The festival is held in celebration and memorial of the efforts of legendary Mousehole resident Tom Bawcock to lift a famine from the village by going out to fish in a severe storm. During this festival Stargazy pie (a mixed fish, egg and potato pie with protruding fish heads) is eaten and depending on the year of celebration a lantern procession takes place.
There is an ongoing folk music tradition associated with Tom Bawcock's Eve. The words were written by Robert Morton Nance in 1927, to a traditional local tune called the 'Wedding March'.
A merrier place you may believe Was Mousehole on Tom Bawcock's eve To be there then who wouldn't wish To sup on seven sorts of fish When murgy broth had cleared the path Comed lances for a fry And then us had a bit o' scad And starry gazey pie Next comed fair maids, bra' thrusty jades As made our oozles dry And ling and hake, enough to make A running shark to sigh As each we'd clunk as health were drunk In bumpers brimming high And when up came Tom Bawcock's name We praised him to the sky.
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