Illustration by Aidan Saunders
By Aidan Saunders. Edited by Geoff Coupland.
I was first introduced to the Mari Lwyd by artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins who recounted to me a tale of welsh life in the early 20th Century. His father told him, that when he was a boy in Newport, he would look outside his window, into the dark winters night, and espy sparks flashing from the ground as hobnailed boot-steps struck the flinted path as they approached his family home…. He remembered moments of fearful anticipation … of ... of who knows what? … and then SUDDENLY a horse skull pokes through the window ! … TERROR!
This was the Mari Lwyd (Grey Mare/Mary) a wassailing tradition from South Wales. To prepare for it, a sort of hobby horse is made. Tall enough to cover the whole of the body of the person carrying it, the lower portion, forming a body and tall neck, is fashioned from a ghostly white sheet. The head atop that body is usually a de-fleshed horse skull, but sometimes the facsimile of a horse skull is fashioned from straw and rags. It is ornamented with bright ribbons and bells. Between Christmas Day and New Years Eve, the Mari Lwyd ventures out into the darkened streets. It is accompanied by a group of men in motley and bizarre garb. This gang has a leader who is in his Sunday best, carrying a whip to keep the Mari Lwyd in check, as they go door to door singing songs and exchanging rhyming insults with homeowners who are try to repel the Mari Lwyd with their own songs and verses. This verbal conflict is called Pwnco and carries on until one of the mouthy combatants yield, if the Mari Lwyd wins this battle of wits, it is invited to eat cake and ale or is paid to leave. Journalist Mark Rees in his book ‘The A-Z of Curious Wales: Strange Stories Mysteries, Crimes and Eccentricities’ says
that on entry the Mari Lwyd would cause mischief in the house, chasing the girls and scaring the children, while the leader would try his best-or atleast pretend- to keep it under control until they received food and drink
The tradition can be traced back to 1800 and is thought to have Celtic roots as the horse was a symbol of fertility, virility and battle prowess as well as being an animal with the supposed ability to travel to the Otherworld (especially white or grey ones), Gandalf’s horse Shadowfax* comes to mind. Comparative leaps have also been made comparing the tradition of Pwnco with the veneration given by the Celts to intelligence and quick wittedness. Unfortunately there is no direct evidence which directly links the Mari Lwyd to pre-Christian Britain, but that doesn’t take away from this weird and wonderful tradition which has waned yet been kept alive in small communities in South Wales such as Llangynwyd and St.Fagans National Museum of History.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru Traditional black and white film of men in the village of Llangynwyd carrying out the tradition of the Mari Lwyd, BBC Wales program, Lolfa, 1966.
For more Mari Lwyd please check out the work of Clive Hicks Jenkins at :
and there is a podcast by Mark Rees which you can access through :
*Other notable horses and horse deities from Myth are :
Celtic Horse deity Epona/Rhiannon/Rigatona
Odin’s 8 legged horse Sleipnir
The winged horse Pegasus
The Unicorn
The Lone Rangers faithful steed Silver
**also available are evil horses such as Gytrash and the Kelpie who aren’t White or Grey but Black (apparently).