. Anyway, it is well placed to be incorporated into half term, and, whatever the education authorities may have said, that is when half term was.
A lot of Cornish towns and villages have Feasts, at different dates, but St. Just was always the Grandaddy of them all. Exiles will come home to visit the family when they would not for Christmas. The point of Feast Monday is - yes the hunt opening meet, but more important than that, just to be there in the two town squares, and meet up with the people you haven't seen for ages, and get up to date with all the news. My Father recalls it used to be said "You could walk across the square on the heads of the crowd" and although it was not quite so crowded in my younger days, it was noticeable in recent times that I have managed to get there, that the crowds were getting larger by the year. The whole point of it is to BE There, for the Church service on the Sunday, and the meetings on the Monday.
I wonder what the special school feast dinner was going to be. On the Monday it was always cold meat - the leftovers of the humungous joint of whatever (probably beef) which was cooked for the family on the Sunday, and eaten cold with boiled potatoes and pickles. people from outlying villages and hamlets, farmers and the like, would all come to a family member in the town for their dinner, in a constant stream, to be fed as they arrived. So many of them, that they could not all sit down together.
Now comes the bit where I show my paranoia. Some cultures are more equal than others in this multicultural society. I suggest that a newly appointed head teacher in a school that was in a (for example) predominately Jewish community would be unlikely to be so crass as to suggest that the children should not have the day off for Yom Kippur, that they should go to school where the canteen would prepare a special fast, and that they should have a special Yom Kippur assembly. That they should mark the day in the school's own way. I don't know what happens in such a situation, but it seems to me that any community's special day is a time when children should be with their families, in the community. And a school is not a community. It is a place that children go to get educated and is only a small part of any community.
And Feast is St. Just's culture, just as much as all the festivals, both solemn and fun, that our grand mixture of immigrants have brought with them. We should not forget the ones that were here all along, ESPECIALLY when they thrive and increase by the will of the locals, who go back beyond the days of schools.
The picture at the top of this post is Market Square on an ordinary day - picture taken by Cornwall Cam. Imagine, if you will, the space that is not buildings completely filled with people. It will be, on Feast Monday and the children will be there, because I hear that the Headteacher has backed down - well good, it has saved her the embarrassment of sitting in an empty school, thinking "Was it something I said?".
