Imagine that you might be spending a quiet evening at home when suddenly someone knocks on the door. You open it and see a loud crowd carrying a horse skull held on a pole and girded with ribbons – it has come.
The word, meaning “gray (or pale) mare”, is a Christmas and New Year’s custom in areas of south Wales that dates back to the 18th century. The horse’s skull is placed on a pole and covered with a white sheet decorated with ribbons. An individual hidden under a sheet carries a pole and moves the horse’s jaw, causing it to interrupt. They are accompanied by a bunch of standard characters, including Sergeant, Merryman, Punch and Judy.
The procession moves from house to accommodate and the group sings verses asking for entry. The household is predicted to reply, including in verse. And so begins a (sometimes very long) impromptu poetry competition or rhyming ritual, known before the group is finally invited into the house and offered food and drink.
Several explanations have been proposed for the origins of this practice. Some say its roots return to pre-Christian fertility ritual. Others have argued that it has ties to Virgin Mary.
This custom is clearly related to practice sailed, where groups of merry men go from one house to a different, asking for food and drink. It could also be related to other folk performances present in other parts of the UK and Ireland, including hobby: horses tradition.
Plygain
Further north, the tradition celebrated in Montgomeryshire, where I grew up, is far less colourful and strongly embedded in a non secular context. Derived from the Latin word “pullicantio” (rooster crow) (pronounced “plug”), it was an early morning service, originally held on Christmas Day in parish churches and then also in nonconformist chapels, starting by candlelight and continuing until daylight .
Nowadays it is especially a night service, although some stalwarts still follow the morning tradition.
After the congregational hymn, reading and prayer, the vicar or minister will announce: “” (the plate is now open). There isn’t any program; reasonably, a bunch of singers will rise up and go to the sanctuary or (the elders’ pew in the chapel) and sing a carol without accompaniment and and not using a conductor.
They often come from the same family and have an ancient lineage, and their tattered Christmas carols (often old notebooks) are passed down from generation to generation. A tuning fork is commonly used to amplify the melody – I’ve even seen it used to hit a singer’s tooth.
Christmas carols were often composed by local poets and sung to popular melodies of the time. They don’t merely describe the birth of Christ and often concentrate on the crucifixion. Often very long, they are often sung in three-part harmonies.
It ends with a blood-curdling sound (of Christmas carols) as all the men in the congregation come forward to sing.
Rebirth and rediscovery
In the Nineteen Sixties St Fagans National History Museumor the Welsh Folk Museum, because it was then called collecting various genres of Welsh folk songs. They included carols and poems. This helped to renew interest in each traditions.
The museum organizes it yearly performances, while many Cardiff pub-goers will likely be surprised by the sudden appearance of a cracking horse skull. This practice has evolved over time – visits might be arranged upfront, participants will sing from cards, and they’ll even be made of cardboard. Actually anything might be done.
Today (in various forms) it thrives and might be found as far-off as the US and Australia.
This continues to be going strong in Montgomeryshire, in addition to across Wales and beyond. About 50 services happen in December and January.
And this tradition has also undergone many changes. Several collections of songs have already been published, allowing latest carols to participate.
In 2020 and 2021 a virtual took place during the pandemic. Bilingual website A brand new carol was also created, composed especially for ladies’s voices, so that they might have their very own.
Purists say that traditions shouldn’t be resurrected and reinvented. However, it’s in the nature of traditions to alter and always evolve – they need to achieve this to survive.
We should proceed to rejoice modern versions of this tradition because they contribute to a shared sense of identity and instill a way of belonging in participants.
