Chewidden Thursday

Tin miners of West of St Chiwidden

Chewidden Thursday (also known as White Thursday, Chewidden Day or Jew-whidn) was a festival celebrated by the tin miners of West Cornwall on the last clear Thursday before (i.e. at least one week before) Christmas. The festival celebrated the discovery of 'white tin' or smelted tin by St Chiwidden, a little-known Cornish saint who in legend was an associate of St Piran.^[1]

Robert Hunt in Popular Romances of the West of England states:

The last Thursday – a clear week before Christmas Day – was formerly always claimed by the tinners as a holiday, and was called by them White-Thursday (Jew-whidn), because on this day, according to tradition, black tin (tin ore) was first melted and refined into white tin. From Jew-whidn to Chi-widden is an easy transition.^[2]

References

^ Courtney, Margaret Ann (1973). Folklore & Legends of Cornwall. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 6. ISBN 0874710200.
^ https://cornishculture.co.uk/portfolio/chewidden-thursday/^{[permanent dead link]}

Culture of Cornwall

Cornish: Gonisogeth Kernow

Symbols

Celtic cross
Cornish chough
Cornish heath
Cornish kilts and tartans
Jonathan Trelawny
Michael An Gof
Saint Piran
Saint Piran's Flag
Scillonian Cross

Festivals

Sports

Cuisine

Arts

Music

Cornish bagpipes Brenda Wootton Dalla Fisherman's Friends Crowns
Folk songs	"Bro Goth agan Tasow" "Camborne Hill" "Come, all ye jolly tinner boys" "Delkiow Sivy" "Hail to the Homeland" "The Song of the Western Men"