Halloween Parade and Party: The Initial Stages 

I’ve always been interested and excited by the Autumn season but equally, I’ve always felt disappointed when it comes to the lack of Halloween events to attend in and around Bodmin. Especially when it comes to FREE or cheap Halloween Events : As the Bodmin Jail and Jamaica Inn offer cool Halloween experiences BUT at the price of a pretty penny!!! 

As a group, we’re also quite interested in the idea of traditions and how they are created, sustained or destroyed over time. The history of Halloween in Cornwall is linked to Pagan Tradition with the Samhain and Allantide Festival. They’re community celebrations that mark the first day of winter, often with a communal fire that welcomes in the harvest and ushers in the dark half of the year. Certain practices and rituals are carried out on Hallow’s Eve as a rite of underworld passage and communication with the dead. 

Over time, this pagan tradition has seemingly washed away from the cultural forefront as the American Tradition of candy and costume has taken over. As fun as Trick or Treating and partying is, I’m quite interested in the idea of blending this Cornish heritage, folklore and traditional witchcraft with the fun event we all know and love. 

Drawing on this Cornish tradition (and other international rituals), we had the idea of creating a costumed pilgrimage to the Bodmin Beacon where people could burn their dark thoughts in a community fire - not letting their bad thoughts haunt them throughout the winter. Some form of new ritual would also take place (and this would depend on what the community decides to have meaning for them). There would also be music, food, performance etc. 

We also like the idea of having multiple community projects happening in October leading up the big Halloween Event. Some examples of possible ideas are listed below: 

• VR Zombie Event  
• Pagan Practice Workshop with local Pagan? Go on an evening Moot etc 
• Pumpkin Carving Workshops 
• Costume Designing and Making? 
• Halloween Jam Night ? Spooky Tunes 
• Some art workshop with young women? Reclaiming the traditional Halloween History: Witches Sluts and Feminists

I will be identifying and contacting lots of community bods/ interested groups/persons over the next couple of weeks so we can be as responsive as possible to what the community would like to also see happen at this Halloween event.

Oh and I would probably need to sort out a cheeky risk assessment for the community fire at some point too? 

Holly x 

The Bodmin Jail Experience 

Bodmin’s reputation is attached to a lot of dark symbolism and is entrenched in quite a depressing history - being a county town that holds the psychiatric ward, the regimental museum and the Jail. Today, as a group, we visited the “new and improved” Bodmin Jail to further explore the dark histories of the town as we move into creating a Halloween project. 

Walking through the Bodmin Jail felt unrecognisable to when I was last there. It’s now a rather large and impressive spectacle, with high tech animations, flashing lights and 4D experiences. Lots of stories were told as you walked through this pyrotechnic space and overall, the experience was remarkable. 

 

I kept finding myself thinking about how much money this must’ve costed the company to build? It definitely made me forget I was in Bodmin – as how can something this impressive be in Bodmin? 

 

Because of this, I suppose the whole experience felt a little ‘Disney’ in it’s approach to amusement, which made me feel a little uncomfortable at times? For example, we entered an experience where a hanging was re-enacted and the feeling of dropping was evoked. People exited the experience saying things like “Wow – that was really cool!” and “That was definitely the best part!”. But considering the Jail was the site of horror, torture and death - this ‘ride’ felt a little un-respectful and distasteful to all those that suffered there?  

 

Also, it often felt like the dark stories behind some of the convictions were overlooked? That they had chosen not to really dive into any of the dark histories, but instead, provided a cool haunting experience for tourists to do on a holiday. And without my over analytical hat on, this isn’t such a bad thing, as it really was an extraordinary experience that will bring money, tourism and “life” into the town. 

 

As we were walking down to the jail, we were greeted by a man who thought that “Bodmin was a shithole”. As we continue to speak and connect with the community, it seems quite apparent that people are not proud to be associated with their home town!! Therefore, it feels possible to draw a connection between Bodmin's dark and depressing history with this current dark and depressing reputation? What is this dark curse of Bodmin and is it even possible to lift it?