Calan Gaeaf

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Calan Gaeaf is the name of the first day of winter in Wales, observed on 1 November.^[1] The night before is Nos Galan Gaeaf^[1] or Noson Galan Gaeaf, an Ysbrydnos ("spirit night"^[2][3]) when spirits are abroad. Traditionally, people avoid churchyards, stiles, and crossroads, since spirits are thought to gather there.

Practice[]

Villagers would dance around a bonfire and everyone would write their names on, or otherwise mark, rocks and place them in and around said fire. When the fire started to die out,^[4] they would all run home, believing if they stayed, Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta (a bad omen that took the form of a tailless black sow with a headless woman) or Y Ladi Wen ("the white lady", a ghostly apparition often said to be headless) would chase them or devour their souls.^[5][6]

One particular rhyme shows how the last child out on Nos Calan Gaeaf was at risk of being eaten by the fearsome beast:

^[4]

The following morning, all the stones containing villagers' names would be checked, and finding one's stone burned clean was believed to be good luck. If, however, a stone was missing, the person who wrote their name on the absent stone would be believed to die within one year.^[4]

Terms[]

• Coelcerth: Families build a fire and place stones with their names on it. The person whose stone is missing the next morning would die within the year
• Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta: A fearsome spirit in the form of a tail-less black sow who roamed the countryside with a headless woman.
• Twco Fala: Apple bobbing

See also[]

• Samhain
• Halloween
• Day of the Dead
• Allantide

Bibliography[]

• Davies, John; Jenkins, Nigel (2008). The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.
• Jones, T. Gwynn (2020). Welsh Folklore and Folk Custom. Cockatrice Books. ISBN 978-1-9123-6815-0.

Notes[]