WALES is a country rich in history and tradition and while there are modern-day Christmas traditions we are all familiar with, there might be a few that you haven’t heard.
From carol singing to toffee making, here are a few old Welsh traditions to get you in the mood for some Christmas reminiscence.
Plygian services
Plygian services were conducted between 3am and 6am.
Plygian can loosely be translated into ‘cockcrow’ or ‘daybreak’ and signals the early hour that it begins.
Men usually gathered to sing carols in three to four-part harmony and conducted Bible readings.
It has seen a resurgence in recent times and if you are interested in finding a plygian service you can find one at plygain.org/home.htm
Mari Lwyd
Perhaps the quirkiest, and one of the most well-known, of Welsh festive traditions, Mari Lwyd (Grey Mare) is when a horse’s skull with false ears and eyes attached, along with reins and bells covered with a white sheet and colourfully decorated with ribbons is carried around a pole from house to house.
It was believed that horses were a symbol of fertility and brought good luck to anyone whose house they entered.
The custom was first recorded in J Evans’s A Tour through Part of North Wales in 1800 and is mostly associated with areas of South Wales - mainly Glamorgan and Gwent.
A rhyming ritual called pwnco was carried out where the two parties - the inhabitants of the house and the procession exchanged rhymes and songs until one party ran out of words.
If the inhabitants of the house ran out, the procession would be allowed entry into their home and celebrate before moving on to the next house.
Calennig
A New Year’s custom enjoyed by children across Wales.
They would go house to house singing rhymes in exchange for treats like cheese, sweets, bread and money.
Some children also carried water from their local wells and splashed it on villagers as a symbol of good fortune.
It is believed that the tradition arose from the ancient custom of giving gifts and money on New Year’s Day.
The inhabitants of Cwm Gawaun, Pembrokeshire, have been keeping the tradition alive and celebrating it on January 13 each year.
Noson Gyflaith (toffee evenings)
Noson Gyflaith was often a part of the Plygian services and was a fun-filled evening full of toffee-making.
Butter, sugar and treacle were boiled and the result was poured onto a slate, or hearthstone before being stretched.
Family and friends would join in the merriment, grease their hands with butter and help themselves to toffee as everyone participated in games, storytelling and some more toffee-making.
Wassail
The word Wassail comes from the Anglo-Saxon phrase ‘waes hael’ which means good health.
The drink was originally made of mulled ale, curdled cream, roasted apples, eggs, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and sugar. It was a hot punch-like beverage that helped keep the winter chill at bay.
Wassailing has two distinct types - house wassailing where people went singing door to door and the other, practised mostly in the countryside, particularly in fruit-growing regions where trees are blessed.
There are several stories and folklore attached to each tradition, a signifier of how engrained these traditions were at some point.
While everybody may not agree on the same story, these traditions continue to bring people together in conversation and camaraderie which very much aligns with the Christmas spirit.
You know now, that when a Welsh person says "Nadolig Llawen" (Merry Christmas) there is at least a few centuries of history behind it all.
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