May Day in Padstow means the Obby 'Oss (Hobby Hoss) festival. This is an ancient form of the May Day celebrations welcoming the spring and probably derived from the Celtic Beltane celebration, it also incorporated various old fertility rites.
The highpoint of the festivities is when the two Obby 'Osses, the 'Old' and 'Blue Ribbon' take to the streets. The 'Oss, which is a kind of one man horse outfit, dances through the streets, helped on by the masked 'teasers' during which time they try to catch maidens as the procession moves through the town.
The finale of the celebrations is at midnight when the townsfolk sing of the Obby 'Oss' death and of its resurrection the following year.
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