\n
![\"Celebrate](\"\/going-places\/wp-content\/uploads\/files\/2014\/12\/Variety_of_Mari_Lwyd_outside_the_Museum,_Chepstow_Mari_Lwyd_2014.jpg\" "\\"Celebrate")
<\/sub>\n<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n Thinking of visiting the U.K. this January? Are you a fan of bizarre holiday traditions (and maybe a little dark humor)? Make sure to visit southern Wales and you may get to sing a tune with the Mari Lwyd<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n \n \n<\/p>\n \n \n \nThe most important part, of course, is the Mari Lwyd. Made of a mare’s skull (or a fabricated one in modern day) on a pole, decorated with colored baubles in the eye sockets, covered in ribbon, with a white sheet draped over the back that hides its operator. Often, the skull is set-up to function like a puppet head, with jaw-snapping action. Well-dressed with a pack of musical merrymen, the leader will sing songs, or begin a pwnco<\/em> with the home- or business-owner. The pwnco is a rhyming contest of improvised call-and-reponse verses that goes back and forth until one side gives up.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \nThe Mari Lwyd also causes general chaos by running through the streets, snapping its jaws at passer-bys and attempting to scare children. When is that not a good time? The party also usually includes two people dressed as Punch and Judy – the popular U.K. puppet duo known for slap-stick comedy, typically involving literal slapping and sticks. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \nAs a point of cultural pride, many towns in Wales have made it a point to bring back the Mari Lwyd. The town of Chepstow holds an annual Wassail Mari<\/em><\/a>, with singing, dancing and “other stranger capers”. This year’s celebration is on January 17th, so you’d better book a trip<\/a> soon if you’d like to have some good, old fashioned (weird) fun in Wales this season!<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n \n<\/p>\n \n <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nImage: Wiki Commons <\/strong><\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thinking of visiting the U.K. this January? Are you a fan of bizarre holiday traditions (and maybe a little dark humor)? Make sure to visit southern Wales and you may get to sing a tune with the Mari Lwyd. The Mari Lwyd (Grey Mare) is an old Celtic tradition that is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7967"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98896941,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7967\/revisions\/98896941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nThe Mari Lwyd (Grey Mare) is an old Celtic tradition that is making a resurgence in certain sections of Wales. Though its origins are unknown, it seems to be derived from pagan ritual that rings in the new year – <\/strong>which is what caused it to fall out of favor during the Methodist Revival of the 18th century. The custom involves visiting homes and pubs, door-to-door for a wassail<\/em> (singing carols) in hopes of getting free food or drink in return. <\/span>
\n<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/em>\n<\/p>\n