#Welsh culture

[celestial-kestrel]

It's that time of year again where Mari Lwyd starts to be talked about and shared around and an INCREDIBLY misleading post gets shared a lot. As someone who grew up with Mari Lwyd I wanted to clear some things up.

Also hello, if you are unaware who Mari Lwyd is. This is about the Welsh tradition of the horse skull who visits houses during the Christmas to New Years period in Wales asking for alcohol.

First off and probably the most important one:

Mari Lwyd is not a cryptid!

I can not emphasise this enough. She. Is. Not. A. Cryptid. There is no story or mystery about a ghost or zombie horse roaming the Welsh valleys. She's not even supposed to be a ghost or a zombie. It's just a horse skull on a stick with a guy under a sheet. She's a hobbyhorse and a folk character used to tell Welsh stories and keep songs alive. When people spread the misinformation that she's a cryptid, it's the equivalent of saying Kermit the Frog is a cryptid.

She is actually only one character in a wider cast of characters who go door to door or, in more modern times, pub to pub. The cast of characters can change town to town and village to village but there are some common ones I see time and time again. The Leader, the Merryman, The Jester and The Lady are just some I see regularly. Punch and Judy used to be more popular a few years ago but I haven't seen them in a while as their tradition has mostly fallen out of popularity. In most cases, almost the whole cast will be played by men. Even the characters are considered and referred to as female. Though this again depends and varies by which group is partaking in the Mari Lwyd tradition.

This point also goes onto my second point,

Mari Lwyd does not rap.

I think this comes from a very common misunderstanding of what rap is vs spoken word. Rap is a very specific style of music originating from the African American communities of the USA and has it's own structure and motifs unique to it. It's a lot more complex than people give it credit for as a style of music and just flippantly assign anything similar to it as being rap. If someone is talking fast or reciting poetry, it is not rap. Or anything that is an exchange of words between two people is not a rap battle. Mari Lwyd does not do rap, actually something that gets left out of these posts is the fact Mari Lwyd does not even speak. It's actually the Leader, who does all the speaking and song based banter between the house/pub owner for entry. Mari Lwyd just clicks her mouth, bites people and bobs her head around.

I think Mari Lwyd is a really beautiful and unique part of Welsh culture. She's not actually as wildly celebrated as a lot of the posts make her out to be. Actually, I think most Welsh people themselves learn about Mari Lwyd through the internet as well. Her popularity is increasing thanks to the drive of local groups wanting to keep the traditions alive and a renewed desire to document Welsh traditions before they're gone. Which is why it's such a shame that she's turned into something she's not to earn horror points on the internet. I think this is why it bothers me so much to see the misunderstandings of the culture and the folk tradition. Mari Lwyd's origin is very hot debated as well as how long it's been going on for. But I think it's thanks to a lot of traditions like this that the Welsh language and our stories weren't lost forever. Welsh culture is recovering as is the language. But it's still in a very fragile place. I think it's why it's important to document and correct information when it's spread.

Anyway, if you want to see the tradition in action, here's a lovely video from the Cwmafan RFC going to one of the pubs for charity. It includes the song exchange with the pub owner for entry and the whole pub singing and joining in once Mari Lwyd and the rest are inside.

As well with another video from St Fagan's showcasing the more traditional and door to door form with the larger cast.

#Mari Lwyd #Wales #Welsh #Welsh culture #Youtube

[leekdraws]

Just something to think about when you see Mari Lwyd around social media! I'm from North Wales, and it's been very nice to see a old customs become more popular, even more amusing to see people really taken with Mari Lwyd. There has been a lot of fantastic artwork which I love to see! But, I do notice people not looking into where she comes from, the culture, the history and so on. When I do try to explain on some posts and link to resources, it's largely ignored. Which is a bit of a blow. So let's not just use Mari Lwyd for clicks and likes, otherwise the Welsh'ness and culture is diluted.

(I was playing Among Us recently... and there is a Mari Lwyd costume in that o.o) Here's a little video to explain a bit about Mari Lwyd https://youtu.be/6ptel9C3Zhg?si=yN3O3X7nkw03byyQ

And here is the cultural folk traditions website teaching people about Welsh traditions (some of it is in Welsh!) Trac Cymru – Folk development for Wales / Datblygu traddodiadau Cymru

#Mari Lwyd #Wales #welsh culture #welsh traditions

[lowcountrymountaineer]

Dom a Lloyd : Cymru Heddiw

Hiiii!! Please share this. This is a cool video regarding Black Welsh speakers and some of the progress and some of the obstacles that have been happening in the country of Wales in regarding to Black Welsh people. Everyone can be a part of revitalizing a language and in regards to revitalizing indigenous languages (like Welsh) anti-Blackness should have no place in the process. This is something I think no one really talks about and I LOVE this YouTube channel it needs more subscribers for sure!!

#welsh #black culture #black people #black girl magic #wales #celtic #welsh language #cymru #cymraeg #black pride #black history #indigenous #indigenous languages #indigenous issues #diaspora #intercultural #welsh culture #celtic pride #Youtube

[honeytoasts]

it’s been frosty in wales! if you’re cold she’s cold, let her in!

#mari lwyd #wales #welsh #welsh culture

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

Thomas Jones (1742-1803) "The Bard" (1774) Oil on canvas Romanticism Located in the National Museum, Cardiff, Wales Poised on the edge of cliff clutching a harp, the last surviving bard places a curse on the English invaders before leaping to his death. This dramatic history painting has become iconic for Wales. Based on Thomas Gray’s poem "The Bard," it recounts the tale of Edward I’s massacre of the Welsh bards.

Bards were highly regarded in Welsh society at that time, and were thought to be descendants of the Celtic druids. Jones makes this connection by giving his Bard druidic features – a long white beard and hooded robe. The stone circle in the background, based on Stonehenge, emphasizes the antiquity of the druid.

#paintings #art #artwork #history painting #welsh culture #thomas jones #oil on canvas #fine art #romanticism #romantic movement #welsh artist #history #welsh history #landscape #national museum of wales #museum #art gallery #death #violence #1770s #late 1700s #late 1800s

[gawrkin]

(From Walter Map and the Matter of Britain by Joshu Byron Smith)

#welsh culture #walter map #welsh law #welsh history #gruffud ap llywelyn #cyfraith hywel

[bunnygirl-titties]

HELLO

I am learning welsh!

I would really really like to immerse myself in like music, tv, movies and stuff like that to help my brain understand the language and nuances of conversation!

So if anyone knows any welsh bands, welsh movies, or even welsh books that might be easy for a newbie to understand please let me know!

I appreciate the help and if there are any native speakers willing to lend a helping hand I would much appreciate that as well!

Ok to reblog

✨cismen•minors DNI✨

(Non colored text cuz this is important)

#dottie speaks #welsh #welsh language #learning welsh #welsh culture #please help me #learning languages #need help learning #language #languages #i love learning #lgbtqa #lgbt

[georgies-ftts]

my rant about americans and how they refuse to believe that british people are allowed to have culture for some reason cause i saw a tiktok and it did it’s job of pissing me tf off and i needed to rant.

getting real fuckin sick of just rude arse americans saying that the british have no culture (in a way that isn’t satire)

Britain consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

i genuinely fucking dare you to go up to someone who was born and raised literally anywhere in Northern Ireland and tell them they have no culture because you will be launched into next fuckin sunday

My mother is Scottish, her parents were both scottish, so we’re their parents and their parents and so on. You want to look my mother in the eyes and tell her she has no culture?

With her four different middle names all deriving from different branches of our family?

that the glengarry that hangs on my aunts wall, that my grandfather wore in the war has no significance to history of our country?

That different sports and songs, though only sports and songs, that carry great meaning, stories, myths, beliefs and history all mean nothing?

that the highest points of our country that stand away from the mainland that date back to at least 500bc are without culture?

that the welsh language, dishes, music, myths, saints, folklore and battles all what? just mean fuck all?

that the english, yes even the fucking english, do not have a culture of their own, one from hundreds of years ago with folk dancing and saints and traditional dresses and flowers and patterns aren’t cultured?

Kilts? Clans? Instruments? Folk songs? Traditional meals? Saints? Myths? Religions? Fucking Halloween?

Piss off genuinely it makes me so unbelievably fucking mad because you refuse to look past a time in history for a second. Not ignore it but just see anything else for a second and see what you’re missing out on, the pure beauty you refuse to acknowledge because you were tainted to believe we’re all a load of arseholes so please for the love of fuck either piss off and leave us alone or just look at the truly amazing history of four different countries and find some fuckin respect jesus h christ.

#scotland #ireland #northern ireland #wales #scottish highlands #england #english culture #scottish culture #northern irish culture #welsh culture #britain #british history #culture

[thebanishedreader]

A small village in Wales I visited recently ~<3

#nighttime aesthetic #countryside #cottagecore #wales #welsh culture #village #villagecore #farmland #small village #vacation #holiday #uk #united kingdom #welsh village #mountains #mountainside #overcast #blue #blue aesthetic

[cosmicdorito]

🐲 ADA DDRAIG BETA 🐲

Ada’s second append! DDRAIG intends to create a tense, solid sound that borders on a power append. The five base pitches are recorded with a tense and strong tone, and the highest pitch, D5, is closer to a falsetto. 

The Beta is up for download, unlike DAFFODIL’s!  I still have some things I want to edit/change, but for now I think it’s finished enough to be released for testing! 

🐲 Full Design below the cut! 🐲

Inspired by a few stories in Welsh folklore from the Mabinogion- particularly Lleu Llaw Gyffes. The cloth draped across them is patterned with a Welsh blanket cross-knot, and the sword mimics Excalibur. 

#utau #utauloid #utau append #utau ada #ada append #ada ddraig #utauloid append #utau cover #jitter doll #niki #wales #welsh culture

[sleepy-achilles]

I'm just saying

Of course it's in Wales.

We are stereotyped for our castles, dragon and sheep.

Which by the way, England statistically have more sheep than Wales. Fun lil fact for you.

#wales #welsh #welsh culture #is just dragons and castles btw #dont let anyone tell you anything else

[katiajewelbox]

Happy Saint David’s Day! 

#wales #welsh culture

[packanalpaccaparka]

Dydd gwyl Dewi hapus pawb!! Ydych chi’n gwisgo coch y bore ‘ma???

Mae siom gen i i ddweud nad ydw i’n hoff iawn o rhesins yn fy Pice ar y Maen cymaint â gweddill o fy nheulu 0.o

((Happy Saint David’s day everyone!! Are you wearing red this morning??

I’m ashamed to say i’m not as fond of raisins in my welsh cakes as the rest of my family 0.o))

#welsh #welsh language #welsh culture #st david’s day #dydd gwyl dewi #traditions

[simplytegwin]

“I slithered here from Eden just to sit outside your door”

- Lyrics by Hozier, the sketch of snake by myself, Tegwin Huws; the Germanic snake and the Irish snake, symbols of pre-Christian worlds and post-Christian evolution comes to a different story when in Wales, and it’s native culture. A snake, both in the form of a former Irish creature wiped away by the coming of European Catholicism, and the evolutions of Germanic cultures with wider Christianity, wrapping itself around a sword is the symbol of the Huws family; the snake begged the Huws’s to save them, and we said that we would, as long as they cut themselves to pieces on the weapon that would protect they and their worlds

#indigenous culture #indigenous art #welsh art #welsh culture #welsh paganism #paganism #pagan culture #pagan references #indigenous references #bibilical references #hozier #from eden #snakes #huws #sweden #monochrome #cymraeg #cymru #welsh language

[bookjotter6865]

DEWITHON ‘24: Llyfrbabble (Bookbabble) #2

A series of short posts highlighting recent cultural and bookish chatter from Wales This is the second post of D24 in which we look at literary and other cultural goings-on (Welsh speakers may prefer sgwrsio llenyddol Cymraeg) from the land of poetry and song. ****************************   Are You a Cwlture Vwlture?   For those of you with an ear for a tune and a liking for underground…

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#dewithon24 #CWLT #Dewithon #Horatio Clare #Jon Mlynarski #Reading Wales 2024 #Welsh Culture #Welsh Folktales #Welsh Legends #Welsh Myths

[vowcomic]

Fun Fact: Bara Brith is a dried fruit bread from Wales. A recipe can be found here: https://www.daringgourmet.com/bara-brith-recipe/

#The Vale of Wales #Chapter 13 #Page 20 #Lewys #Sal #Salamander Saleerandee #Wales #Bara Brith #Tea break #Welsh culture #Welsh folklore #Welsh mythology #VOW #saleerandees #fire elementals