在威爾士，有很多長期保存下來的風俗節日和美麗神秘的傳說。威爾士人秉承著傳統精神，一直以他們獨特的方式慶祝屬于威爾士民族的特別節日。
30 December / 1 January - Nos Galan / Dydd Calan
The Welsh names for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Hen Galan, the old New Year's Day before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar was introduced to Britain in 1752, is still celebrated in part of west Wales. In the pre-Christian era before the time of the Romans, New Year's Eve was one of Wales's fire festivals and was celebrated across the Celtic world. Celtic people believed that life was a continuous circle and that rebirth followed death. This is why evergreen planrs such as Holly and Mistletoe are still used today to decorate houses during this season and why the Mari Lwyd (the decorated skull of a horse) comes back to life on this night, and is paraded through some Welsh villages.
Another New Year's Day custom was that of calennig. In many Welsh villages, the boys would knock on people's doors singing rhymes, carrying three legged totems and sometimes splashing people with water. This was done to elicit a small gift of loose change from the people of the house.
25 January - Dydd Santes Dwynwen
Saint Dwynwen is the patron saint of Welsh lovers. 25 January is the Day of Saint Dwynwen when Welsh lovers send cards to each other. Dwynwen was the daughter of Brychan, king of Wales during the 5th century. She was known to be beautiful, religious and pure.A man called Maelon fell in love with her and wanted to marry her. Even though it's said that Dwynwen loved him, she rejected him because she wanted to become a nun. She took a magic potion, which saved her from his attentions, but turned him to ice. She knew Maelon loved her, so she prayed that he be restored to life. Dwynwen then became a nun and went to live on Llanddwyn Island.
1 March - St David's Day
This day in 589 AD is known as the traditional date of the death of St David, the patron saint of Wales. He was a Celtic monk, abbot and bishop who became the archbishop of Wales. He was one of many early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain. Dewi was born in south-west Wales. We know a little about his early life. He was educated in a monastery called Henfynyw, his teacher being St Paulinus, a blind monk. Dewi travelled on religious missions and established several churches.
A well-known story of Dewi's life is when he stood up to speak at a very large congregation at a place called Llanddewi Brefi. One of the crowd shouted, 'We won't be able to see or hear him'. Then, the ground he stood on rose up so he could be seen by everyone. He's known to have lived for over 100 years and was buried in the grounds of his own monastery, where the Cathedral of St. David now stands. Welsh people mark St David’s Day by wearing a daffodil or a leek on their clothes.
1 May - Calan Haf
In Wales, the first day of May is known as Calan Mai or Calan Haf, which means the first day of summer. The celebrations would start on the evening before on May Eve with bonfires.
21 June - G?yl Ifan
The tradition of also lighting Midsummer bonfires on G?yl Ifan, 21st June, to celebrate the shortest night of the year continued annually in south Wales until the middle of the 19th century.
31 October - Calan Gaeaf
Calan Gaeaf is the name for the first day of winter in Wales. Winter Eve is called Nos Calan Gaeaf or Ysbrydnos. It's the time of the year when spirits come to life. Families lit bonfires on Calan Gaeaf to stop spirits entering their house and chalk marking would be made around doors and fireplaces for the same purpose. Stones would be placed in the fire with the names of the family members on them. The superstition was that each person whose stone was missing the following morning would die within the year. There would also be tales of a spirit of a black sow with no tail which is called yr Hwch Ddu Gwta in Welsh. It was known that this black sow would be present in the area on Winter Eve with a headless woman.
24 / 25 December - Nadolig
One Welsh custom practiced around Christmas time (Nadolig) was the making of special toffee shapes, Taffy or Losin, was carried out on Christmas Eve. The method of cooking the toffee caused it to twist into curly, letter-like shapes. These toffee shapes were then used for the divination of future loves. Plygain, a church service sung by the men, would be carried out on in the dark hours of early Christmas morning. No doubt this was done after a fair amount of wassailing. A festive drink made of fruit, spices, sugar and warm beer, drunk from an ornate wassail bowl. Drinking from the wassail bowl entitled the drinker to make a wish for good luck.
Welsh Christmas Customs
Traditional Welsh Christmas and New Year celebrations have changed a great deal over the years. Although we continue to celebrate in style, many old Welsh traditions and customs have disappeared. Until the late 19th century, Christmas remained a relatively low key affair in Wales with the greatest celebrations being reserved for the New Year. On Christmas Day (25th December) itself, a 'plygain' carol service would be held between 3am-6am in the local church, and this custom continues in some parts of Wales (notably in Montgomeryshire and Merionethshire) to this day. The Plygain carols are very old and traditionally sung by men without musical accompaniment. The remainder of the day would be spent eating and drinking as well as taking part in a number of games and sports, including hunting.
26 December - Boxing Day
The day after Christmas, is so named because Christmas charity collection boxes in churches were opened and distributed to the poor. Boxing Day was also usually reserved for hunting and similar pastimes. These days, sporting fixtures are popular on Boxing Day, and number of places around the coast in Wales have organised swimming events on Boxing Day or New Year’s Day.
In parts of rural Wales, 'hunting the wren' ceremonies were particularly popular on Boxing Day and Twelfth Night. After catching the wren, its body would be placed in a small box decorated with ribbons and carried from house to house. Another similar custom associated with New Year (notably in Glamorgan) was the 'Mari Lwyd' (lit. 'Grey Mary'). A horse's skull would be decorated with ribbons and carried from door to door. A number of verses would be sung by the party, before the householder would respond and allow the 'Mari' to enter the house. This tradition continues on a small scale in some parts of Wales.
This custom of visiting houses was particularly important on New Year's Day (1st January). Children would awake early and go from house to house to collect 'calennig' - usually gifts of small change in return for singing a New Year greeting. On New Year’s Eve (31st December) and New Year’s Day, adults would also visit their neighbours when a wassail bowl, similar to a punch bowl, would be filled with sugar, fruit, spices and beer and passed around the party. The custom of wassailing was also carried out on Twelfth Night (the evening of 5 January), which marked the end of the Christmas and New Year festivities.
Most people in Wales are still careful to take down their Christmas decorations on or before this date. It should be noted, however, that old New Year or 'Hen Galan' is celebrated on 13 January in the Gwaun Valley, Pembrokeshire. This is due to the fact that the local population retained the date of the new year from the old 'Julian' calendar, while the rest of Britain moved over to the 'Gregorian' calendar in 1752!
(British Council)
