Page 3 - Ninnau Jan-Feb 2021

A Weird and Wonderful Welsh Christmas

By Jane Blank were traditionally bled on this women. Accompanied by a
day. It was considered to be crowd of musicians and singers
good for them and, like their they visited farms and taverns,
Croeso i Geredigion! For ten owners, they were not working ‘jousting’ with the inhabitants
years I’ve been researching the over this period. Some individu- in verse until they were let in.
mysterious world of Georgian als also ‘holmed’ themselves Then the bawdy Mari would
Cardiganshire. Known as ‘The until blood came. lunge at and kiss the women,
Wild West of Wales,’ the Y Flwyddyn Newydd was lifting their skirts whilst the
Cambrian Mountains are even even more important than Y clowns created havoc. We still
now called by naturalist, Iolo Nadolig in Georgian Wales. do it!
Williams, ‘The last Welsh Like the other major spirit As strange but perhaps lesser
Wilderness’. My two novels, nights that I explore in my nov- known tradition was the perllan
set in the haunting mansion of els, divination and the interpre- in which a live or stuffed wren
Nanteos, (now a country house tation of omens marked the was imprisoned in a special box
hotel) explore a world in which period around the year’s turn- and taken from house to house.
ancient folk customs were cele- ing, with ritual food, drink, cer- Again it was usually adult men
brated alongside the traditions emony and verse employed to who performed this ritual and
of the established church. Y Jane Blank presents during a Christmas scene at Nanteos, foresee (and in some cases even there were elaborate set verses
Gwyliau went on for at least note the Mari Lwyd keeping a watchful eye! affect), events over the future to accompany the tour. If the
three weeks and in some cases year. welcome was inadequate this
the festivities lasted until the great wassailing tradition – Plygain service in the local Football was played on New verse was uttered:
Candlemas. cramped, dark, damp, their church, rising very early or Year’s Day too. One account Gwynt ffralwm ddelo’n
There was a huge difference homes could not accommodate sometimes staying up all night describes Y Bel Ddu, the two hwthwm,
between how wealthy and poor guests and they took their fun making cyflaith (treacle toffee), goals being the churches of I ddroi’r ty a’i wyneb fyny.
people celebrated the season. out into the dark. Holding flam- dancing, singing and playing Llandysul and Llanwenog, ‘May a raging wind come
The Powells of Plas Nanteos ing torches, bands of revellers games. Early on Christmas which are 8 miles apart! The suddenly to turn the house
entertained at home. The farms, went from homestead to home- morning there was a torch pro- ‘game’ started early in the upside down.’ Why do curses
kitchen gardens, mills, brew and stead, tavern to tavern, singing, cession to the church, people morning with people on foot always sound better in Welsh?
bake houses on the estate fur- chanting ritual verse, cross- often bringing their own can- and on horseback. By nightfall Twelfth Night, the last major
nished them with everything dressing or masked. Carrying dles. The service lasted for the lads were drunk. Many event of the season, was per-
they needed. The mansion was props and accompanied by hours, with a short sermon and were injured, some even killed. haps influenced by the Roman
well lit with wax candles, the instruments, y werin bobl carols old and new. I find it Most of these violent pursuits, Saturnalia festival, in which
light magnified by burnished fought back together against the touching how humble the spe- common in the Eighteenth master and servant socialised,
metal sconces. Ample fuel from darkness and want of a Welsh cial post plygain breakfast was, Century, were discouraged by swapping roles for one night
the great estate’s woodland winter. As at Calan Mai and just hot ale, toasted bread and early Methodists and banned in only. A special twelve handled
made even the largest of rooms Calan Gaeaf, they gathered out- cheese or brwes, (oatcake later centuries. wassail bowl was used for this
inviting. Guests could be side to travel from neighbour to seeped in broth, hot milk and Similar to All Hallows Eve, celebration. Filled with cakes,
accommodated overnight and, neighbour where they would be water), strong ales, cakes and Calennig was collected on New apples, sugar and hot spiced
as recently as the 1950s, rode offered food and drink in cold meats, goose being kept for Year’s Eve. In living memory, beer it was passed around the
their horses over from neigh- exchange for music, song, poet- the Christmas dinner. As well as carols and blessings were taken company. Hidden inside was a
bouring gentry houses on ry and blessings for good for- neighbourly visits, Christmas from house to house in pea and bean, the finders being
Christmas Night ready for the tune in the year ahead. Farm Day was spent in squirrel hunt- exchange for gifts of food and made queen and king for the
Boxing Day fox hunt. Though work was suspended during the ing and sports. money. Two of the most colour- night. What an opportunity for
hunting played a pleasurable festival period, in some cases St Stephen’s Day was often ful wassailing practices an author!
part in the gentry’s festivities, the plough being brought into known as ‘holming day’. The involved the Mari Lwyd and the Thanks so much for joining
theirs was mostly an indoor the house, lodged under the saint had been stoned to death wren box. The ‘Grey Mary’ was me and I wish you and your
experience. table and given drinks of hot and men and boys took delight a horse’s skull, dressed in bells family Iechyd Da, Nadolig
In contrast, the poor celebrat- ale. in beating women and girls with and ribbons and attended by an Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd
ed largely outside. Out of neces- At Y Nadolig, both squire and holly on their bare arms until ostler with a whip and ‘clowns’ Dda i chi gyd!
sity, they got together through worker would attend the blood was drawn. Farm animals in fancy dress, some dressed as

Welsh-Americans (?) Run for President

By James Thomas Then came the “Revolution of their ancestor came to this coun-
1800.” Adams, the incumbent, try from Wales, and from near
If you think the election of ran with Charles Cotesworth the mountain of Snowden.” But
2020 was confusing, try the one Pinckney (younger brother of no records of that tradition sur-
from 1800. Yes, 1800. After Thomas), while Jefferson ran vive. A well-documented line
weeks of voting, President John again with Burr. Federalists leads from Virginia to a Samuel
Adams lost and Aaron Burr favored closer relations with the
almost won. After a week of ex-enemy Britain, while the Jefferson who died in 1590 in
shenanigans in the House of Republicans [sic] wanted repeal Woodbridge, Suffolk, England.
Representatives, Thomas of the Alien and Sedition Acts, One genealogy website claims
Jefferson finally won. One which had been passed to Sam’s birthplace in 1540 as
result was the 12th Amendment restrict immigration and free- “Wales, United Kingdom” – but
to the Constitution. dom of speech. no “Snowden.” And the United
And those three above-named The major player behind the Kingdom was formed well over
candidates were Welsh- scenes was Alexander two hundred years later. Not a
American – possibly. Hamilton, not a candidate him- convincing connection. The
The confusion started with self but the rival of Adams in
the original Electoral College. the national Federalist Party and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
Put simply (if not simplistically of Burr in New York State museum has little on his possi-
put), the electors had two votes power politics. Got all this so Thomas Jefferson John Adams ble Welsh descent. “To date, no
each. The most votes won the far? close to winning it all. hard evidence connecting
top job; second place got the The people voted from Another result – before Richard Edwards of London. Jefferson’s known ancestors to
consolation prize. Easy right? October 31 to December 9 (a Jefferson dropped Burr from the Most researchers believe he was Wales has been found.”
Well, the first national elec- November national election day 1804 ticket, the animosity born in Wales and put his birth- Yes, but…Jefferson sent a
tion took place in 1788 – and wasn’t law until 1845). In the between Hamilton and Burr led date somewhere between 1579 map in 1804 to the Lewis and
1789 – from December 15 Electoral College, Adams took to their duel that year in June Clark Expedition from “a Mr.
through January 10 (each state 65 votes to Pinckney’s 64 (ex- and Hamilton’s death. Murder and 1596. As one website says, [John] Evans, a Welshman…
chose its own election day). The chief justice John Jay got one charges against Burr were “With all this uncertainty, we whose original object, I believe,
Electoral College voted next, vote), but Jefferson and Burr dropped, but later in 1807, he end this line with him.” Hmmm.
and George Washington won tied to win at 73 each. was tried for treason in a differ- The Welsh Adams family line had been to go in search of the
unanimously. Then the electors Then it went on (and on) in ent case and acquitted. But supposedly comes from Welsh Indians.” Those would
split their second votes, leaving the House. Hamilton urged its that’s another story. Penybanc Farm, Llanboidy, be the Mandan, descendants of
John Adams in second place as Federalist members to switch to In our own recent kerfuffle, Carmarthenshire, with a descen- Prince Madog who had sailed
VP, and ten others straggling Jefferson from Burr, or rather to Joe Biden was happy to claim dent who emigrated from Wales out of folklore from Wales in
behind. In 1792, Washington the man with the wrong princi- his ethnic Irish background. It’s in 1675. However, the line in 1170 and landed in America
won again and Adams repeated ples from one with none at all. normal now. But back in 1800, the Massachusetts Historical at… [Fill in your favorite place
as Veep. Thomas Jefferson was Burr was not happy. On 17 no one claimed to be Welsh- here]. Evans, though, had
a sad fourth and Aaron Burr got February 1801, Jefferson won Society website goes back to St. already decided by 1797 that
one vote. on ballot number 36, just in American to get votes. Since David – unfortunately, Barton “There is no such People as the
With Washington retiring, the time for his inauguration two then, however, genealogy has St. David, Somerset, England.
1796 campaign saw two brand- weeks later. boomed with interesting claims One Henry Adams left there for Welsh Indians.” In 1806,
new political parties compete. For orchestrated information, to ancestry across the pond. Massachusetts in 1632. Also, Jefferson’s Welsh dictionary
Adams, the Federalist, and his check out act two of Lin- Here are the latest results from the New England Historical and went unused in conversation
running mate Thomas Pinckney Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton: 1800. Genealogical Register has with Mandan Chief Shehaka,
of South Carolina faced “The Election of 1800.” Sing Aaron Burr’s Welsh ancestry pointed out since 1902 that the who had returned with
Jefferson, the Democratic- along if you know the words. comes through his mother ap Adams family connection to Meriwether Lewis to meet the
Republican, and his second One result – the XIIth Esther Edwards Burr, the the president is based on a “Great Father.”
Aaron Burr. Adams bested Amendment rearranged the rule, daughter of theologian Rev. History is messy – and so is
Jefferson by three votes, so so each elector had only one forgery. genealogy. Any further evi-
under the rules, he became pres- vote for president and one for Jonathan Edwards (famous for The Welsh claim of Jefferson dence, though, will be happily
ident and Jefferson vice presi- vice. Never again would there his1741 sermon “Sinners in the depends upon his
dent – from different political be a scramble that ended up Hands of an Angry God”). His Autobiography. “The tradition considered. If only all this were
parties. with the VP candidate coming ancestry can be traced back to a in my father’s family was that as simple as a majority vote.

January-February 2021 NINNAU Page 3