The Railway New Year's Eve Mari Lwyd Visit

Mari Lwyd: Llangynwyd
Of all the villages associated with the Mari Lwyd, it is Llangynwyd which has maintained its uncrowned role as the community closest to the heart of the tradition. The three Llangynwyd communities, Lower, Middle and Upper, lie in the Llynfi Valley just south of Maesteg in what used to be Mid Glamorgan and is now the County Borough of Bridgend, and to see the tradition today it is necessary to visit the Old House pub in the village of Upper Llangynwyd at about 2pm on New Year's Day. It is not true that the tradition was unbroken here, but the break was shorter than anywhere else... perhaps only a couple of years. In recent times the maintenance of the tradition has been in the capable hands of Cwmni Caerdydd, Cardiff's official dance team, who recreate the old tradition in dramatic and powerful style; they perform it not as a museum piece but as a living and evolving custom in which new verses are being continually created, often spontaneously.

Until his death in 1997, there was an important link with the past in the person of Cynwyd Evans, one of the original Mari Lwyd party. Cynwyd, who was well into his eighties, would hold the fort single-handed inside the Old House as the Mari tried to enter, his ability to remember and create new responses delighting everybody. When you visit the Old House, look at the pub sign outside; it is Cynwyd's image you see there, holding the Mari's reins.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Welsh
• Traditions
• and
• Folklore