What are Welsh Christmas?
What are Welsh Christmas?
Toffee-Making, Torch Processions and Plygain Singing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning. At 3am on Christmas morning in the 18th and 19th centuries, Welsh churchgoers would leave their houses by torchlight or candlenight to go to Plygain, a service of carols sung a capella by solos, groups and choirs.
What does Calennig mean in Welsh?
New Year celebration/gift
Calennig [kaˈlɛnɪɡ] is a Welsh word meaning “New Year celebration/gift”, although it literally translates to “the first day of the month”, deriving from the Latin word kalends. The English word “Calendar” also has its root in this word.
What is Santa called in Wales?
The name the Welsh give to Father Christmas (or Santa Claus) is Siôn Corn. The name Siôn is pronounced like the name Shaun with an elongated ‘aw’ and corn (meaning horn or chimney pot) is pronounced much like the English word corn but with a rolled R.
What is the Mari LWYD tradition?
The Mari Lwyd (Welsh: Y Fari Lwyd, Welsh pronunciation: [ə ˌvaːri ˈlʊi̯d]) is a wassailing folk custom found in South Wales. The tradition entails the use of an eponymous hobby horse which is made from a horse’s skull mounted on a pole and carried by an individual hidden under a sackcloth.
What day is Mari LWYD?
What does Mari Lwyd do? Mari is taken around a village traditionally, often between Christmas Day and Twelfth Night, She is dressed with festive lights and decorations, and is usually accompanied by an ostler, and in some regions like Ystradgynlais in the Swansea Valleys, other folk characters like a jester and a Lady.
What do Welsh people eat on Christmas Day?
Roast potatoes top the list as Wales’ must-have Christmas dinner element followed by parsnips and meat gravy. Wales is the parsnip’s biggest fan but Britain’s is divided in its opinion on mashed potato.
What do the Welsh drink?
Beer is now the national drink of Wales, although Welsh beers never gained the status of other British beers, such as stout or English ales.
What is New Year called in Wales?
Hen Galan
Hen Galan – Welsh New Year in Pembrokeshire – Visit Pembrokeshire.
Is Mari Lwyd still celebrated?
A pre-Christian custom associated with the end of the Christmas season, formerly carried out in all parts of Wales but now almost disappeared, is that of the Mari Lwyd ( Grey Mare). It can however still be seen at Llangynwyd near Maesteg every New Years Day.