by Sarah Cleaves

Created on: August 04, 2009   Last Updated: August 05, 2009

For most people, Christmas in Wales today is very much the same as it across the rest of the country. It's all about pretty trees, expensive presents and singing all the popular carols that have been sung the length and breadth of the country for centuries. However, it's not always been this way and there are still a few small villages keeping the traditional Welsh Christmas alive.

The celebrations would begin on Christmas Eve, when the family would stay up all night decorating the house with holly, which was viewed as a symbol of life, and mistletoe, which protected the house from evil. They would also while away the night hours by playing games, such as making taffy, which was a kind of treacle toffee made of brown sugar, butter and lemon and boiled in a pan over an open fire. Once ready, the toffee would be dropped into ice-cold water where it would curl as it hardened. The onlookers would interpret the shape it made as the initial of the future husband or wife of the young unmarried members of the family.

The purpose of staying up all night was to be ready for the Plygain carol service on Christmas morning, which took place between 3am and 6am. The singers would bring their own candles to light the church, for there would be no other way to light it in those dark hours. This tradition is still alive in some small villages around Wales and can usually be enjoyed at the annual St. Fagans National History Museum's Christmas Fair.

Of course, Wales is a nation that has long been well known for its singing talents, and as well as the Plygain carol service, different villages would also participate in a national carol singing competition, in which the object was to create a new Christmas carol to add to the many that were sung every year.

The Welsh also had their own Boxing Day traditions, though they were somewhat less pleasant. Young girls would have their arms and legs whipped by young men and boys with branches of holly until they bled, known as 'holly-beating' or 'holming.' We can be glad that this is a tradition that has died out.

Traditionally, Christmas in Wales came to an end on the twelfth day which was known as Y Gwyliau, or The Holiday. On this day, the men would go out and hunt a wren, which they would then place in a small cage and take from door to door. If they couldn't find a wren, a small sparrow would be caught in its place, and people would then pay to see the bird.

It's unfortunate that many of these traditions have been lost today, but practices such as the Plygain service at dawn can be seen being performed at the St Fagans National History Museum's Christmas Fair, as well as in the town of Llangynwyd, near Maesteg. It's good to know that the Welsh Christmas spirit is still alive in some parts of the country.

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