Mari Lwyd 

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Come in, poor mother. Come rest, come eat and drink. I have little but I will share.

Thank you for posting this mysterious, haunting, and achingly beautiful story, legend and song.

There's something so beautifully captivating about the Mari Lwyd.

Lord Barleycorn sent me here to listen to this masterpiece. Simply chilling.

The fact that this isn’t on any music app is criminal

astonishingly beautiful/anhygoel. I am so proud of my home country. mor falch i cael fy magu yma. it is such a magical place. cymru am byth 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

The melancholy of that which is lost, beautiful, thank you.

Stumbled upon this video searching for "rap battle with horse scull" because someone on Facebook mentioned a christmas tradition she can't remember very well. Until now I thought, the nordic Julcat is the scariest thing I met. I Love this song. And I would let her in. Drink, eat we have enough. Bring your friends. You only have to take the leftovers with you.

Thank you, Kris Hughes for teaching and sharing the legend and song. I'm deeply moved. This story is part of my heritage and I'm grateful that it lives on through you, one who has truly let her in. With love ..... ♡

A haunting lament for a dead god. Let her in...

"Let me in" Diolch for sharing this haunting song

This song is about Christianity taking over the Pagan Welsh. Ive listened to this song 100s of times, and just now, it clicked.

The Hodening Hoss, the Marbury Dun Old Bone-Face the Deathless am I Heavy with foal, two thousand years Bridled with sorrow Saddled with fear I canter through pastures of tremble and quake I gallop the track between sleep and awake Seeking the deep of welcome And stint for my tears. The Mare-Headed Queen, the Mari-Lwyd I was mother of all of the herds Bridled with starlight Saddled with gold I leapt the divide between living and dead I quickened each year with a toss of my head Seeking the deep of beauty And never grew old. But Mother of God, the Mary Mild The pregnant Virgin came Bursting with Jehovah seed Entered my stable, cried out her need With rope I was dragged from the birthing straw Aching with foal I was heaved to the door Swapping warmth for bitter weather And the birth of a rival creed. So now I'm nightmare, I'm rattling Womb The Uffington Wraith I've become Forced into dark, you've made me a fiend Bridled with shaddow Saddled with scream From window to window, traversing the night My face in your glass in a shudder of light Seeking the deep of welcome Let me in once again Let me in. Since the lyrics aren't quite accurate to the poem, here's what the vocalist sings.

Hello Kris Hughes, Thank you for this posting, haunting and beautiful. I am currently in a Mari Lwyd troupe performing this tradition on stage in Cambridge, MA with The Christmas Revels celebrating Christmas in Wales this year.

memories rising from earth to my heart

I like to interpret the song and the story itself to be an allegory of the shift from paganism to Christianity. The song mentions how the Mari Lwyd was immoral, living 10-thousand years, in the in-between of the living and dead. "Mother of Herds" sounds like a epithet for Mari Lwyd. It is clear that Mari Lwyd is portrayed as some kind of pagan deity. The Mari Lwyd was covered in "Bridled with Starlight, Saddled with Gold" is a sign of being praised and worshiped. But this changes when the Virgin Mary comes into her stable with the son of God. As a result, the Mari Lwyd was dragged out of the stable and cast out into the night. I believe this is representing how pagan beliefs and deities were replaced with Christ. The "Birth of a rival Creed" makes this clear in my eyes, the birth of Christianity being a rival religion. Now the Mari Lwyd wanders the night, described as a horrific entity, "Bridled with Sorrow, Saddled with Scream". Pagan entities in modern time are no longer worshiped by the people, instead, ignored and feared as something horrific. For example, the story of Odin's hunt and the Einherjar ridding through the night became warped through time to become the terrifying Wild Hunt. Other pagan rituals were seen as demonic or evil, those performing them became outcasts. What aches my heart is the Mari Lwyd's refrain. "Let me in", begging to be accepted once more, to receive that sense of belonging and worship.

Y Fari Lwyd or the Grey Mare is originally from De Cymru or South Wales based on the Mabinogi branches of our ancient text, Rhiannon not Epona. It is a Tradition from Gwent and Glamorgan but now performed all of Cymru and England. Gwent and Glamorgan is Silure country who according to time team believe built Côr y Cewri ( Chor of the Giants) (Saesneg: Stonehenge),

I really wanna start a Mari Lwyd tradition in my hometown. I will start talking about it with some friends and see how far we will go. The difficult part will be getting that horse skull. Maybe a cow's will suffice.

i’m here from sam o’nella and after looking at some pictures of mari lwyd, as a horse lover it was a little creepy to me but this is such a pretty song

This the ultimate story of animal cruelty, but I'd let her in :,), haunting and moving, I'm not Christian but I find this story soul stirring.

Beautiful, haunting song. I've been pagan since birth and researched Celtic traditions and myth for many years, but never knew about Mari Lwyd until now. The tale seems a perfect analogy for Christianity appropriating our ancestral traditions and destroying the indigenous way of life of many parts of the world.

Heartbreaking. Bring her back. Too long we've had the cruel god. Let her in.

Thank you for posting! This is such a beautiful tradition

A moving and wonderful experience - attending the Solstice Ritual at Bryn Celli Ddu on Sunday last. Thankyou Kris. Elizabeth (Nottingham)

LOVE THIS 💖

It is possible for Christianity and Traditional Beliefs to live side by side. I grew up among an indigenous tribe that became Christian. They solved this problem by taking the Best of their Old Ways and the Best of Christianity and ditching the worst of both paths... So, they stopped being cannibals, maintained their tribal big house with its ancestor statues, continued to respect and pray the prayers for the Forest, the Rivers, the Lakes and so on, and blended the teachings of Jesus in there as well (compassion, helping the unfortunate, trusting God, forgiveness, sins have been paid for(no more need for revenge killings...), etc. Because of this, people come from all over the World to see my old home town, with its famously friendly and hospitable, ancient tribe, who maintain their Old Ways, and blend them with the Grace of the New Way as well. This, IMHO, is the wisest approach. Mari Lwyd doesn't have to be kicked out of her stable to make way for Baby Jesus, and actually, I don't think Jesus would have approved either, had he had a voice to object with, at that time...

This song makes me feel so bad for the Mari lwyd

Beautiful and sad. I love horses myself so Mari could come right on in as far as I'm concerned! (As long as she didn't eat all my bunny's hay lol!)🐴🐰

This is so emotional and relaxing I really love this kind of music and somehow this has a strange peacefullness to it but hopelessness aswell really good performance,is there any way to get this song?

Wonder what would happen if you gave the Mare a welcome and led her to a birthing stall

I know this is an old video, but I don’t suppose there’s a recording of this without the vocals. I’d love to be able to do a performance of this when Mari roams this New Year

This song always brings me to tears. I'm pagan because my ancestors couldn't be..

Does the origin have anything to do with Christianity replacing pagan religions? It seems like an allegory of that.

Y Fari Lwyd the Grey Mare, (You can not call a horse White in ancient Cymry tradition it is the worst luck ) So we call it Grey and anything Grey in Cymry Tradition is Magical. Rhiannon is the Cymry Horse Goddess, not Epona, she is the Saxon Goddess . Read Y Mabinogi for Cymry Dieties. We have our own pantheon of Goddesses and Demi Gods. The Grey Horse Uffington is Rhiannon, not Epona the Saxons would not have been here in Ynys Prydain,(Bryton) when it was created. The Tradition is performed at Hen Galan, New Year, around 6th to th 13th of Jan, we do perform it at Nadolig, but the true tradition is the 13th. in the Mari party is the Horse Goddess Rhiannon, the Horse handler is the Camulos, the War God of the Silures,( Y Fari Lwyd is a southern Welsh tradition from the lands of the SIlwriad) It is not a tradition of mid or North Cymru, but in modern Cymru all of Cymru Performs it. The orator is the chieftain, the Cadi is both Male and Female Warriors and represents the balcance of Annwn the other world, the Chaos twins Pwcarau, ( Hobgoblins) reprisents the Chaos of Life! It would have been sang to a defendable enclosure, or Caer,( Hillfort) , the Fari Parti sing the Pwnc, (The Challenge) the Caer sings back (The retort) their poetry called the Pwnco. the battle begins with Pwnco telling the Caer how wonderful the Goddess,( Mari) is, and that they will not go away with out some reward and entrance to the Caer, because once inside if Cwrw is not forth coming the Caer could get smashed up if the Horse is displeased with the Welcome, The Caer tries to keep them out side with Poetry insults. The Caer try not to allow them in because of the threat of chaos, if Cwrw, (Bragwad) is not being given or Medd (Mead) . Mead was the payment to Welsh warriors it is called Talu Medd for service to the Brenin or King, they could barter anything for the Kings drink. The Romans were payed in Salt another rare thing of great barter. The word battle begins and can be up to and beyond 40 verses of cynghanedd one of 24 poetry meters Which can be only used in Cymraeg, it can be fired back and forth at each party it can be insultive like a bee sting, and threatening like a death sentance but in the end the one party in or out who can not out wit the other, then they must either retire or allow the Mari party in. The Positive thing though is that when Y Fari leaves the Caer after drinking all of their beer is that they will take all of the old years bad luck with them, and leaves good luck for the coming new year!

i like

I think it's origins are pagan and it was changed so it would survive Christianities adoption.

At the time of commenting this, the vid has 666 likes and 6 dislikes. This is legendary

Well done . 😎 🐴 ⚪️⚫️🔴🟡

Is it possible to get the sheet music? I would love to perform this piece :o

Hail Epona! Hail Rhiannon!

Thank you for *BAD DREAMS*

This reminds me of Spice&Wolf for some reason.

Really great video, far beyond what I expected. But one little thing, Its actually "Mari Lwyd" not "Lywd"

According to the University of Wales Dictionary, L(l)wyd can also mean "holy, blessed, pious". I'd suggest this might be a likelier translation. Although Mari is Welsh for Mary, one can't help feel there might be a link to English "Mare".

Diolch yn fawr! Let her in!

Can you get this song on iTunes, is Chris Wood's music available on there and this song in particular?

Who's the singer?

What a beautiful song. Who is the singer please?

Not the rap battel ı was expecting but ı met with a much more beutiful thing

Is "wraith" a rendering of the Welsh form of wight?

does this exist without the vocals?

Remember her name.

Am I weird for wanting to let it in my house?

It's the Grey Mary not mare. Mare in Welsh is caseg, Mari means Mary. Goes back to the nativity story.

I've got a theory that perhaps the tradition started as an expression of the grief of native Celts after seeing their culture essentially replaced by the Latinised Christian one, I'm not Welsh or anything so my knowledge on Welsh history is sparse at best but i think it's more emotionally gripping that way whether true or not. To explain in more detail, if supposedly pre-roman Wales held horses in high reverence in their religion and the horse gave way to the Christian Mary having the mare return in a sort of vengeful way might have felt like benediction for some but I honestly don't know.

Is this the lore for the creature or something someone made up for her? Regardless it's beautiful.

Sam onella

It reminds me of the gargoyleking?😂😱

1:33 this is the "I wanna listen to the song" button. You are welcome.

As an outsider to the Lady, why did people have to answer riddles or some such? Let the poor Lady in and let her bare her foals. I assume there is some ghastly background, but I'd feel more guilty leaving Her out.

Note to self: Never move to Wales

Beautiful, a video you have to read. Try again.

Mari Lwyd is a 'mast' hobby horse. The earliest written reference to Mari Lwyd is from about 1800. By that time Wales had been a Christian country for over 1300 years and therefore to say this tradition is 'pre-Christian', 'Celtic' or 'pagan' is fanciful nonsense. And it is not unique. The coal and iron ore mining communities of 19th century Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire had very similar mast horses and practiced the same rites and rituals as the Mari Lwyd tradition. Their version was called 'Poor Old Horse' - sometimes a sheep was used and called 'The Old Tup'. They visited houses and performed their ritual song just like the Mari Lwyd. There are similar customs elsewhere in England. And it is simply about out of work farm labourers in mid-winter entertaining the local population in the hope that they might cough up a penny or two or provide some food and drink. Just like wassailers, morris and sword dancers, mummers etc. who all performed to augment their meager income. Again, nothing to do with the 'Celts', Druids, Pagans or any Pre-Christian rituals all of which are figments of fevered imaginations and based on no evidence whatsoever.

Its funny how most religions imply there is some ruling force demanding you obey or you’ll be damned to hell for simply living your life differently than anyone else, and further demands you sacrifice for it and tests you with sick and horrible trickery (which it calls tests of faith), supposedly demanding also that you kill for it when others do not conform, yet most pagan beliefs lie with humans relationship with nature and the universe and there is no such oppression or elitism. Im not really pagan i dont think but im certainly not part of any of these other oppressive religions.