Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday to Go

Day 40: Chewidden Thursday

To wrap up we head to Cornwall and this celebration of an obscure saint who apparently played a large role in Cornish history. For it was St. Chewidden who is credited with taking black tin (tin ore) and turning it into white tin (smelted ore). The refined tin brought in more money than just the ore, helping to develop the tin industry overall in the region.

There is almost nothing online about Chewidden or what he did to become a saint (or even that he is a saint). I did find one link that said Chewidden translates into English as "white house," so it could be that this saint was conjured up to honor the process that helped Cornwall avoid widespread poverty (at least some of the time). It's also not clear why the day is held on the last Thursday that was at least one week before Christmas day. 

Chewidden is typically said to be a friend of St. Piran, of whom much more is known. A fifth centuty abbot, he is the patron saint of tin miners and of Cornwall itself (though there are at least a couple other patron saints of Cornwall as well). The Cornish flag - a white cross on a black background - is named for him. His feast day is March 5, and is widely celebrated, to the point where it's a kind of unofficial Cornish national holiday.

That's it for 2021, see you in 2022 with a decidedly non-holiday based Lentorama!