Halloween approaches and as I look back through my blogs and see the Wild Hunt might very well be out on the night or Odin riding across the sky on Sleipnir his eight legged horse, I gather the stories on this damp dull day. We have up to now escaped the wretched flooding that Cumbria is experiencing, we must be sitting on the edge of the persistent rain but there has been only one alert.
Well what about dancing - Celtica and steampunk.
2012
This tale I find funny; In the Vale of Glamorganshire, spirits roamed the churchyards at night, and the bravest villager would don his coat and vest inside out, reciting the Lord's Prayer backwards as he walked around the church a number of times. Then he would walk up to the church porch and place his finger in the keyhole to prevent spirits from escaping! It was also believed that apparitions of those about to die could also be seen through the keyhole.
And the tale of trick or treating? Well in other parts of Wales, youths would dress up in girls' clothes and vice-versa and groups of young people would wander from house to house in the dark chanting verses and soliciting gifts of fruit and nuts..In other areas men would dress up in sheepskins and blacked their faces and were given gifts of nuts, apple and beer. These groups were known as the
gwrachod (hags, or witches) and were meant to bring good tidings and expel bad spirits from the household.
And as the celtic 'old year' disappears, on this last night it was a tradition for a local Ladi Wen (ghost of the white lady) too appear, but then in North Wales it was more often the terrible Hwch Ddu Gwta (tailess black sow - another celtic tradition). Bonfires were lit on hillsides, apples and potatoes were roasted and the watchers would dance and leap through the flames for good luck in the forthcoming year. Stones were thrown into the fire, and as the flames died down, everyone would rush home to escape the clutches of the great black pig. If you found your stone in the morning in the fire then luck would follow, if not misfortune would follow...
Tales told from T.D.Breverton - The Book of Welsh Saints.
What T.D.Breverton describes is like any old Saturday night in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant ;) does it actually say anything though?
DeleteIt translates as: 'St Mary's Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel Near to the Rapid Whirlpool of Llantysilio of the Red Cave'
DeleteThank you Jennie only you could have found that;)
DeleteDo kids in costumes go trick or treating there for Halloween? I have my sacks of candy ready to hand out to the neighborhood children that will ring my doorbell and yell, "trick or treat"!
ReplyDeleteWell I suppose some do go from door to door but not many, there will be events though in the town.
DeleteThankfully we in the middle and east of the country do seem this time to have escaped the very worst of the weather. Spare a thought for those in the West busy mopping up.
ReplyDeleteWe have had very sharp showers this afternoon Pat, but in the Lake District it had grown to full force in the streams running down to the lakes and flooding of course.
DeleteWe will hunker down here I think! Glad we didn't buy the house with the freezing cold blocked-up Medieval doorway in Talgarth. That would NOT have been a good place to be when the veil is thin.
ReplyDeleteFascinating facts, thank you.
I remember the attic steps in the old house you lived in, wasn't there a story there?
DeleteWhat fun it is to read all the different Halloween tales on different blogs. I feel very ignorant. It is the first time that I've heard of Odin and Sleipnir.
ReplyDeleteScandinavian tales are part of our history Debby. I see York on your blog, this town was the centre for Danish rule up here in the North. They did not last long but there is evidence of their own pagan religion on burial coffins and stones.
DeleteWe don't have beggars any more. The children go to events in the village.
ReplyDeleteIt is probably better that children do not knock on doors. Next thing is November 5th, Guy Fawkes Night. When he is ceremoniously burnt on the bonfire, or a similar effigy. Probably Johnson this year!
DeleteWhat a great video! Why the Old West, is not clear to me, but a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteIt is set in alternative histories, so the Wild West is used. I just like the whole silliness of it, especially the funny glasses, wouldn't mind a pair.
ReplyDelete