Thanks for that response, Cats.

Another Mudcatter sent me a pm saying that the book's author may have seen a picture of Obby Oss, but little else in that book's passage was true to past and present customs. For instance, that Mudcatter noted that whistles, flutes and bodhrans are characteristic of Irish music and never had anything to do with the Obby Oss custom and besides, the musical instruments called bodhrans aren't even 100 years old, so they wouldn't have existed in the Jacobite period.

Also, that Mudcatter informed me that blacking up is or was associated with another Padstow celebration and wasn't ever practiced during May Day Obby Oss celebrations.

I very much appreciated receiving that private message. I'm sharing this information for the public record since other people who know very little about this celebration might happen upon this discussion.