Christmas in Wales
Christmas at the present day in Wales is not so important as it used to be in former times, though it is still the beginning of a holiday season, and…
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“Christmas” from Folk-Lore of West and Mid-Wales by Johnathan Ceredig Davies, 1911.
Christmas at the present day in Wales is not so important as it used to be in former times, though it is still the beginning of a holiday season, and also a regular feasting-day. Morning service is conducted in the Parish Church, but is not so well-attended as in former times. It is often the custom to have an Eisteddfod or a concert in the evening in Nonconformist Chapels. In towns, the children hang up their stockings the night before Christmas, expecting to find, some gifts in them next morning.
Christmas is also an important day for the young maidens to kiss and be kissed. A girl places a mistletoe to hang over the chair in which a young man, whom she washes to catch, is likely to sit. Then when he comes under the mistletoe, she kisses him suddenly, and whenever she succeeds in doing so, she claims from him a new pair of gloves. The favourite observance for a young man to kiss a girl under the branches is also well known, and it was once supposed that the maiden who missed being kissed under the mistletoe on Christmas would forfeit her chance of matrimony, at least during the ensuing twelve months. These superstitions and favourite observances have come down from the time of the Druids.
The most interesting feature of Christmas in Wales in times gone by was undoubtedly the "Plygain” which means morning twilight. The "Plygain” was a religious service held in the Parish Church, at three o'clock on Christmas morning to watch the dawn commemorative of the coming of Christ, and the day-break of Christianity. The service, consisted of song, prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, and there was at that early hour a large congregation even in remote districts, as many came from long-distances, often three or four miles on a frosty night, or through snow.
It was customary for each family to take their own candles with them to this early service. These candles were of various colours, and should any remain alter the service was over, they became the property of the clerk. Carols were sung, and it was customary for anyone who claimed to be a bard to compose a carol; indeed, a poet was not considered a poet unless he could sing a carol. Some old people informed me that in connection with these early services there was a great deal of disorder on account of men under the influence of drink attending the Church after a night of revelry, and that this put an end to the "Plygain” in some places. In course of time the hour was changed from three to four or five, and such service is still continued in Llanddewi Brefi and other places in Cardiganshire.
After beginning Christmas morning so devoutly with Divine Service at early dawn, it was the custom in old times to spend most of the day in enjoyment, especially hunting the hare, the woodcock, but the chief sport was in connection with the squirrel.
There was a custom once at Tenby, in Pembrokeshire, for the young men of the town to escort the Rector, with lighted torches from his residence to the Church to the early service on Christmas morning. They extinguished their torches as soon as they reached the porch, and went in to the early service in the Church, and at the conclusion of it, the torches were re-lighted, and the procession returned to the Rectory, the chimes ringing till the time of the usual morning service. Lighted torches were also carried through the streets by a procession on Christmas Eve, and cow-horns were blown, and windows of houses were decorated by evergreens.
In North Pembrokeshire the holidays commenced, especially amongst the farmers, on Christmas Day, and were continued for three weeks, viz., till Epiphany Sunday. The Rev. O. Jenkin Evans, writing in "Pembrokeshire Antiquities," page 47, says:—
"On the 25th day of December, the farmers with their servants and labourers suspended all farming operations, and in every farm the plough was at once carried into the private house, and deposited under the table in the 'Room Vord' (i.e., the room in which they took their meals), where it remained until the expiration of “Gwyliau Calan." During these three weeks, parties of men went about from house to house, and were invited into the "Room Vord," where they sat around the table, regaling themselves with beer, which was always kept warm in small neat brass pans in every farm-house ready for callers. But the peculiar custom which existed amongst these holiday-makers was that they always wetted the plough which lay dormant under the table with their beer before partaking of it themselves, thus indicating that though they had dispensed with its service for the time, they had not forgotten it, and it would again, in due course, be brought out on the green sward and turn it topsy-turvy. These bands of men would sometimes carry with them the “Wren," singing simple popular ditties. On Christmas Day, a sumptuous dinner was prepared at the principal farms in every neighbourhood to which all the others, including the cottagers, were invited. The repast consisted of geese, beef, pudding, etc."
One of the most curious customs which was once in vogue about Christmas time was the procession known as "Mari Lwyd Lawon” ("the Merry Grey Mary"), which was a man wearing the skeleton of a horse's head decked with ribbons and rosettes.
The man was enveloped in a large white sheet, and proceeded round the houses, followed by a merry procession, singing songs and playing merry pranks, collecting Christmas boxes:
"Mari Lwyd lawen,
Sy'n dod o Bendarren," etc.
(Merry grey Mary,
Who comes from Peridarren.)
When a real skeleton could not be got, it was customary to make one of straw and rags. It seems that "Mari Lwyd" belonged more especially to Glamorganshire, yet it was well-known in Carmarthenshire also, not only in those places bordering on Glamorgan, but also in the Vales of Towy and Cothy. Mr. T. Davies (Eryr Glyn Cothi), and others, informed me that the “Mari” procession visited Llanegwad, and other places between Llandilo and Carmarthen only a few years ago. The curious custom was not known in Pembrokeshire, nor indeed in Cardiganshire, though I was informed that "Mari Lwyd" on one occasion at least did visit the latter county from Glamorganshire, and tramped across from Llandyssul, in the Vale of Teify, to New Quay, on the sea coast, calling at Lampeter and other places on the way.
According to the excellent Magazine, named "The Cambrian Journal" published 50 years ago, there was an old custom once at Tenby in Pembrokeshire, sometimes before, and sometimes after Christmas Day, for the fishermen to dress up one of their number, whom they called the "Lord Mayor of Penniless Cove," with a covering of evergreens, and a, mask over his face ; they would then carry him about, seated on a chair, with flags flying, and a couple of violins playing before him.
Before every house, the “Lord Mayor” would address the occupants, wishing them " a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year." If his good wishes were responded to with money, his followers gave three cheers, the masquer would himself return thanks, and the crowd again give "three times three," hip, hip, hurrah!
There was also in vogue once the barbarous practice of "holly beating." This was on the day after Christmas, St. Stephen's Day, which consisted in a furious onslaught being made by men and boys, armed with large bushes of the prickly holly, on the naked and unprotected arms of female domestics, and others of a like class.
Davies, Jonathan Ceredig. Folk-Lore of West and Mid-Wales. The Welsh Gazette, 1911.
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