{"id":20198,"date":"2022-12-02T10:41:13","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T09:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=220700"},"modified":"2022-12-02T11:43:23","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T10:43:23","slug":"welsh-christmas-traditions-through-history","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/welsh-christmas-traditions-through-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Welsh Christmas traditions through history"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Lauren Good\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 02 December 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas\u2019s A Child\u2019s Christmas in Wales<\/em> (a piece of prose first recorded in 1952) paints a rich picture of the country\u2019s festive traditions. In Thomas\u2019s famous work, based on his own childhood memories and presenting a largely romanticised view of Welsh festivities in the 1920s, mistletoe is \u201chung from the gas brackets in all the front parlours\u201d, below which people enjoy \u201csherry and walnuts and bottled beer and crackers by the dessertspoons\u201d.<\/p>\n

Whilst these practices might seem rather familiar, with echoes of the Christmas traditions that endure in Welsh homes today, there are plenty more traditions in Wales\u2019s history that are not quite so predictable.<\/p>\n

So, what would you experience if you travelled back at various moments to a real<\/em> Christmas in Wales? Perhaps a prick of the ears as carols sound at 3am from the local chapel, or widened eyes at a group hunting down a wren to parade around the village on Twelfth Night. And, when you\u2019ve retreated behind closed doors, a horse skull draped in sheets might come a-knocking\u2026<\/p>\n

Christmas Eve \u2013 Noswyl Nadolig<\/em><\/h2>\n

Toffee Evening \u00ad\u2013 Noson Gyflaith<\/em><\/h4>\n
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1940s \u2013 group of young people making taffy (Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts\/ClassicStock\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

In a tradition that\u2019s believed to date from the late 18th century, as Christmas Eve rolled into the night, many Welsh families would gather to make toffee. Ingredients were boiled in pans on the fire, and then pulled repeatedly into long strands whilst still warm.<\/p>\n

Once the toffee had reached a golden yellow colour, the strands were cut into small pieces and dropped into iced water to cool. Upon this, the sweet treats curled into shapes \u2013 any that resembled letters were thought to foresee the future loves of unbetrothed family members.<\/p>\n