Calan Gaeaf
The Welsh Hallowe’en
Calan Gaeaf
In most of the Celtic countries the evening
of 31st October is associated with the
Otherworld, the world of spirits and was
seen as a time when the the two worlds,
human and spirit overlapped.
 In Welsh tradition this was the time when
the two particularly frightening apparitions,
the Hwch Ddu Gota and the Ladi Wen
could be seen.
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Calan Gaeaf
Other traditions held that all those who
would die over the following year could be
seen by looking through the parish church
keyhole at midnight on Calan Gaeaf.
 The evening was also associated with
divination or trying to see into the future.
 The most popular range of traditions was
that of seeing the person you would marry
in spirit form.
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Calan Gaeaf
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This could be done in several ways. One was to
sow flax at a crossroads at midnight on Calan
Gaeaf.
An important element in Calan Gaeaf traditions
was the lighting of a large bonfire, although by
the end of the 19th century this became
associated with Bonfire Night held on 5th
November with its associations with Guy
Fowlkes. (Guto Ffowc).
Calan Gaeaf
In North Wales this was the time when
people collected food or gifts that would be
sold to pay for prayers for the souls of the
dead in purgatory. It was called ‘hel bwyd
cennad y meirwon’.
 By the end of the 19th century, most of the
religious aspects of the festival had been
lost and it became an occasions for
singing and fun-making.
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Calan Gaeaf
An authentic description of a real rural
Welsh Hallowe’en night can be found in a
collection of folk customs published in the
1862 by Glasynys (“Cymru Fu”).
 He clearly shows that even by then, the
emphasis was on having fun (rather than
concentrating on the more serious
aspects).
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Calan Gaeaf
Glasynys gives us a picture of a rural
mountain community in North Wales who
all congregate in a farm-house for the
evening.
 Outside the bonfire is being prepared on
the top of a hill, whilst indoors the game of
apple-dunking is already taking place.
 It is obviously an occasion for the youth of
the area to relax in each other’s company.
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Calan Gaeaf
Special drinks are prepared for the
evening: diod griafol (berry-wine) and
meth (mead, fermented honey). The food
is a large piece of farm cheese.
 There are nuts as well which are used in a
custom for divining who will be your
husband.

Calan Gaeaf
There are other entertainments as well.
 The local poet arrives who reels off his
poems about local characters, and people
who have come to the evening.
 A musicial as well: in this case a fiddler.
No mention of a harpist.
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Calan Gaeaf
After some songs and poetry, it is the turn
of the girls to throw the nuts into the large
bonfire as it burns out.
 If the nut makes a loud click, then
everyone laughs because it means the girl
is in love or will soon be in love.
Sometimes the pieces of nut jump out of
the fire and do in the direction of one of
the boys congregated.
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Calan Gaeaf
But everyone wants to get away from the
fire before it finally goes out, because this
is the moment when the Hwch Ddu Gwta
will appear and attack the last person to
leave!
 In short: divination, the Otherworld
creature, and the souls of the dead.
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Calan Gaeaf
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The Hwch Ddu Gwta was a creature that people
feared on Nos Galan Gaeaf (Hallowe’en Night).
In the Conwy Valley people said:
Hwch Ddu Gwta ar ben pob camfa/gyda’i
nodwydd ddur yn nhu ol yr ola’.
This belonged to the time when people lit fires
on the hillsides to drive away bad spirits, and
brought some of the fire to their own homes.
Calan Gaeaf
If you did not do this you were in danger of
being consumed by the Hwch Ddu Gwta.
 The creature would wait at each stile and
would drive a hot steel pin into the
unfortunate victim.
 Some people claimed they had seen the
pig with its piglets on Hallowe’en night
(Ceredigion).
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