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WE ARE THE WAD
Jack-o-lantern,
Joan-the-wad,
That tickled the maid and made her mad,
Light me home, the weather's bad.
We are The WAD, a Falmouth-based Morris dancing side named after Joan the WAD, Queen of the Cornish Piskies.
Cornish folklore suggests that Joan the WAD would light people to safety, or sometimes peril, across the Cornish moors. The word ‘wad’ is often recorded as an old Cornish colloquial term for ‘torch’ or bundle of straw. Joan the WAD is now seen as a good luck charm to many.
Taking inspiration from Cornish folklore and Joan's feisty and fiery nature, our all-female Morris side brings Joan the WAD energy and a modern, progressive take to a mixture of traditional border and cotswold dances.
Fire dancing photos: Artur Tixiliski
‘Good fortune will nod, if you carry upon you Joan the Wad.’
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