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Traditions, Y Fari Lwyd (Mari Lwyd)
 The
Mari Lwyd is one of the strangest and most
ancient of a number of customs with which people in Glamorgan and Gwent
used to mark the passing of the darkest days of midwinter.
A
pre Christian custom associated with the end of the Christmas season,
formerly carried out in all parts of Wales but now almost disappeared, Mari Lwyd (Grey Mare) can however still be seen at Llangynwyd near Maesteg every New Years Day.
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 on a pole.
The Mari Lwyd is carried from door
to door and is accompanied by a party of people. At each door, poems are
recited in Welsh. Those inside the house reply also in verse, refusing to
let the Mari Lwyd in until this battle of verse and insults (pwnco)
is won.
Antiquarians have called it the blessed Mary and have given it all sorts
of Biblical associations, such as the flight to Egypt, Balaam and the
Ass, and the donkey turned out of its stall to make way for the birth of
Christ.
But its origin goes much further back, to prehistoric times. The horse
has long been regarded as symbols of fertility. A Palaeolithic drawing
in a cave in Derbyshire, shows a man wearing a horse's mask.
As a child, I do remember seeing a horses head appear at my bedroom
window (Second floor) but was told I was imagining things ' |
