WELSH TRADITIONS 2 CALAN MAI – MAY DAY<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In the old Celtic Year, the summer season consisted of the months of May, June and July so the first day of May was also the first day of summer. The Welsh name for July – Gorffennaf – testifies to this as the word actually translates as \u2018the end of summer\u2019 ( gorffen – end + haf – summer). The Welsh word \u2018Calan\u2019 translates as \u2018the first day of\u2019 – thus the Welsh equivalent of May Day is Calan Mai.<\/p>\n Like May Day in England and Walpurgis on the Continent, Calan Mai was an important time for celebration in Wales – and the roots of this festival go far back into our Celtic past – to the Beltane festival (various spellings) which celebrated the coming of summer and the time when the animals were turned out to pasture. Beltane was one of the four main seasonal festivals of the Celtic year – the other three being Imbolc (February 1st), celebrating the coming of Spring, Lughnasadh (1st August), celebrating the beginning of the harvest season (autumn) and Samhain (1st November), celebrating the end of the harvest season and marking the first day of winter.<\/p>\n During the Beltane celebrations the lighting of bonfires represented an opportunity for purification, to protect the animals from disease – and they also celebrated fertility and new growth. And the tradition of lighting bonfires continued down the centuries and was associated with Calan Mai – as with Calan Gaeaf (the first day of winter – November 1st) of course. The celebrations and revelry started on the eve of Calan Mai – and history tells us that here in Wales, May Day Eve was even more important than May Day itself. It was one of the three ‘Spirit Nights\u2019 in the Celtic year – when the veil between this world and the spirit world was at its thinnest – and when people believed that the spirits of the dead walked among them. (The other two Spirit Nights are St John\u2019s Eve on 24th June and Halloween of course on 31st October). The people would decorate the outside of their houses with flowers and sprigs of hawthorn as they welcomed the coming of summer – and fires would be lit to ward off evil spirits. Young men would place bunches of rosemary, tied with white ribbons on the windowsill of a young girl they admired.<\/p>\n The building of the village bonfire was steeped in ritual. Nine young men, after emptying their pockets of all coins, were sent to gather branches of wood from nine different trees. The bonfire would be built in a traditional way and once the fire had been lit, they would leap three times over the flames in order to make sure of a good harvest. Later, when the fire was out, the villagers would carry some of the ashes to their homes to ward off illness and sadness throughout the coming year.<\/p>\n On the morning of Calan Mai, the village youngsters would welcome the coming of summer after the cold and barren winter by parading around the area carrying the Bedwen Fai (May Birch) – always birch, decorated with flowers and ribbons. They would sing and dance as they paraded – and many of the songs – known as \u2018summer carols\u2019- were quite bawdy and explicit in nature. Others were topical verses reminding the villagers of some of the interesting things that had happened during the year gone by. The\u00a0dancers would all be dressed in white with colourful ribbons – except for the \u2018Cadi\u2019 – the Fool – the main character who led the parade. He would be masked or have a blackened face – and would wear a lady\u2019s petticoat and a man\u2019s waistcoat! When they reached the village green the Bedwen Fai would be erected and the \u2018Twmpath Chwarae\u2019 (play Mound) opened for the rest of the villagers to join in the dancing and singing. A harpist or \u2018fiddler\u2019 would sit atop the mound to accompany the singing and dancing.<\/p>\n Different traditions developed in different areas of Wales. In some areas, a mock battle between representatives of winter and summer would be staged. In the village of Defynnog in mid Wales it is recorded that on Calan Mai, the Winter King and the Summer King would be crowned – the Winter King with sprigs of holly and the Summer King with colourful ribbons. In Tenby, numerous Maypoles would be raised in the town – and groups of dancers would wind their way from one to another. It was not unusual, of course, for a group of youths to raid another village\u2019s Bedwen and steal it before the celebrations began. Here in Gwenf\u00f4 our Bedwen was often in danger from raiders from Sain Ffagan! But I believe the Gwenf\u00f4 youngsters did their share of raiding too!<\/p>\n All in all the Calan Mai revelries and celebrations were a means of bringing colour and enjoyment to people whose lives were hard – and very often bereft of colour and just plain fun!<\/p>\n Ann M. Jones<\/p>\n WELSH TRADITIONS 2 CALAN MAI – MAY DAY In the old Celtic Year, the summer season consisted of the months of May, June and July so the first day of May was also the first day of summer. The Welsh name for July – Gorffennaf – testifies to this as the word actually translates as \u2018the end of summer\u2019 ( […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3HZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14849,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14849","url_meta":{"origin":14259,"position":0},"title":"Welsh Traditions 7 Calan Gaeaf","author":"Alan Williams","date":"22nd November 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"WELSH TRADITIONS 7 CALAN GAEAF. In this last article in the series of Welsh Traditions we\u2019ll look briefly at the traditions associated with Calan Gaeaf. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll remember that \u2018Calan\u2019 is a Welsh word meaning \u2018the first day of\u2019\u2019 - as in Calan Mai (May Day). Calan Gaeaf celebrates\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14121,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14121","url_meta":{"origin":14259,"position":1},"title":"The Arrival Of Spring","author":"Alan Williams","date":"6th April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"THE ARRIVAL OF SPRING Here we are in April and Spring has arrived at last, a delightful season of nature awakening from its winter sleep, giving the landscapes vibrant colours and filling the air with the sweet fragrance of flowers. As the days grow longer and the temperatures rise, there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Picture1-295x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12433,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12433","url_meta":{"origin":14259,"position":2},"title":"Meaning Of Place-Names Part 5","author":"Alan Williams","date":"2nd November 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES MERTHYR DYFAN \u00a0- The Welsh word \u2018merthyr\u2019 is seen in a number of place-names in Wales - and this again is often mistakenly translated. Many people are familiar with the word \u2018merthyr\u2019 which derives from the Latin word \u2018martyr\/martyris\u2019 - meaning \u2018martyr\u2019 - a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12366,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12366","url_meta":{"origin":14259,"position":3},"title":"The Derivation And Meaning Of Place-Names","author":"Alan Williams","date":"13th October 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES HIGHLIGHT The English name \u2018Highlight\u2019 first appears on maps in the 16th Century - during the reign of Elizabeth 1st - as the name of a farm. Before that time, the name was Welsh - \u2018Uchelolau\u2019. The name \u2018Highlight\u2019 was obviously an attempt at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15485,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15485","url_meta":{"origin":14259,"position":4},"title":"Happy Mayday","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th May 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"WENVOE FORUM Considering Tomorrow Today HAPPY MAYDAY This time of year does seem to be a time for looking forward. Spring, in this part of the world, is definitely here; the trees are well greened up , plants poking their heads up and I am pleased to say the hops\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for May 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for May 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=421"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture9-1-207x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13924,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13924","url_meta":{"origin":14259,"position":5},"title":"New Year Traditions In Wales","author":"Alan Williams","date":"13th February 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"NEW YEAR TRADITIONS IN WALES \u00a0 As we in Wenvoe celebrate the arrival of the New Year with a bottle of fizz, watching the fireworks from around the world on television, and by singing a few lines of Auld Lang Syne, there are many very old New Year's traditions in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Picture1-249x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14259"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14259"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14342,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14259\/revisions\/14342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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