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
On one occasion, he had set down a trap in a neighbouring field in the
evening expecting to find a mole entrapped in it next morning. Next
morning came, and off went the old man to see the trap, but when he
arrived on the spot, to his great surprise, instead of a mole in the
trap, there was a fish in it! The famous entrapper of moles could not
imagine how a fish could get into a trap on dry land, but he found
out afterwards that some mischievous boys had been there early in the
morning before him, who, to have a bit of fun at the expense of the old
man, had taken out the mole from the trap and put a fish in it instead.
Thus we see that the modern Gwahoddwr was generally a poor man; but
in the old times, on the other hand, he was a person of importance,
skilled in pedigrees and family traditions, and himself of good family;
for, undoubtedly, these old wedding customs which have survived in
some localities in Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire and other parts
of Wales even down almost to the present time, are of a very ancient
origin, coming down even from the time of the Druids, and this proves
the wisdom and knowledge of the original legislators of the Celtic
tribes; for they were instituted in order to encourage wedlock so as
to increase the population of the country, and to repair the losses
occasioned by plagues and wars. A chieftain would frequently assume
the character of a Bidder on behalf of his vassal, and hostile clans
respected his person as he went about from castle to castle, or from
mansion to mansion.
Old people who well remember the time when the quaint old wedding
customs were very general throughout West Wales, informed me that
it was in some localities the custom sometimes to have two or more
Gwahoddwyr to invite to the wedding; this was especially the case
when the bride and bridegroom-elect did not reside in the same part
of the country; for it happened sometimes that the young man engaged
to be married lived in a certain part of Carmarthenshire, whilst his
bride perhaps lived some way off in Cardiganshire or Pembrokeshire.
In such cases it was necessary to appoint two Bidders, one for the
young man, and another for the young woman, to go round the respective
districts in which each of them lived.
An old man in Carmarthenshire informed me that many years ago a friend
of his, a farmer in the parish of Llanycrwys married a young lady
from Pencarreg, two Bidders were sent forth to tramp the country;
one going round the parish of Llanycrwys where the bridegroom lived,
and the other's circuit was the parish of Pencarreg, the native parish
of the bride.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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