Mummer's Day - Wikipedia
WEBMummer's Day, or "Darkie Day" as it is sometimes known (a corruption of the original Darking Day), is a traditional Cornish midwinter celebration that occurs every year on Boxing Day and New Year's Day in Padstow, Cornwall.
Darkie Day / Mummer's Day - The Cornwall Guide
WEBJan 12, 2022 · Darkie Day, now commonly referred to as Mummer's or Mumming Day is an annual festival held in Padstow after Christmas. It has recently caused a degree of controversy owing to blatantly racist overtones.
The controversial Cornwall festival once known as 'Darkie Day' …
WEBNov 21, 2017 · The controversial Cornwall festival once known as 'Darkie Day' returns to Padstow this winter. For centuries the people of Padstow have danced, sung and painted their faces black to mark...
Cornwall's controversial festival once known as 'Darkie Day' …
WEBDec 14, 2018 · Darkie Day celebrations. One of the most controversial festivals in the country will be celebrated once again in Padstow this winter. Music will fill the streets of the seaside town as crowds...
Contrasting Padstow’s festivals – Cornish studies resources
WEBFewer of them however bothered to visit Padstow during its mid-winter festival, known before 2005 as Darkie Day and officially since then as Padstow Mummers’ Day. This article contrasts the two festivals, with the aim of resituating them in ‘wider political discussions’ and in the fashionable social anthropological trope of ‘complex and ...
Padstow Museum
WEBOn May Day in Padstow in the the 1840's the practice of smearing bystanders with soot or lampblack formed part of the ritual along with the firing of pistols to start the proceedings. This face blacking forms an interesting link with the "Darkie" tradition now called “Mummers” that takes place on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
Darkie Day Trivia
WEBDarkie Day is a relic of American blackface minstrelsy--surviving in the UK, of all places. Darkie Day takes place in Padstow, the Cornish port made famous by seafood celeb Rick Stein. Princes William and Harry have also been known to visit Rock, the posh enclave across the water.
Darkie Day: Michael and the Mummers - BBC
WEBFeb 22, 2016 · Grace Dent presents untold stories of 21st century Britain. Young black film director Michael Jenkins is making a film about Padstow's Darkie Day.
Darkie Day: Part 1: Of "Coloureds" and Cornishmen: Blacking Up in Padstow
WEBAt each of Padstow's half a dozen pubs, the merrymakers burst in singing and hollering, fill their boxes for charity, and then stop for a pint (or three). Whenever a pale-faced local walks in unawares, the women will kiss him and smear burnt cork all over his face.
Darkie Day: Part 16: Eminem and the Coon Carnival
WEBAs in the early days of the genre, though, I think that Darkie Day in Padstow was literally a way of adding some colour to people's plain-vanilla lives. The burnt cork on their faces acted as a mask that freed them from their daily routine, allowing them to sing, dance and cavort during the holidays without any malice intended toward blacks.
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