Stars and Ribbons

Rhiannon Ifans

Description

Wassail songs are part of Welsh folk culture, but what exactly are they? When are they sung? Why? And where do stars and pretty ribbons fit in? This study addresses these questions, identifying and discussing the various forms of winter wassailing found in Wales in times past and present. It focuses specifically on the Welsh poetry written over the centuries at the celebration of several rituals – most particularly at Christmas, the turn of the year, and on Twelfth Night – which served a distinct purpose. The winter wassailing aspired to improve the quality of the earth’s fertility in three specific spheres: the productivity of the land, the animal kingdom, and the human race. This volume provides a rich collection of Welsh songs in their original language, translated into English for the first time, and with musical notation. It also provides a comprehensive analysis of these poems and of the society in which they were sung.

Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
An Introduction to Winter Wassailing in Wales
Christmas Wassailing
Wassailing at the New Year
Hunting the Wren
Stars and Ribbons: the Mari Lwyd ritual
Gŵyl Fair y Canhwyllau (Candlemas)
Illustrations
Tunes
Beth sy mor feinion
Calennig (1)
Calennig (2)
Cân Hela’r Dryw
Cân y Dryw
Cân y Fari Lwyd
Cerdd Dydd Calan
Consêt Prince Rupert or Prince Rupert’s Conceit
The Cutty Wren
Cyfri’r Geifr (1)
Cyfri’r Geifr (2)
Y cyntaf dydd o’r Gwyliau or The first day of Christmas
Deffrwch! Benteulu
Dibyn a Dobyn
Y Fedle Fawr
Ffarwel Gwŷr Aberffraw
Hyd yma bu’n cerdded
Joan’s Placket
Leave Land or Gadael Tir
May Day
Y Mochyn Du
Peg O’Ramsey
Pilgrim
Sosban Fach
Susannah
Tri Thrawiad Gwynedd
Y Washael (Wel, dyma enw’r feinwen)
Ymdaith Gwŷr Harlech or The March of the Men of Harlech
Winter Wassailing Songs and Poems 1–49
Bibliography
Verse forms
Index to first lines
Index to poets
Index to tunes
General Index

Sujets

• Musique
• Histoire de la musique
• Histoire
• Modern history
• Great Britain
• History
• Wales
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 février 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786838261
• Langue: English

Extrait

Stars and Ribbons
Stars and Ribbons

Winter Wassailing in Wales
RHIANNON IFANS
© Rhiannon Ifans, 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, University Registry, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library CIP Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78683-824-7
eISBN 978-1-78683-826-1
The right of Rhiannon Ifans to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published with the financial support of Cymdeithas Alawon Gwerin Cymru/Welsh Folk-Song Society.
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Acknowledgements
I TOOK AN INTEREST in Welsh wassail songs for the first time during my years as a teenager in Anglesey. Later, I embarked on a PhD thesis on this subject at Aberystwyth University under the supervision of the late Dr John Rowlands, for whose friendship and guidance I am deeply grateful. I also wish to thank D. Roy Saer, who was an Assistant Keeper at St Fagans National Museum of History (St Fagans Museum of Folk Life, as it was then known) for acting as Joint Supervisor. I am deeply indebted to Roy for his friendship over many decades, and for sharing with me much relevant material that he had collected on his travels around Wales, including the tune ‘Deffrwch! Benteulu’ published here.
I am grateful too for the assistance of the following family members and friends while I was preparing this volume: Dafydd Ifans for his help in procuring images, and in particular for compiling the General Index; Dr Rhidian Griffiths for many valued comments and for assistance regarding the music; Ric Lloyd of Cleftec for the preparation of the music for publication; Olwen Fowler for a magnificent cover design, yet again; and Dr Allan James, Professor Christine James and Professor E. Wyn James for important suggestions and advice. I am also deeply indebted to the following: the staff of the National Library of Wales; the staff of St Fagans National Museum of History (Cardiff); the staff of Ceredigion Library (Aberystwyth); Teresa Davies, North East Wales Archives (Hawarden); Andrew Hawke, Managing Editor of Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru , the University of Wales Dictionary of the Welsh Language; Elen Wyn Simpson, Archives and Special Collections Manager, Bangor University; Simon Golding (Treorchy Library) and Hywel W. Matthews (Aberdare Library), Reference and Local History Librarians, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Library Services. Thanks too to Bill Bradshaw, Isobel Brown, Anna Burnside (Bonhams) and Charles Goring. I am very grateful to the staff of the University of Wales Press for their unstinting support throughout the publishing process. I am particularly indebted to the Welsh Folk-Song Society for their generous financial assistance in the production of this book.
I dedicate this book to my mother and to the cherished memory of my late father.
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of illustrations
List of abbreviations
An Introduction to Winter Wassailing in Wales
Christmas Wassailing
Wassailing at the New Year
Hunting the Wren
Stars and Ribbons: The Mari Lwyd Ritual
Gŵyl Fair y Canhwyllau (Candlemas)
Picture Section
Tunes
Beth sy mor feinion?
Calennig (1)
Calennig (2)
Cân Hela’r Dryw
Cân y Dryw
Cân y Fari Lwyd
Cerdd Dydd Calan
Consêt Prince Rupert or Prince Rupert’s Conceit
The Cutty Wren
Cyfri’r Geifr (1)
Cyfri’r Geifr (2)
Y cyntaf dydd o’r Gwyliau or The first day of Christmas
Deffrwch! Benteulu
Dibyn a Dobyn
Y Fedle Fawr
Ffarwel Gwŷr Aberffraw
Hyd yma bu’n cerdded
Joan’s Placket
Leave Land or Gadael Tir
May Day
Y Mochyn Du
Peg O’Ramsey
Pilgrim
Sosban Fach
Susannah
Tri Thrawiad Gwynedd
Y Washael (Wel, dyma enw’r feinwen)
Ymdaith Gwŷr Harlech or The March of the Men of Harlech
Winter Wassailing Songs and Poems
Christmas Wassail Songs
New Year Wassail Songs
Wren Hunt Wassail Songs
Mari Lwyd Wassail Songs
Gŵyl Fair Wassail Songs
Appendix: Verse Forms
Bibliography
List of illustrations
Figure 1: Wassailing the apple trees at the Gaymers wassail in Stewley Orchard, central Somerset, 2010/2011: the new wassail queen drinks a draught of cider; a piece of toast dipped in cider hangs in the tree in the background; image © Bill Bradshaw.
Figure 2: A rare Ewenny wassail bowl and cover, dated 1832–3; image courtesy of Bonhams.
Figure 3: Ewenny wassail bowl cover, dated 1832; image courtesy of Bonhams.
Figure 4: Ewenny wassail bowl inscribed ‘William James Tonyrevil January 12 th 1832’; image courtesy of Bonhams.
Figure 5: Two boys holding a rhodd galennig , Llangynwyd c .1905; image © National Museum of Wales.
Figure 6: Children singing and collecting Calennig (New Year’s gifts) in Cwm Gwaun, January 1961; pictured (left to right) are Rita Davies, Ionwy Thomas, Ifor Davies (almost out of sight), Sally Vaughan, Menna James, Eirian Vaughan (Sally’s sister), John Morris, and Gwyn Davies (Ifor’s brother). The photograph was taken by Geoff Charles (1909–2002) for the Welsh-language newspaper Y Cymro outside Tŷ Bach, Cwm Gwaun, where Ionwy Thome’s (née Thomas) grandfather lived; image © National Library of Wales.
Figure 7: The Bidder’s visit; image © National Library of Wales.
Figure 8: Two examples of ‘Halsing y Dryw’ (The wren carol) from ‘Melus geingciau Deheubarth Cymru’, f. 27 v ; image © National Library of Wales.
Figure 9: Wren-house, Marloes, Pembrokeshire; image © National Museum of Wales.
Figure 10: Mari Lwyd and Sianco’r Castell, Llangynwyd; image © National Museum of Wales.
Figure 11: Mari Lwyd, Llangynwyd, c .1910–14; image © National Library of Wales.
Figure 12: Sharper, the Swansea Mari Lwyd; image courtesy of Isobel Brown.
Figure 13: A cut by J. Blight (possibly J. Slight) from a drawing by Talbot Bury of a cup owned by the antiquary Angharad Llwyd; image Archaeologia Cambrensis (1872).
List of abbreviations
Bangor Arch. Selden Manuscript held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
AWC Amgueddfa Werin Cymru/St Fagans National Museum of History (Cardiff).
Bangor Manuscript held in Archives and Special Collections, Bangor University, Bangor.
BL Add Additional manuscript, held at the British Library, London.
Bodley Welsh Manuscript held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Cardiff The Cardiff Central Library Manuscripts, Cardiff.
Cwrtmawr The Cwrtmawr Manuscripts collection, held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Jesus Jesus College MSS held in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Llanstephan The Llanstephan Manuscripts collection, held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Mostyn The Mostyn Manuscripts collection, held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
NLW The National Library of Wales Manuscripts collection, held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Peniarth The Peniarth Manuscripts collection, held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
J. Lloyd Williams Papers Dr J. Lloyd Williams Music MSS and Papers, held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
An Introduction to Winter Wassailing in Wales
W ASSAIL SONGS are part of Welsh folk culture, but what exactly are they? When are they sung? Why? Where do stars and pretty ribbons fit in? This study addresses these questions, identifying and discussing the various forms of winter wassailing found in Wales in times past and present. It focuses specifically on the Welsh poetry written over the centuries at the celebration of several rituals held most particularly at Christmas, the turn of the year and Twelfth Night. This poetry served a distinct purpose, aspiring to improve the quality of the earth’s fertility in three particular spheres: the productivity of the land, the animal kingdom and the human race.
The Welsh gwasael is a cognate of the English word wassail , from the Anglo-Saxon greeting Wæs þu hæl , meaning ‘be thou hale’ or in good health. In his Historia Regum Britanniae , an account of the history of the kings of Britain written between 1135 and 1139 (much of it fictional), Geoffrey of Monmouth ( c. 1100– c .1154) describes how Rhonwen (Rowena) the daughter of Hengist knelt before the king, Gwrtheyrn (Vortigern) and presented him with a cup of wine saying ‘Lauerd king wæs hæil’, the Middle English greeting from the Old Norse ves heill . 1 Gwrtheyrn responded with the words ‘Drinc hæl’ meaning ‘drink and be healthy’. Geoffrey’s Latin text was translated into Welsh as ‘Brut y Brenhinedd’ (History of the Kings):
A gwedy daruot udunt vwyta o vrenhinawl anregyon. nachaf y uorwyn yndyuot or ystauell a gorulwch eur yny llaw yn llawn owin. Ac yndyuot hyt rac bron y brenhin. A gwedy adoli idaw ar dal y deulin adywedut wrthaw val hyn Lofyrt kig wassail. A phan welas y brenhin pryt y uorwyn. Anryfedu aoruc yn uawr ythecket. ac yny lle ymlenwi oe charyat. Agofyn yr ieithyd beth a ddywedassei y vorwyn. A phy beth adylyei ynteu y dywedut yn atteb idi hitheu. Ac yna y dywawt yieithyd wrthaw. Arglwyd heb ef hi athelwis di yn arglwyd ac yn urenhin yny ieith hi. Ac uelly ythanrydedwys. Yr hyn adyly ditheu y wrtheb idi yw hyn. Sef yw hynny drinc heil. Ac yna y dywawt gwrtheyrn wrthi drinc heil. Ac erchi yr uorwyn yfet y gwin. Ac yr hyny hyt hediw ymae y deuot honno wedy hynny ymplith y kyfedachwyr ynynys pry