Yes, yes, I know that Mabe is pronounced like babe, and the road sign almost certainly doesn't exist anyway, but this is a bit of West Cornwall humour.
Many love Cornwall in the summer. Some like it most in the Spring and Autumn, when roads and beaches are quieter. I like it then, too, but it's during December that I'm apt to feel most homesick. True, at this time of the year, if it isn't blowing a hoolie, then the place is probably shrouded in fine mizzle (a combination of mist and drizzle) but it's what goes on indoors — and occasionally around Christmas Trees in town squares — that is special.
Mabe always calls to my mind the incomparable Mabe Ladies' Choir and that, in turn, leads on to thoughts of the many other Cornish choirs and singing groups who make Cornish Christmases quite unlike any other in the Kingdom. Perhaps the best known composer of Cornish carols is Thomas Merritt (1863-1908) who turned the rather dull Advent carol Hark, the Glad Sound into something that's truly glad and uplifting. Here it is (once they get started :) ), being sung in Truro Cathedral...
Another Cornish favourite is While Shepherds Watched, not to that rather plain 4-line dirge one usually hears, but to the tune Lyngham. There's nothing Cornish about the words or the tune, but it is hugely popular in churches and chapels throughout the county, perhaps because it has similar harmonies and 'repeats' to Hark, the Glad Sound. I just love this rendition by the Caroryon Trewoon singers, one Christmas morning in Troon... and well done, that sole lady! It wouldn't have been the same without her.
Sadly, now that I live outside Cornwall, it's quite hard to spot the events at which one may hear Cornish carol singing, and still harder the ones where one may join in the singing, as they're not well advertised. If I can find one, though, I'm sorely tempted to spend a night or two down there and go along.
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