Now was the time for the whole raison d’être of the Dark Gathering – the meeting of the Welsh Mari Lwyds with Cornwall’s Penkevyll the Oss.  This year we were going to try to introduce the Mari Lwyds into the proceedings in a different way – we were going to have a procession.  However, there was one thing that we hadn’t factored in – that this year the clocks hadn’t gone back yet – so it was still light by 5 pm, the advertised time of the Lantern Procession.  The Mari Lwyds traditionally don’t appear until at least dusk, and there was lots of debate about when to start the tribal drumming (the signal for the Procession to start) – and also when to light torches etc.  You can just imagine the dialogue! 

To add to the confusion there is no mobile signal in Boscastle so we couldn’t communicate with the processional group who were…