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Traditions in south wales   The following series by Angahard Spooner of traditions in South wales through the year.   the following work is provided  for personal study and research, and may not be reproduced in full or in part in any format without written consent of the author   April Traditions in Wales On this day in South Wales, even as late as the end of the 19th century Beltane fires were lit, and the combustibles had to be collected and gathered up by a person with no metal on their person. Before the materials to be burned were piled up a large circle was cut from the turf and sticks arranged as the fires base were set clockwise. Sometimes two fires were built side by side leaving a wide gap for people and animals to pass between. The fire or fires needed to have nine different types of wood, and you ere not allowed to use metal tools to collect it. The fires should also be sparked by the rubbing together of to oak sticks only. Welsh oat cakes were made for the occasion, from two types of four. They were put in to a bag and chosen randomly by each person. The people who drew the brown oat cake who jump over the fire three times or run clockwise around the fires three times. This custom was traditionally used for purification and fertility. In some parts of Wales on this day you may find Rhodri Penglog (skull giving). Something like the Mari Lwyd but a little more sinister. Young men would hang the skull of a dead horse to the door of a girl they disliked in the village, they would write the name of the girl on it. It is done on the 30th of April in many parts of Wales but was usually done in the South such as Glamorgan on the Twelth Night of Christmas. On this day a jilted man may place a straw effigy under the window of his former girlfriend the dispute would be resolved on May Day by the current boyfriend and jilted boyfriend fighting in the village square. It is also traditional to go May-ing on this day. You should take tree branches Rowan, Birch or Hawthorne, but never unlucky Blackthorn  door to door and through the house/houses visited and brushed along the window. Leaving it once finished outside on your own windowsill. It is very unlucky on this day to take thorned plants in to your house and flowers should be strewn on your garden path to welcome in the new season of growth. Rogationtide Pagan spring fertility rites and Roman blessing of crops This is the 5th Sunday after Easter (April 27th 2008) Local Church officials should visit local crop farmers on this day  to bless his crops Ascension day 40th day after Easter (May 1st 2008) Ascension Day is the Roman Festival honouring streams and fountains. Wells were re dedicated to saints in Wales on this day and a fear of mishaps and accidents also. You should never wash clothes on this day as it is feared a person would die as the clothes dried. Miners would refuse to work and no work was done in the fields or garden through fear of miss haps May Traditions in Wales May the 1st  was recognised in South Wales as the first day or summer and today would be the day in South Wales that tenancies on home and work contracts would expire. You usually find hiring fairs in South Wales today, where farmers would hire farm hands on a yearly or six monthly basis. It was the custom in many South Wales Villages for the coal miners to get up slightly earlier and go through the village singing locally written May Carols or their favourite mining songs. There are very different South to North traditions regarding the May Pole and in the South the pole would almost always be Birch. The pole would be painted different colours, and covered with flowers and greenery before the pole dancers tied on their ribbons and the pole was erected. After the may pole dancing a less formal dancing around the pole was done by couple wishing to conceive children. There would have been lots or Dawnsio Gwerin (Welsh Morris Dancing) today and of course the Mari Lwyd would be there as well as Pwnsh as Siwan (similar to Punch and Judy) and also a village fool know as “Old Cadi”. A man would be selected before hand to play the fool and would wear a mixture of male and female clothing, his face was either painted or he wore a mask. He would carry a branch, cut off the may pole which would be decorated with silver and pewter objects, this, dating back to a pagan tradition of sun worship, he would also carry a flag and collection ladle collection offerings of food, drink or money, from the village people as he lead the procession of the May Pole and Mari Lwyd. The fool was also responsible for closing the days activities and a feast thrown paid for by the fools collection of money and donations of food and drink to him. May the 22nd it was tradition today to walk the boundary of the village, where the were boundary stones or boundary markers such as farms. On these walks children were asked to name the boundary markers and if the child failed to remember they would be playfully beat (taps on bottoms and tickled) this resulted in a tradition know as beating the bounds which was popular in many place until roughly the 1950s Whitsuntide Customs Whit Saturday, was the last day to make sure family graves where scrubbed and fresh flowers placed upon them for Whit Sunday.   On Whit Sunday  an open air Church or Chapel service was very common in South Wales, people would take Whit walks, on these walks they were sure to wear only white.  It was very unlucky for a child to be born on this day, believed that the child would soon die. It was customary to put the child through a mock burial some days later, believing this was a resurrection for the child and therefore saving it from a premature death. These was a very strange tradition for women on this day. Women would hold their arms behind their backs and try to catch a lamb between their knees and holding it with their teeth. Any woman that succeeded was named Lamb Queen and was toasted with beer called Cwrw Oen (Lamb Beer). Dawsion Gwerin (Morris Dancing) was also done today with dancers wearing white and having bells tied to their knees and their faces blackened. Whit Monday Through out the village greens today, there would be lots of dance, games, sports picnics taking place. Trinity Sunday You should light three candles in your window today representing , the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. In parts of South Wales today, farmers would sell calves or lambs born with a certain natural marking on the ear. They were taken to a church as sacred animals and sold, they money would then either go to church repairs or to the poor of the village Corpus Christi Corpus Christi fairs were held and Corpus Christi Hymns sung  June Traditions in Wales As June is the lightest month of the year, with hay making beginning and Midsummer’s later in the month, all signals were firmly pointing to the turning of the agricultural season. Fruit pickers were out in force and on the coast cockles were picked early morning and the herring fisherman setting sale until October. Sheep-shearers would be enjoying Shearing Cake and if they were very lucky and lived not to far from the coat your lunch meal would be leeks, bacon, cockles and laver bread. 4th of June - was St Petroc’s Day. Petroc was the younger son of a 6th Century King of Glamorgan. He was educated in Ireland and Pilgrimed through, Cornwall and Devon, through Brittany to Rome and on the way home through India. He founded churches and Monasteries in Devon and the flag of Devon is dedicated to him. He is always pictured with a Stag as it is told he had a way with animals and even tamed wolves in India 17th of June - was St Nectan’s Day. Nectan was the eldest of the 24 children of King Brychan. He became a monk in his early life and he and many of his relatives moved to Devon. He lived for sometime as a hermit and is associated with St Nectans Glen and waterfall or Kieve at Trethevy near Tintagel Cornwall. He was living in solitude in a remote valley , when he one day helped a swine herder catch some of his loose pigs and was given in return by the farmer two cows. Soon after Nectans cows were stolen and after Nectan found them he tried to convert the thieves to the Christian faith, and in return was decapitated by the robbers. Folklore tells that as his blood spilled foxgloves sprang in to bloom. 21st of June - Saint Brannocks day. Brannock lived in the 6th century and moved from his birth place in South Wales to Braunton where he founded Churches. 23rd of June - Midsummer Eve. The summer birch was erected this evening, a tradition lasting longest in Glamorgan. The pole would be trimmed and smoothed so that it could be decorated with painted pictures then covered with garlends and wreaths, there was usually a gilded weather cock placed on top, ribbons were tied to it by the girls of the village. It was very well guarded by the strong young men of the village to stop neighbouring villages from stealing it. The tradition of decorating the birch varied and in some places it was not decorated at all. This evening bonfires were lit and there would be divinations for future loves, particularly popular with young ladies. This tradition was more important in Glamorgan than the Maypole. 24th of June - Midsummer Day. The summer birch custom was held where dancers would dance around the summer birch. Midsummer’s pudding was ate, and the milk to make it was collected by going door to door as it should not be your own milk. 27th of June - St Cenydd’s day.  Cenydd was born of incest in Loughor Swansea and was the son of King Dihoc of Domnonee, who is associated with King Arthur. He was born an unwanted cripple and was placed in a basket made of willow and cast in to the Lougher estuary. The basket landed on Ynys Weryn (Worms Head Island) tip of the Gower Peninsula. He was found and educated as a Christian. He became hermit and his only friend was an untrustworthy servant. St David offered to cure his disability but he refused.    ©2008 & 2009  the Tonyrefail History & Folklore Society  created by Steve Kiff -  www.tonyrefail.org