Gŵyl y Golau
When people think of the Celtic religious calendar (which is largely a modern artefact), they tend to think in terms of Irish festivals. Thus February 1st is known as Imbolc (or for Christians, Saint Brigid’s Day). But Wales has its own traditions which do not map exactly onto the Irish ones, and which have their own names.
Thus Hallowe’en in Welsh is Nos Calan Gaeaf, the night of the start of Winter. Relatedly, February 1st is Gŵyl y Golau, the Festival of Light, which marks the beginning of Spring.
It so happened that one of the regular writing retreats that Roz & Jo run fell on the festival weekend. It also happened that an event was taking place at Dinefwr, a National Trust property just up the road from us. These days Dinefwr is known for a stately home, Newton House, but the grounds also contain the sites of two Roman first (now entirely buried) and a ruined mediaeval castle that was once home to the kings of Deheubarth (including the famous Hywel Dda). There are Iron Age structures under the castle, but that makes them hard to excavate so we don’t know much about them. All of this makes Dinefwr an ideal place for traditional festival celebrations.
This year the event was extra interesting because of who was performing. Simmy Singh is a wonderful Welsh violinist who works in a variety of genres including Classical, Jazz and Rock. Last year we saw her lead Sinfonia Cymru in a fabulous rendition of the Four Seasons. She has collaborated with artists as varied as Coldplay, Lewis Capaldi, Michael Buble and Burt Bacharach. And she also happens to be friends with Roz & Jo, and with my hairdresser, Sarah. Wales is a small world.
Simmy loves working with others, and the Gŵyl y Golau event saw her team up with two amazing musicians — Bethan Lloyd and Nigel Shaw – plus folklorist Angharad Wynne.
Bethan is a vocalist. If you are into the likes of Dead Can Dance and The Cocteau Twins you will almost certain like what Bethan has to offer. She’s on Bandcamp.
Nigel is a self-confessed flute nerd who owns, and indeed makes, many such instruments. His collection includes 3D printed reproductions of Neolithic bone flutes, which apparently sound great. He and his partner, Carolyn Hillyer, run Seventh Wave Music from a small village on Dartmoor. They do a lot of Neo-Pagan stuff.
No one knows how Gŵyl y Golau would have been celebrated in ancient times, though clearly marking the beginning of spring would be important to farming communities. Angharad, however, presented us with an intriguing theory. We know that Mari Lwyd is active over winter. The events in which she features generally centre around midwinter. But she is awake from Calan Gaeaf until Gŵyl y Golau. Angharad suggested that perhaps Mari is an incarnation of Rhiannon, the horse goddess, who is spending the winter dead. When spring comes, her ghastly skeletal form is shed, and she becomes a flesh and blood goddess once more. Again there is no proof of this, but I do like it as an idea.
That was our entertainment for the evening, which took place partly in the living room of Newton House, and partly around a brazier in the gardens. A fabulous time was had by all.