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With December just around the corner...

#cymru #mari lwyd #grey mare #wales #christmas #rap battles with an undead horse #nadolig llawen

#Mari Lwyd #Grey Mare #poetry battles with horse skulls #Nadolig Llawen

Gibson and the Apocalypse: Mare-y Christmas!

So the Welsh have an absolutely amazing midwinter tradition involving a horse skull named Mari Lwyd, or Grey Mare. The skull is usually adorned with Christmas baubles, ribbons, winter greenery, and a long white sheet, and typically appears around Christmas and New Years to join in on the festivities– specifically, she travels around to people’s houses with a group of handlers who request entry and refreshments at each house by means of a back-and-forth carol battle with the homeowners.

I love the Mari Lwyd for several reasons: first reason being that despite her somewhat unnerving ghostly appearance, she seems to be a mostly benevolent spirit and will bless your house with good fortune and prosperity for the following year in exchange for letting her in and sharing your beer.

The second reason is that...I know what a horse skull looks like. I was in 4-H for years, I studied so many diagrams of it. My riding instructor had a full-size model of one just chilling on her desk. This alone would be a completely normal sight to me. But suddenly, for some reason, when you bedeck one with ribbons and give it Christmas baubles for eyes, it.....becomes utterly terrifying??? And somehow this became a festive Welsh tradition?? I love it intensely.

Merry Christmas and Wæs hæil!

#mari lwyd #grey mare #horse #christmas #merry christmas #x-mas #xmas #holidays #winter #new stuff #ink #black n white #lineart #doodle #sketch #traditional art #artists on tumblr

People are often familiar these days with the Mari Lwyd (Y Fari Lwyd in modern Welsh, roughly translating as 'Grey Mare'), but this is actually only one of a number of traditions involving rural towns across Britain being harassed by a singing animal skull. Other creatures in this group include The Broad of the Cotswolds, the Hooden Horse of Kent, Old Tup of the East Midlands, Old Ball of Lancashire and, to a lesser level of relevance, Láir Bhán of County Kerry (a region of Ireland in this case and included solely for additional context). All of these traditions, despite being found in various different regions, all derive from the same event where a collection of genuine skeletal animals escaped captivity from the Other Realms and began to pester humans for food. All the escaped entities were later captured by the fae authorities, or Faethorities, and returned to their homes. It is believed that all cases of skeletal horses singing at people since then have been imposters; if a genuine skeletal creature is sighted hassling people in their homes then it is recommended to inform the Faethorities via the nearest stone circle or mushroom ring so they can come and collect them. If an imposter creature is sighted, and the humans behind the deception are being particularly obnoxious about it, it's recommended to call the Faethorities anyway. They promise to return the perpetrators by the next lunar cycle, after having taught them a valuable lesson.

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