Nos Galan Gaeaf: The Welsh Halloween

Subject: Nos Galan Gaeaf: The Welsh Halloween
From: Mick Tems
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 07:27 AM

On Tuesday, I cooked a stwmp naw rhiw to ward off the spirits. Tonight is Nos Galan Gaeaf (the eve at the start of winter) and there is plenty more stwmp naw rhiw to be going on with!

Here is the recipe for stwmp naw rhiw, translated from Welsh as "the mash of nine sorts": Potatoes, carrots, turnips, parsnips, peas, leeks, pepper, salt, milk. Boil the ingredients (except the milk), drain, and mash (using the milk). The stwmp naw rhiw is exceptionally tasty, and the spirits will not trouble you.

The old celtic year drew to a close, and Nos Galan Gaeaf marked the end of Summer and the beginning of Winter. Nos Galan Gaeaf was, according Trefor Owen, curator of what is now called The Welsh National History Museum at St Fagans, Cardiff: "The weirdest night of the three nights during the year." There were many folk customs which were marked in Wales, including this rhyme from Tenby, Pembrokeshire. Owen says: "Another potent place on this eve was any cross-roads where spirits were supposed to linger... the custom of "sowing hemp" was carried out at midnight by the women. Having raised a little of the ground, the women would chant:

Hemp see I sow, hemp seed I'll mow;
Whoever my true love is to be
Come rake this hemp seed after me."

"The shape of the person would appear and rake the hemp seed."

Subject: RE: Nos Galan Gaeaf: The Welsh Halloween
From: Scooby Doo
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 07:56 AM

Was it Ollie?.


Scooby.

Subject: RE: Nos Galan Gaeaf: The Welsh Halloween
From: sian, west wales
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 09:30 AM

You still hear of people in west Wales renovating old houses and finding small bottles of beads buried under doorsteps to confound witches, or upturned sythe blades in chimneys to keep them from entering the house that way.

One gentleman I know found a horse's skull (with ribbons) under the main room's floor boards. Don't know if it was a Mari Lwyd which got 'retired' or something else. I think we can rule out a natural death.

sian

Subject: RE: Nos Galan Gaeaf: The Welsh Halloween
From: Mick Tems
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 10:39 AM

Not just West Wales, but in urban areas too. Barry Evans, the main informant for the Llwynypia Mummers' Play, deep in the heart of Rhondda, used to say how Llwynypia people used to welcome the mummers, who were all children. They used to open the windows, believing that the mummers would drive the spirits out.

Subject: RE: Nos Galan Gaeaf: The Welsh Halloween
From: Mick Tems
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 11:04 AM

The thought never crossed my mind, Scooby! That sort of thing would never happen nowadays... or does it?

Subject: RE: Nos Galan Gaeaf: The Welsh Halloween
From: The Sandman
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 01:46 PM

glad to hear your doing some cooking.How about a halloween recipe book, Dr Price,you could become the Delia Smith of the folk scene.
Dick Miles

Subject: RE: Nos Galan Gaeaf: The Welsh Halloween
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 06:12 PM

I celebrated with Rumbledethump and sloe gin today.

Rumbledethumps is Scottish - neeps, tatties and cabbage, all cooked together with cheese on top. Yummy.

Happy Samhain all, Blessed Be.

LTS

Subject: RE: Nos Galan Gaeaf: The Welsh Halloween
From: Mick Tems
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 04:44 AM

Nos Galan Gaeaf, or the American hijacking event "trick or treat", passed remarkably quietly last night. I was visited twice, once by a timid six-year-old (watched by his mother) and once by six polite schoolchildren. It's a quiet, friendly estate. We held our folk club in Pontyclun, which was totally different, with the police out in force keeping tabs on the kids, who out in force as well...

Subject: RE: Nos Galan Gaeaf: The Welsh Halloween
From: Anne Lister
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 05:07 AM

We had fewer children round here, too - mind you, as Steve had dressed up again as an Ogron maybe they were frightened off? We had two little ones clinging to a parent with tears, so had to offer double sweet rations as compensation....
He even terrified the cat.

Anne

Subject: RE: Nos Galan Gaeaf: The Welsh Halloween
From: sian, west wales
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 05:49 AM

I never get anyone where I live, as I'm down a 'pasej' - as we say in town - and even people who have been here before sometimes can't find the door.

Nevertheless, the Jehova's Witnesses found me. How do they DO that?

sian