Today is St. Piran’s Day. Perran, as he is called in Cornish, is one of the contenders for the title of Patron Saint of Cornwall. The other is St. Michael. Cornish saints, by the way, traditionally did not have the title “saint”. They were simply called by their name. Many place-names preserve this tradition: Breage (St. Breaca), Paul (St. Paul) and Zennor (St. Senara) are examples. Of course there are names of places which contain St. — St. Austell, St. Breward, St. Ives and so on.
Perran was obviously a popular guy, especially in West Cornwall. He is commemorated in a number of place-names: Perranporth (P.’s port), Perranzabuloe (P.’s place on the sands), Perranarworthal (P.’s place by the marsh), Perranuthnoe (P.’s place in the manor of Udno).
The remains of the old church at Perranzabuloe
Used under a Creative Commons Licence: Tony Atkin
St. Piran’s Day was originally a holiday observed by tin miners, as Perran was their patron saint. Apparently, the holiday was celebrated by the consumption of large quantities of alcohol, leading to the 19th century phrase as drunk as a perraner.
Most localities in Cornwall will be festooned with St. Piran’s flag today and there have been calls over the past few years to make the day a bank holiday in Cornwall. The day is even celebrated as far away as California, where the Cornish miners who contributed to the development of mining in Grass Valley are honoured.