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
The party without and the party within feigned to abuse one another in
such rhymes for an hour, more sometimes, till their wit was exhausted,
but the whole performance was nothing but innocent fun, and the doors
are opened in the end, and the bridegroom's party are admitted into
the house; but even then the trouble is not always over, for it was
the custom for the bride to hide herself, when search would be made
for her everywhere under the tables, beds, behind the doors and every
corner in the house, and at last found, perhaps, under the disguise of
a young man smoking his pipe, or of a "granny" knitting in the corner.
Whoever discovered the bride received a pint of beer and a cake
as a prize in some places. All these things were done for fun or
amusement, but I heard of one young woman at least, who was hiding
in real earnest, and could not be found.
An old farmer near Carmarthen, Griffiths, of Rhenallt, who is 96 years
of age, informed me about five years ago, that he once heard his father
mention of a man called "Dafydd y Llether," a butcher near Alltwalis,
who was disappointed in this manner. This happened about 100 years
ago. This butcher was engaged to be married to a farmer's daughter who
lived in the parish of Llanllwni, about eight miles off, and had made
all preparations for the wedding. When the wedding morning dawned,
Dafydd and his neighbours and friends, about one hundred in number,
mounted their horses at Alltwalis, and galloped away full speed to
Llanllwni, and having arrived at the house of the young bride's
parents, search was made for her everywhere, but she was nowhere
to be found. At last the young man and his friends had to return
home without finding her in great disappointment! The young woman's
parents had prevailed upon her not to marry the young man, "because"
added the old man to me "he was too much of a jolly boy." So they
had contrived between them to hide her where she could not be found
on the wedding morning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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