Quaint Old Customs

British Goblins: Welsh Folk Lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions (1881) Book 3 Chapter 1

by Wirt Sikes

Quaint Old Customs tells us to rise early on New Year's morning to bring good luck, the Mari Lwyd procession from house to house and the story of the Cutty Wren. Sikes also tells us about St. David, St. Patrick and the wearing of the leek.

• Serious Significance of seemingly Trivial Customs 2:32
• Their Origins 2:45
• Common Superstitions 3:37
• The Age We Live in 4:10
• Days and Seasons 6:11
• New Year's Day 6:32
• The Apple Gift 6:40
• Lucky Acts on New Year's morning 8:23
• The First Foot 9:20
• Showmen's Superstitions 9:34
• Levy Dew Song 10:51
• Happy New Year Carol 11:49
• Twelfth Night 12:34
• The Mary Lwyd 12:40
• The Penglog 14:25
• The Cutty Wren 15:11
• Tooling and Sowling 15:52
• St. Valentine's Day 16:45
• St. Dewi's Day 17:45
• The Wearing of the Leek 19:10
• The Traditional St. David 23:41
• St. Patrick's Day 27:54
• St. Patrick a Welshman 28:00
• Shrove Tuesday 29:44

Names Used in this Section

All proper names, and words in Welsh or other languages, are recorded here in the show-notes and we've done our best to get the pronunciations right for you.

Bodleian Library Levy Dew Mari Lwyd Penglog Sowling St. Valentine St. Dewi St. David St. Patrick Luther Glamorganshire

pic. New Year's Apple

Cardiff

pic. Three Rays

Avagddu Pembrokeshire Jonah Llef i Dduw

Blwyddyn newydd dda i chwi, Gwyliau llawen i chwi, Meistr a meistres bob un trwy'r ty, Gwyliau llawen i chwi, Codwch yn foreu, a rheswch y tan, A cherddwch i'r ffynon i ymofyn dwr glan.

awen Aberconwy (Conway) Carnarvonshire Gwent Morganwg Rhymney Dingle

pic: Cutty Wren song

soûl St. George St. Andrew Cardigan Carmarthen Lampeter Manby Cymhortha Poictiers Cressy

Pistol & Fluellen

Glyn Hodnant Teify Llandewi Brefi Abel, Noah, Thomas, Peter, Paul & David William the Conqueror Llandeilo Talybont Llantwit Major Rosina Iolo MSS Crammwythau (pancakes)

British Goblins can be found on Archive.org

You can find out more about Wirt Sikes on Wikipedia.

Try the Celtic Myth Podshow for the Tales and Stories of the Ancient Celts at http://celticmythpodshow.com or on Apple Podcasts.

Our theme music is "Gander at the Pratie Hole" by Sláinte. You can find their music on the Free Music Archive.