Welcome

Gathering the Jewels features over 30,000 images of objects, books, letters, aerial photographs and other items from museums, archives and libraries throughout Wales.

Search the map

Thumbnail image of Wales,

New to Gathering the Jewels is G.I.S. A geographical search facility that will enable searching by location and place name.

Topics

Home » Sport and Leisure » Processions and public events » New year celebrations

Displaying results 1 to 2 out of 2

Page 1

  • Wren house, a replica made by Richard Cobb, sexton of Marloes church, Pembrokeshire, in 1869 of a house which he had made sixty years earlier. It was donated to the Museum by T. H. Thomas (Arlunydd Penygarn) in 1898. The wren house was used during Twelfth Night celebrations in many parts of rural Wales. This custom involved placing the body of a dead wren in the decorated box which served as its bier, and rested on 4 poles. The box was then carried by four men, all pretending to groan under a huge weight, as they called at all the houses in the village. Verses were sung in the form of question and answer, ending with an invitation into the house for refreshment. Length 35 cm, height 23 cm.
Wren house used during Twelfth Night celebrations
  • Mari Lwyd (?Grey Mare / ?Holy Mary) was the name most generally applied in Wales to the horse-figure formerly carried from door to door by wassail-singing groups during the Christmas season. This figure (which is, of course, represented in other countries) seems to have been once known all over southern Wales but by the twentieth century relatively little was seen of it outside Glamorgan, where it is not yet completely extinct. This coloured drawing of the 'Fari Lwyd' was made in 1932 by Thomas Davies of Pentyrch and shows the 'Mari Lwyd' which was used by his family since 1897. The horse's skull was draped with white cloth and decorated with rosettes and coloured ribbons, with eyes of bottle glass. The original is on display in the main gallery at the Museum of Welsh Life.
Coloured drawing of the 'Mari Lwyd'