Folk-Lore of West and Mid-WalesDavies, Jonathan Ceredig
History
Folk-Lore of West and Mid-Wales
Davies, Jonathan Ceredig
Folklore -- Wales; Wales -- Social life and customs
Such charms were performed sometimes on certain Saints' Days, or on
one of the "Three Spirits' Nights," or on a certain day of the moon;
but more frequently on "Nos Calan Gauaf" or All Hallows Eve--the
31st. of October. All Hallows was one of the "Three Spirits' Nights,"
and an important night in the calendar of young maidens anxious to
see the spirits of their future husbands.
In Cardiganshire, divination by means of a ball of yarn, known as
"coel yr edau Wlan" is practised, and indeed in many other parts of
Wales. A young unmarried woman in going to her bedroom would take
with her a ball of yarn, and double the threads, and then she would
tie small pieces of wool along these threads, so as to form a small
thread ladder, and, opening her bedroom window threw this miniature
ladder out to the ground, and then winding back the yarn, and at the
same time saying the following words:--
"Y fi sy'n dirwyn
Pwy sy'n dal"
which means:
"I am winding,
Who is holding?"
Then the spirit of the future husband of the girl who was performing
the ceremony was supposed to mount this little ladder and appear to
her. But if the spirit did not appear, the charm was repeated over
again, and even a third time. If no spirit was to be seen after
performing such ceremony three times, the young lady had no hope
of a husband. In some places, young girls do not take the trouble
to make this ladder, but, simply throw out through the open window,
a ball of yarn, and saying the words:
"I am winding, who is holding."
Another custom among the young ladies of Cardiganshire in order
to see their future husbands is to walk nine times round the house
with a glove in the hand, saying the while--"Dyma'r faneg, lle mae'r
llaw."--"Here's the glove, where is the hand?" Others again would
walk round the dungheap, holding a shoe in the left hand, and saying
"Here's the shoe, where is the foot?" Happy is the young woman who
sees the young man she loves, for he is to be her future husband.
In Carmarthenshire young girls desirous of seeing their future
partners in life, walk round a leek bed, carrying seed in their hand,
and saying as follows:--
"Hadau, hadau, hau,
Sawl sy'n cam, doed i grynhoi."
"Seed, seed, sowing.
He that loves, let him come to gather."
It was also the custom in the same county for young men and young
women to go round a grove and take a handful of moss, in which was
found the colour of the future wife or husband's hair.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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