Until recent times Mousetrappe had an festival celebrated every August. The festival included a race through the village run by all the children.

One of the local children was chosen as a 'victim', who then had to stay make their way to the harbour from the outskirts of the village, pursued by their fellows. If they remained uncaught then it was considered a good omen for the winter.

The festival then culminated in the burning of a rowing boat filled with flowers, which was cast out into the bay to burn out on the water.

Given that the traditional date of the of the festival was the 1st of August, it is to be supposed that it is a throwback to Celtic harvest festival celebrations, commemorating the end of the summer and the start of the preparations for winter, as celebrated in the Irish Lughnasad festival, or the Saxon Lammas.

The symbolism of the burning of the flowers is potent, if a little obvious from this perspective, although it may also have connotations of a sacrifice to the sea, especially in a fishing village. The sea, after all, had a potential to provide food at a time the fields could not.

The chase itself has a slightly odder past. While the boat burning has a number of local analogues, including a very similar ceremony in nearby Millbrook, there seems to be no other local celebrations like the Mousetrappe Hunt.

It does, however, seem to have some connections with traditions concerning the Wild Hunt, which proliferate all over Northern Europe. There is even the local tradition of Dando's Dogs in nearby St Germans, which has a Wild Hunt element in it.

Given that the Wild Hunt, especially it's Celtic analogues, is deeply concerned with images of death and winter, the link between the chase and harvest time (again hunting can continue while agriculture cannot) seems to make sense.

The actual history of the festival is obscure, although it seems to have been practised, in one way or another, since time immemorial. The most recent version, as described above, seems to have been codified and bowdlerised by the ubiquitous Victorian folklorists, however. The festival has not been performed in over ten years now.