We love skulls! De nada, it’s important to make sure any new traditions respect those of other cultures, especially ones that are already misused and appropriated.
Once again I'm dreadfully late to the party, but as a life-long neo-pagan (and rather neglectful Wiccan), I adore the Celtic Samhain traditions, but also love the great, spooky fun of our American-style Hallowe'en. Here in the US I think most pagans do enjoy the secular celebrations alongside the rites of Samhain. As for me, I'm also a huge lover of apples as the iconic flavor of Autumn, though toffee apples aren't as popular here in the states as caramel apples. I don't know it the caramel variety has caught on in the UK, but if you haven't tried the combination - it's GLORIOUS. Thanks as ever for a delightful video, and for braving hot wax for the cause. ❤
Kalan Gwav Lowen. (Happy Halloween, in Cornish) We'd traditionally leave out food to appease the Piskies. We'd also set extra places at the table or by the fire for the spirits of the dead & light candles to remember them. Apples also featured in Cornish traditions, Halloween coincided in Allantide, the feast of St. Allen, and and people would give each other glossy red "Allan apples", this carried on until relatively recently on in the West of Cornwall & children would put the apples under their pillows. As children we'd carve swedes and put candles in them - I can still remember the smell. My sister carries on this tradition with her grandchildren, no pumpkins in her house! It's probably not surprising that we had similar traditions to the Welsh.
Yes, Dumnonia and Cymru are so closely related as to be cultural siblings. We have a similar tradition with the table settings which I keep vague only for privacy reasons, but I nodded at every point you made. I’m truly sorry not to have mentioned Kernow in the video, I promise to make up for it in due course.
@@TheWelshViking Don't feel the need to apologize, you are after all the Welsh Viking and talking about Welsh customs. That is a lot of research without taking Kernow onboard too.
That's very interesting what was said about bonfires being a common thing to mark the beginning of the winter months in many cultures. Here in Sweden (and I believe our neighboring countries as well) we do it the other way around, we light fires in mid-Spring, traditionally to chase away the last of the darkness and to keep dark forces, such as witches, away from the cattle that are being let back out to graze after being kept inside all winter.
THANK YOU for the bit about not appropriating Mexican skulls symbolism for this new Welsh Hallowe'en tradition. Aside: one of my favorite costubers (Bernardette Banneer) carves turnips for her Jack'o'lanterns, which is lovely.
Wow! Why am I only seeing this now? So many comments have I, because you basically described fall in Michigan, when it comes to apples, and traditions. I knew we had many Welsh immigrants settle here, mainly in the upper peninsula, but I wasn't aware of the possible significant impact on our harvest traditions. The Cornish brought us their fabulous pasties, and now I think the Welsh brought us all our apple goodness. How on earth did I not notice? Part of my family is from Wales, but I never made the connection because it's just part of our general culture in Michigan. Research I must do, and dang, does it make me miss my grandma's cinnamon apple rings. Poached in a syrup made from red hots (hard cinnamon candy), so they are bright red, and amazing. And yes, three cinnamon sticks, tied with a festive ribbon, was on every christmas tree growing up. Thanks for this video, and honestly, I'm a bit blown away, lol. Also feeling like a complete dullard 😆 I am so totally not worthy of this granny smith apple I'm currently eating... nope.
Samhain is about celebrating my ancestors (as a hedgewitch) and is a big deal in my family. Lots of eating, drinking, games and fun with a serious side tucked in amongst it all with symbols and rituals. However, I have no issue with all and sundry having fun, dressing up and 'commercialising' the tradition - it does not affect me and mine and I see it as no harm is intended by those who do it. Lovely video with lots of fun facts and history. Blessed Samhain to all ;)
Same! I love the festival, I love the symbols and decorations, and I love the dressing up for parties. Comercialisation and our consumer society is an issue in general, but it does not take away my joy at a feast or celebration.
American with Welsh relatives here. Loved the video. Sounds cozily familiar to some of the traditions I remember. Don't remember a lot of the Welsh traditions, but the one that stuck was for Halloween, New Year's, May Day - it repeats on a lot of holidays - staying up all night and telling scary stories - normally as a group, but if you wanted to do it yourself, good for you - to scare off evil spirits and bad fortune. And since is cider pressing time in my part of America right around Halloween, I have my apples in liquid form for that.
Thank you! Apples seem to improve when turned into a liquid! Sounds like you’ve got the very best tradition going, especially doing it all with others in a cosy setting :)
I'm new to your channel. I'm learning Welsh and this video just taught how to pronounce so many words in Welsh! Learning about Welsh culture is so fantastic. Also, I'm Mexican, and I just wanted to share that we do not believe people from other countries using sugar skulls as decoration is offensive or cultural appropriation. We love when other people share our culture, as long as they are respectful to us and our culture the rest of the year.
One of the most memorable occasions of this festival I ever spent was with our Celtic group over a decade ago in the vicinity of Seattle. We gathered together, ate some really good food, and stayed up all night reading various Irish and Welsh stories aloud. The highlight on that occasion was reading aloud Culhwch ac Olwen, which is a great story to read in general, of course, but read aloud some of the humor in it really became far more obvious than it ever was before in my silent readings of it. Give it a try and read the section when they go to get Dwrnach the Giant's sword aloud, and Arthur's warriors say they're sword-burnishers...it's either absolutely full of double entendres, or the author just really liked to polish swords! *Ahem.* ;)
I was so worried you were going to burn your beard, but apparently I should have been more concerned for your fingernails. 😊 Fun video! I agree that cozier, community centered Halloweens would be preferable! Only as my kids got older did they finally find the fun in making their own costumes. Memory: Our church used to hold costume contests- great fun. They could be quite competitive! I brought home a win for the family the year three hurricanes came through Orlando. One was named Jean. So I wore blue jeans and a blue jean shirt, and a long blond wig. To my hair and clothing I added bits of tree twigs and tree moss and tiles from our roof and parts of the pool screen that had been destroyed. It was the first time my husband thought I looked a fright! Lol Totally worth the win, though! 😁
Thank you! My new podcast is doing a bunch of episodes in October for Halloween and this was such a great jumping point for Welsh traditions. We hear so much about the Irish traditions here in America, but not a lot from other regions. This was SUPER interesting.
I totally agree about making costumes vs buying them, we didn't "trick or treat" when I was a child but my fondest memories of Halloween were making costumes with my family to wear to parties, using multiple pots of hair gel to stick our hair up in spikes and adding red and green paint to it ...not sure what costume that was for but I remember it being fun!
thank you for sharing some of the Welsh traditions! I don't know about the rest of the United States, but sometimes in New England, instead of suspending apples from the ceiling and trying to eat them, we would suspend donuts. Apple picking and pumpkin picking were two of my favorite hobbies as a kid, and hot apple cider is also more evocative of the Halloween season than pumpkin spice for me. There's also a strong tradition stemming from the 19th century Spiritualist movement of using spirit (Ouija) boards or holding seances.
I'm really interested in folklore in general, particularly Welsh folklore by virtue of my fiancé's heritage, so this has been an absolute pleasure to learn!
The apple bobbing reminds me of a story my mum told me. When she was a child, she (or a friend of hers, I can’t remember) was bobbing for apples, but she had a wobbly tooth. She found an apple and bit into it and when she took it into her hand and looked at it her tooth was sticking straight out of the apple.
Just found your channel, LOVE IT! Thanks for this. Looking forward to celebrating Calan Gaeaf this year in Minnesota, USA. Can't wait to get back to Cymru someday.
Amazing! Intro/outro! I love that you agree that Halloween/Calan Gaeaf/Samhain should be a fun social festival that we all participate in with levity and togetherness! Hooray for the harvest and a tight community before winter! :)
Awesome vid! So funny & interesting, & I'm happy to know the Welsh name for Samhain! We don't really do Hallowe'en in Australia, sadly- it's the wrong time of year in this hemisphere, but we do have Bonfire Night in May instead of Nov 5th, & that IS a thing! I think I'm missing something with the tail-less pig of death, tho- would you stop & check for a tail, & only scream in horror when you couldn't see one?!?
Thank you for sharing! In sweden historically some form of wassailling/trick-or-treating has been more associated with easter (children dressed as witches) and in the southwest there's been a midwinter-wassail (Lusse långnatt). The old fashioned way of doing it was still practiced in my grandmas village in the late 90s but in most parts and for quite some time it has morphed into Lucia day, which uses a catholic saint, for what seems mostly to be a bourgoise variety of a semi-pagean holiday. More reminiscent of christmas pageants & nativity plays. Except it's this Sicilian saint who blinded herself in opposition to an arranged marriage, bringing light to the darkest day of the year. Except it's still celebrated on the 13th, i e the day of midwinter by the JULIAN calender . It's quite the mess. But it's a very sweet tradition, and the associates baked goods are delicious.
Swedish baked goods and badass women sound like a decent second-place! But I’d love to hear more about your Grandmother’s village traditions, if it’s appropriate to ask, of course.
@@TheWelshViking Sure it is! A bit of googling later tells me that the tradition stems from the region my grandmother is from, and was still celebrated in a few villages back in 2014. It's goes back to at least the 1500's but might be as old as the very earliest christening which also took place here. The name "Lusse" and the practice of dressing up as a "Lussegubbe" comes from Lucifer, and the belief that the devil is the closest or strongest during "Lussenatten" (Lusse night), i e the darkest night of the year. So people, possibly mostly young people but not children, would dress up to mask themselves and look ugly/frightening and the go round showing there ugly faces asking for treats; like strong liquour, cheese or something like it. There seems to be a point of trying to guess who's behind the masks of your visitors, and I guess an assumption that most of your visiting lussegubbar would be someone you know at least by name and so on. Apparently this never spread from the western parts - unlike the later variety with pretty women (or crossdressing) Here are some in the year 1930: digitaltmuseum.se/021017511672/lussegubbar-i-haljestena And for reference here is a "Luciatåg" (Lucia procession?) in 1935 digitaltmuseum.se/011013993847/luciatag-uppsala-december-1935
Love the ambient lighting. I've always enjoyed Halloween, my favorite holiday. It was interesting to hear all the different traditions. Apple cinnamon is way better then pumpkin spice.
Our family calls the turnip lanterns "Tumpsies" a tradition we firmly stand by, even if I've bent many an impliment hollowing them out. Guising is the best bit, and I've always gone for the making, and am sure to compliment the kids in home-grown costumes. We always make them recite a rhyme or tell a joke/sing a verse for their sweeties. Knocking on the door is only the first step!
Love it! All of it! You are absolutely doing it right! You’ll have to increase the challenge of the task every year until they’re putting on a full musical for their sweets!
Halloween is also the first day of Allhallowtide, which is a 3 day Catholic festival of the dead. Halloween/All Hallows Eve on October 31st, All Hallows Day/All Saints Day on November 1st, and All Souls Day on November 2nd. All Saints Day has been practiced on November 1st since the late 700s in England and Germany. All Souls Day followed in the late 900s on November 2nd. All Hallows Eve or Halloween marked the solemn date to pray for those whose souls where stuck in purgatory, then one prayed for the saints who passed on & for said saints to intercede on behalf of those stuck in purgatory or on earth, then finally All Souls was for celebrating the lifes of whose who have passed and praying they made it into heaven. Sorry, doing research on Christian holidays that are no longer practiced by the majority of the Christian population and have been lost to obscurity. This was a great video. I've learned alot about the Irish and Scottish traditions surrounding Halloween, but never heard of the Welsh traditions. I'm going to have to do more research it seems!
Here in Argentina we do not celebrate Halloween, but it's interesting to know from a reliable source the traditions, apart from the candies and spooky costumes. Awesome video!
It may amuse you to know that my coven consisted of mostly moms. We LOVED traditional, and non-traditional practices. As a private joke; we would actually dress as "witches" including rubber warts, pointy hats, and all the other movie tropes we laugh at. We had a rather good time of it. AND we did our traditional ceremonies. Yes, some people can laugh at themselves as well, it does your heart good!
It's nice to see I'm in good company with my favorite exclamation! I, too, often say "balls!" in dismay. lol Not too common where I live I suppose, as I tend to get funny looks when I do it in public. 😂
"Pumpkin Pie Spice" always contains a pretty large percentage of cinnamon, and of course apples ripen in the fall here as well, so for those of us in America, it all smells like autumn and the beginning of winter. These days it's common to use cinnamon sticks as components for tree ornaments, and even cinnamon-scented pinecones are found in craft shops all over the place this time of year. Just found your channel less than 48 hours ago, btw, and I'm quite impressed with your research. Great videos! Keep'em coming.
Lol, your intro was great and I really enjoyed the video. What a wonderful new tradition. Now I'm going to make Gwyn mab Nudd's skull for Calan Gaeaf. This will be fun. :D
Another fun video. I adore learning about holiday traditions from different places. My kiddo has been bugging me already to make toffee apples, so they will definitely be on the menu for Halloween night this year. Thanks so much for sharing and take care.
Jimmy what exactly is Wassailing? I've heard of a drink called Wassail and also seen a version of wassailing where people gather in an apple orchard to sing and dance amongst the trees while pouring cider around the base of the trees to supposedly bless the following years harvest.
As Ashlee says, it’s effectively caroling, and is where both that and trick or treat stem from. Wassail the drink is basically mulled (non-alcoholic usually) cider or fruit juice. I plan to make some once I have enough local apples :)
An elephant would be a great paper mache project along with the skull! Keep the kids busy for a long time and then light it on fire to drive off the dark.
Sounds like the Welsh combined a couple of English/pagan Celebrations. I do my Waes Hail'ing on 12th night dancing around an old apple tree (whacking with a stick) and drinking my mulled ale and apple. Samhain I carve a turnip and light a all night candle to keep away evil spirits. Happy Celtic New Year!
Same to you! Kind of. Bear in mind the traditions date as far back in Wales at least as far as they do in England. Rather than combining, it’s more that they simply survive alongside each other
Spooky season is the best! I love the autumn the color turning and all the other goodies, days getting steadily more dark, and then getting to decorate my apartment with adorable spookies! It's so nice to get to know the history behind all of this commercialized plastic spook. To see the things we have cept or gained in this tradition. Learning is always good and you just have such a way of presenting new knowledge that is so compelling.
I love it Jimmy haha this one cracked me up. Halloween is my favorite time of year. Thank you for sharing this wonderful knowledge! Would love to sit alongside you at a bonfire as you speak of the past. Happy Halloween my friend.
Originally from upstate NY(US), the end of apple season is kind of crazy-or at least it was for us. We’d process literal 50-100+ lbs of apples into apple products. If it is made from apples, I’ve made it. Incidentally, the only apple I can eat any more without getting horrendous memories is Golden delicious. Though I still love cider...the brain is weird. Thank you for sharing!
Bright red toffee apples with tart green granny Smith apples..... not just a tradition there. They're a part of my childhood too, tho not related to Halloween..... more Easter tbh. We have a tradition of large agricultural shows being held around easter and they're "fairground food". On this side of the world its the wrong time of year for Halloween anyway.... its early spring/summer here. The seasons are reversed to the nthrn hemisphere. In any case, blessings to you this samhain season.
I still remember trying to carve a swede for Halloween at my grandmother's (Moel Arthur!)... basically trying not to cut my fingers off! Didn't leave it to gently rot first... By Toutatis! (yes I'm an Asterix reader)
I’m starting to get the costumes ready for the kids. Super hero costumes, sorry, but homemade. I wrote a little story for our kids based on their names when they were babies, well, before they were born. We turned their pre-birth names into their super hero aliases and my husband told stories to them based on their super hero names. I expanded on that and wrote them a story which I (poorly) illustrated. So now they want super hero costumes based on their book and their daddies stories. This video is delightful! I love to hear the traditions from various cultures for holidays.
Apology returned, because this is absolutely *incredible* parenting. Incredible. You are the coolest parents and I hope you write the stories down and get them printed one day. Omg my little Welsh heart is melting.
When you said "get cozy" at the end I legit thought you said "get covid" which is, in fact, the new worldwide tradition; especially if you're trying to eat the same apples as everyone else at the party
There may, or may not, be photographic evidence of what happened the one time I remember bobbing for apples when I was a wee girl living in the US. Let's just say, my hands may have been involved. But yes, apples and cinnamon are much more of a sign of autumn and winter than pumpkin spice for me as well.
I am definitely going to be creating some skulls with Celtic symbols this year. My problem is that I know nothing about Celtic symbols so is there some direction that you can offer or perhaps you can suggest some symbols that I should put on my skull? I’ll make two and send you one.
Sounds fun and easy ! I'm sick of the commercialized American version of Halloween. As a parent I feel pressure to get my children costumes and I just cant do it anymore.
Apples make more sense in Finland also, since many Finns still have apple trees in their yard, even in the suburbs of the largest cities. It would be much more interesting to see different countries and cultures adjust the Fall celebrations to fit their own circumstances, instead of adopting foreign and/or commercial customs as is, or just simply revive their own forgotten traditions. New traditions, like the skulls described in the video, are also fascinating and exciting, and I highly recommend and encourage everyone to come up with their own. There's always room for more creativity and variation! :)
*Nos Calan Gaeaf* literally translates as 'Night of Winter's eve' ,the (three months) season of winter would commence on the 1st of November and finish on the last day of January - the peak of this three months season being December the 21st (shortest day) The three month season of Spring would then start on the 1st of February and then end on the last day of April. The three months of summer would then begin on May the 1st , ending on the last day of July- the peak of the three month summer season being July the 21st ( longest day) Autumn would begin September the 1st , ending on October the 31st -the eve of winter *Nos Calan Gaeaf* 🏴👍
Just FYI, it looks like Ko-fi will only take paypal, and paypal is currently unable, for some reason, to add new cards, so those of us who have just had new cards are stuck.
What a great video! Also, as a neopagan myself, I can't imagine taking offense to the merriment, that's the best part! I just take offense to corporations sticking their noses in and making plastic costumes...
*Me:* Anxiously watching the candle the entire video whilst listening. *TWV:* "Burning hot wax just dropped on my fingernail and it was not fun". *Me:* 😮😫
I'm pretty sure that the elephant bit was a joke so please don't sacrifice elephants to ancient gods. As an aside, I'd like to share a point about sacrifice. It's partial speculation and partially based on the various words used in ancient traditions to describe the act of sacrifice so take it as you will. But a sacrifice was...well a sacrifice. By that, I mean that often a sacrifice was something that the individual would sorely miss. A prized pig just before the winter months, an expensive sword thrown into the bog, loch, or river as an offering, a well-bred horse that was both expensive and a status symbol. Yes, there are instances of people sacrificing their enemies, but in those cases, it seems that the actual sacrifice was the effort and threat to one's life that it took to defeat that enemy. So consider what is valuable and important to our modern minds and that would be an actual sacrifice. But please don't throw cellphones into rivers. Not good for the environment.
*face palm* Tell me, why in the F***king H*** would you want to write your name on a stone???!!!! {Great way to get the kids to go the heck home, however.} Love the winter, all my clothes are made for winter! Stay well!
Random European christian person: criticizes Halloween celebrations for being "alien to the christian and local tradition" Also the same person: spends month's wages on presents and engorges oneself unconscious to celebrate the birth of Jesus. I'm no fan of commercialization myself, I just wish some people out there were more aware that a whole lot of their religious festivals was set on specific dates or even specifically invented to replace the pre-christian festivals. And in some cases the gluttony and fun parts that don't have anything to do with christian liturgy are the remnants of the actual celebrations of the cultural rites of their ancestors. And OMG my aunt's face expression when I told her about where christmas trees come from xD
Okay, can we talk about you waving the candle around and not burning your eyebrow at all for the whole video. Brilliant.
As a Mexican I thank you for making the difference, between the skulls, we love our sugar skulls; and lovely to know Welsh people like skulls too.
We love skulls!
De nada, it’s important to make sure any new traditions respect those of other cultures, especially ones that are already misused and appropriated.
"Is there more than gorging on fun-sized sweets" Yes getting the good FULL sized sweets.
Once again I'm dreadfully late to the party, but as a life-long neo-pagan (and rather neglectful Wiccan), I adore the Celtic Samhain traditions, but also love the great, spooky fun of our American-style Hallowe'en. Here in the US I think most pagans do enjoy the secular celebrations alongside the rites of Samhain. As for me, I'm also a huge lover of apples as the iconic flavor of Autumn, though toffee apples aren't as popular here in the states as caramel apples. I don't know it the caramel variety has caught on in the UK, but if you haven't tried the combination - it's GLORIOUS. Thanks as ever for a delightful video, and for braving hot wax for the cause. ❤
Watching this in feb to make myself nostalgic for autumn 🍂
Kalan Gwav Lowen. (Happy Halloween, in Cornish) We'd traditionally leave out food to appease the Piskies. We'd also set extra places at the table or by the fire for the spirits of the dead & light candles to remember them.
Apples also featured in Cornish traditions, Halloween coincided in Allantide, the feast of St. Allen, and and people would give each other glossy red "Allan apples", this carried on until relatively recently on in the West of Cornwall & children would put the apples under their pillows.
As children we'd carve swedes and put candles in them - I can still remember the smell. My sister carries on this tradition with her grandchildren, no pumpkins in her house!
It's probably not surprising that we had similar traditions to the Welsh.
Yes, Dumnonia and Cymru are so closely related as to be cultural siblings. We have a similar tradition with the table settings which I keep vague only for privacy reasons, but I nodded at every point you made.
I’m truly sorry not to have mentioned Kernow in the video, I promise to make up for it in due course.
@@TheWelshViking Don't feel the need to apologize, you are after all the Welsh Viking and talking about Welsh customs. That is a lot of research without taking Kernow onboard too.
That's very interesting what was said about bonfires being a common thing to mark the beginning of the winter months in many cultures. Here in Sweden (and I believe our neighboring countries as well) we do it the other way around, we light fires in mid-Spring, traditionally to chase away the last of the darkness and to keep dark forces, such as witches, away from the cattle that are being let back out to graze after being kept inside all winter.
I‘m utterly impressed by the fact, that your candle just kept on burning
So was I! It actually burns for about three solid hours, and is solid beeswax, so smells gorgeous
Yoo I'm here from tumblr and I spotted Wales on your vid catalog and decided to come over.
Love the video
THANK YOU for the bit about not appropriating Mexican skulls symbolism for this new Welsh Hallowe'en tradition. Aside: one of my favorite costubers (Bernardette Banneer) carves turnips for her Jack'o'lanterns, which is lovely.
Why did I know I would find other Bernadette fans here, haha!
Costube was amazing thanks to that I have found this channel and so many more from bernadettes.
In Scotland, we carved turnips when I was a wee girl. Turnips were seriously big!
I loved this! Thanks for sharing! 🤗🌟😊
Wow! Why am I only seeing this now? So many comments have I, because you basically described fall in Michigan, when it comes to apples, and traditions. I knew we had many Welsh immigrants settle here, mainly in the upper peninsula, but I wasn't aware of the possible significant impact on our harvest traditions. The Cornish brought us their fabulous pasties, and now I think the Welsh brought us all our apple goodness. How on earth did I not notice? Part of my family is from Wales, but I never made the connection because it's just part of our general culture in Michigan. Research I must do, and dang, does it make me miss my grandma's cinnamon apple rings. Poached in a syrup made from red hots (hard cinnamon candy), so they are bright red, and amazing. And yes, three cinnamon sticks, tied with a festive ribbon, was on every christmas tree growing up.
Thanks for this video, and honestly, I'm a bit blown away, lol. Also feeling like a complete dullard 😆 I am so totally not worthy of this granny smith apple I'm currently eating... nope.
I just loved all of this 😊
Samhain is about celebrating my ancestors (as a hedgewitch) and is a big deal in my family. Lots of eating, drinking, games and fun with a serious side tucked in amongst it all with symbols and rituals. However, I have no issue with all and sundry having fun, dressing up and 'commercialising' the tradition - it does not affect me and mine and I see it as no harm is intended by those who do it. Lovely video with lots of fun facts and history. Blessed Samhain to all ;)
I agree! Blessed be to all x
Same! I love the festival, I love the symbols and decorations, and I love the dressing up for parties. Comercialisation and our consumer society is an issue in general, but it does not take away my joy at a feast or celebration.
American with Welsh relatives here. Loved the video. Sounds cozily familiar to some of the traditions I remember. Don't remember a lot of the Welsh traditions, but the one that stuck was for Halloween, New Year's, May Day - it repeats on a lot of holidays - staying up all night and telling scary stories - normally as a group, but if you wanted to do it yourself, good for you - to scare off evil spirits and bad fortune. And since is cider pressing time in my part of America right around Halloween, I have my apples in liquid form for that.
Thank you!
Apples seem to improve when turned into a liquid! Sounds like you’ve got the very best tradition going, especially doing it all with others in a cosy setting :)
I'm new to your channel. I'm learning Welsh and this video just taught how to pronounce so many words in Welsh! Learning about Welsh culture is so fantastic.
Also, I'm Mexican, and I just wanted to share that we do not believe people from other countries using sugar skulls as decoration is offensive or cultural appropriation. We love when other people share our culture, as long as they are respectful to us and our culture the rest of the year.
One of the most memorable occasions of this festival I ever spent was with our Celtic group over a decade ago in the vicinity of Seattle. We gathered together, ate some really good food, and stayed up all night reading various Irish and Welsh stories aloud. The highlight on that occasion was reading aloud Culhwch ac Olwen, which is a great story to read in general, of course, but read aloud some of the humor in it really became far more obvious than it ever was before in my silent readings of it. Give it a try and read the section when they go to get Dwrnach the Giant's sword aloud, and Arthur's warriors say they're sword-burnishers...it's either absolutely full of double entendres, or the author just really liked to polish swords! *Ahem.* ;)
I was so worried you were going to burn your beard, but apparently I should have been more concerned for your fingernails. 😊 Fun video! I agree that cozier, community centered Halloweens would be preferable! Only as my kids got older did they finally find the fun in making their own costumes. Memory: Our church used to hold costume contests- great fun. They could be quite competitive! I brought home a win for the family the year three hurricanes came through Orlando. One was named Jean. So I wore blue jeans and a blue jean shirt, and a long blond wig. To my hair and clothing I added bits of tree twigs and tree moss and tiles from our roof and parts of the pool screen that had been destroyed. It was the first time my husband thought I looked a fright! Lol Totally worth the win, though! 😁
Another great video, now I understand Hogfather a bit better. I'm gonna have to read that book again. Thanks Jimmy.
The elephant people are 100% coming for you
Yeah I wondered what that was about.
What a nice, moody video, dim candlelight, interesting history and balls at the end... Thank you, I enjoyed it plenty!
Glad it had all the necessary elements, Monika! *Makes note* “must... swear... more”
Thank you! My new podcast is doing a bunch of episodes in October for Halloween and this was such a great jumping point for Welsh traditions. We hear so much about the Irish traditions here in America, but not a lot from other regions. This was SUPER interesting.
Thank you for providing the spellings on those names. Always nice to be able to connect what I've read before to the proper pronunciations.
I totally agree about making costumes vs buying them, we didn't "trick or treat" when I was a child but my fondest memories of Halloween were making costumes with my family to wear to parties, using multiple pots of hair gel to stick our hair up in spikes and adding red and green paint to it ...not sure what costume that was for but I remember it being fun!
Sounds like you were a punk! I used to use flour and water mix or just soap to make my mohawk. It was... ill advised. But fun!
thank you for sharing some of the Welsh traditions!
I don't know about the rest of the United States, but sometimes in New England, instead of suspending apples from the ceiling and trying to eat them, we would suspend donuts. Apple picking and pumpkin picking were two of my favorite hobbies as a kid, and hot apple cider is also more evocative of the Halloween season than pumpkin spice for me. There's also a strong tradition stemming from the 19th century Spiritualist movement of using spirit (Ouija) boards or holding seances.
I'm really interested in folklore in general, particularly Welsh folklore by virtue of my fiancé's heritage, so this has been an absolute pleasure to learn!
The apple bobbing reminds me of a story my mum told me. When she was a child, she (or a friend of hers, I can’t remember) was bobbing for apples, but she had a wobbly tooth. She found an apple and bit into it and when she took it into her hand and looked at it her tooth was sticking straight out of the apple.
That *exact* thing happened to me once! Complete with double-take afterwards and showing it off to my little mates!
Just found your channel, LOVE IT! Thanks for this. Looking forward to celebrating Calan Gaeaf this year in Minnesota, USA. Can't wait to get back to Cymru someday.
Amazing! Intro/outro! I love that you agree that Halloween/Calan Gaeaf/Samhain should be a fun social festival that we all participate in with levity and togetherness! Hooray for the harvest and a tight community before winter! :)
Awesome vid! So funny & interesting, & I'm happy to know the Welsh name for Samhain! We don't really do Hallowe'en in Australia, sadly- it's the wrong time of year in this hemisphere, but we do have Bonfire Night in May instead of Nov 5th, & that IS a thing!
I think I'm missing something with the tail-less pig of death, tho- would you stop & check for a tail, & only scream in horror when you couldn't see one?!?
Thank you for sharing! In sweden historically some form of wassailling/trick-or-treating has been more associated with easter (children dressed as witches) and in the southwest there's been a midwinter-wassail (Lusse långnatt). The old fashioned way of doing it was still practiced in my grandmas village in the late 90s but in most parts and for quite some time it has morphed into Lucia day, which uses a catholic saint, for what seems mostly to be a bourgoise variety of a semi-pagean holiday. More reminiscent of christmas pageants & nativity plays. Except it's this Sicilian saint who blinded herself in opposition to an arranged marriage, bringing light to the darkest day of the year. Except it's still celebrated on the 13th, i e the day of midwinter by the JULIAN calender . It's quite the mess. But it's a very sweet tradition, and the associates baked goods are delicious.
Swedish baked goods and badass women sound like a decent second-place! But I’d love to hear more about your Grandmother’s village traditions, if it’s appropriate to ask, of course.
@@TheWelshViking Sure it is! A bit of googling later tells me that the tradition stems from the region my grandmother is from, and was still celebrated in a few villages back in 2014.
It's goes back to at least the 1500's but might be as old as the very earliest christening which also took place here.
The name "Lusse" and the practice of dressing up as a "Lussegubbe" comes from Lucifer, and the belief that the devil is the closest or strongest during "Lussenatten" (Lusse night), i e the darkest night of the year. So people, possibly mostly young people but not children, would dress up to mask themselves and look ugly/frightening and the go round showing there ugly faces asking for treats; like strong liquour, cheese or something like it. There seems to be a point of trying to guess who's behind the masks of your visitors, and I guess an assumption that most of your visiting lussegubbar would be someone you know at least by name and so on.
Apparently this never spread from the western parts - unlike the later variety with pretty women (or crossdressing)
Here are some in the year 1930: digitaltmuseum.se/021017511672/lussegubbar-i-haljestena
And for reference here is a "Luciatåg" (Lucia procession?) in 1935 digitaltmuseum.se/011013993847/luciatag-uppsala-december-1935
Love learning more about the Halloween culture elsewhere in the world!
Yay! I’m glad you enjoyed it NCG!
Love the ambient lighting. I've always enjoyed Halloween, my favorite holiday. It was interesting to hear all the different traditions. Apple cinnamon is way better then pumpkin spice.
Our family calls the turnip lanterns "Tumpsies" a tradition we firmly stand by, even if I've bent many an impliment hollowing them out.
Guising is the best bit, and I've always gone for the making, and am sure to compliment the kids in home-grown costumes. We always make them recite a rhyme or tell a joke/sing a verse for their sweeties. Knocking on the door is only the first step!
Love it! All of it! You are absolutely doing it right! You’ll have to increase the challenge of the task every year until they’re putting on a full musical for their sweets!
Also tumpsies is *the* cutest word.
Halloween is also the first day of Allhallowtide, which is a 3 day Catholic festival of the dead. Halloween/All Hallows Eve on October 31st, All Hallows Day/All Saints Day on November 1st, and All Souls Day on November 2nd. All Saints Day has been practiced on November 1st since the late 700s in England and Germany. All Souls Day followed in the late 900s on November 2nd. All Hallows Eve or Halloween marked the solemn date to pray for those whose souls where stuck in purgatory, then one prayed for the saints who passed on & for said saints to intercede on behalf of those stuck in purgatory or on earth, then finally All Souls was for celebrating the lifes of whose who have passed and praying they made it into heaven. Sorry, doing research on Christian holidays that are no longer practiced by the majority of the Christian population and have been lost to obscurity. This was a great video. I've learned alot about the Irish and Scottish traditions surrounding Halloween, but never heard of the Welsh traditions. I'm going to have to do more research it seems!
Meanwhile, in Australia its getting warmer and....
Yay a Welsh Viking upload! Where can i see the skulls that people are making? would love to get involved!
Oh shoot! I've added a link in the description. Thanks for the heads up!
@@TheWelshViking hahaha 😆
Here in Argentina we do not celebrate Halloween, but it's interesting to know from a reliable source the traditions, apart from the candies and spooky costumes.
Awesome video!
Oh look! An explanation for candy apples! 🎃
It may amuse you to know that my coven consisted of mostly moms. We LOVED traditional, and non-traditional practices. As a private joke; we would actually dress as "witches" including rubber warts, pointy hats, and all the other movie tropes we laugh at. We had a rather good time of it. AND we did our traditional ceremonies. Yes, some people can laugh at themselves as well, it does your heart good!
In Australia it’s only been in the last 25-30yrs that Hallowe’en has become a thing but in the American style
It's nice to see I'm in good company with my favorite exclamation! I, too, often say "balls!" in dismay. lol Not too common where I live I suppose, as I tend to get funny looks when I do it in public. 😂
It’s just such a good one! And it isn’t *too* rude either! 😜
You’re a gem
Aw, fresh!
"Pumpkin Pie Spice" always contains a pretty large percentage of cinnamon, and of course apples ripen in the fall here as well, so for those of us in America, it all smells like autumn and the beginning of winter. These days it's common to use cinnamon sticks as components for tree ornaments, and even cinnamon-scented pinecones are found in craft shops all over the place this time of year. Just found your channel less than 48 hours ago, btw, and I'm quite impressed with your research. Great videos! Keep'em coming.
Well thank you, Julia! Cinnamon sticks on trees is such a nice idea. Might make a few bundles and get the smell permeating :)
honestly I use apple pie spice and pumpkin pie spice interchangeably, it's mostly all the same spices.
Well, think I'll be making apple dumplings for halloween this year. Mmmm.
Lol, your intro was great and I really enjoyed the video. What a wonderful new tradition. Now I'm going to make Gwyn mab Nudd's skull for Calan Gaeaf. This will be fun. :D
It is fun! I have a couple now and they’re deliciously goth! I’m so happy you enjoyed the vid :)
Another fun video. I adore learning about holiday traditions from different places. My kiddo has been bugging me already to make toffee apples, so they will definitely be on the menu for Halloween night this year. Thanks so much for sharing and take care.
Jimmy what exactly is Wassailing? I've heard of a drink called Wassail and also seen a version of wassailing where people gather in an apple orchard to sing and dance amongst the trees while pouring cider around the base of the trees to supposedly bless the following years harvest.
It's like caroling. You go door to door, singing for gifts, usually drinks or snacks.
As Ashlee says, it’s effectively caroling, and is where both that and trick or treat stem from. Wassail the drink is basically mulled (non-alcoholic usually) cider or fruit juice. I plan to make some once I have enough local apples :)
An elephant would be a great paper mache project along with the skull! Keep the kids busy for a long time and then light it on fire to drive off the dark.
Oooh! That’s a good way to ‘sacrifice’ an elephant 🐘!
This is awesome traditions, going to try a few this coming fall.
Sounds like the Welsh combined a couple of English/pagan Celebrations. I do my Waes Hail'ing on 12th night dancing around an old apple tree (whacking with a stick) and drinking my mulled ale and apple. Samhain I carve a turnip and light a all night candle to keep away evil spirits. Happy Celtic New Year!
Same to you!
Kind of. Bear in mind the traditions date as far back in Wales at least as far as they do in England. Rather than combining, it’s more that they simply survive alongside each other
Spooky season is the best! I love the autumn the color turning and all the other goodies, days getting steadily more dark, and then getting to decorate my apartment with adorable spookies! It's so nice to get to know the history behind all of this commercialized plastic spook. To see the things we have cept or gained in this tradition.
Learning is always good and you just have such a way of presenting new knowledge that is so compelling.
Thank you for another amazing video 🕯
I love it Jimmy haha this one cracked me up. Halloween is my favorite time of year. Thank you for sharing this wonderful knowledge! Would love to sit alongside you at a bonfire as you speak of the past. Happy Halloween my friend.
Originally from upstate NY(US), the end of apple season is kind of crazy-or at least it was for us. We’d process literal 50-100+ lbs of apples into apple products. If it is made from apples, I’ve made it. Incidentally, the only apple I can eat any more without getting horrendous memories is Golden delicious. Though I still love cider...the brain is weird. Thank you for sharing!
Still waiting on that mead.
Fling me a secure address on IG and I’ll send you a sample :)
Bright red toffee apples with tart green granny Smith apples..... not just a tradition there. They're a part of my childhood too, tho not related to Halloween..... more Easter tbh. We have a tradition of large agricultural shows being held around easter and they're "fairground food". On this side of the world its the wrong time of year for Halloween anyway.... its early spring/summer here. The seasons are reversed to the nthrn hemisphere. In any case, blessings to you this samhain season.
Tapadh leat, Catz! Interesting, and ye, absolutely fairground food as well, preferably sticky enough to pull milk teeth!
One day I will need to visit Wales during calan gaeaf.... I love Halloween in all it’s forms... ...minus the clowns
Unfortunately I don't think we do as much as used to.
enjoyed
I’m so pleased you did :) Thanks!
This is extremely interesting but holy f I was scared you were gonna drop the candle with how much you you waved it around
I still remember trying to carve a swede for Halloween at my grandmother's (Moel Arthur!)... basically trying not to cut my fingers off! Didn't leave it to gently rot first...
By Toutatis! (yes I'm an Asterix reader)
I’m starting to get the costumes ready for the kids. Super hero costumes, sorry, but homemade. I wrote a little story for our kids based on their names when they were babies, well, before they were born. We turned their pre-birth names into their super hero aliases and my husband told stories to them based on their super hero names. I expanded on that and wrote them a story which I (poorly) illustrated. So now they want super hero costumes based on their book and their daddies stories.
This video is delightful! I love to hear the traditions from various cultures for holidays.
Apology returned, because this is absolutely *incredible* parenting. Incredible. You are the coolest parents and I hope you write the stories down and get them printed one day. Omg my little Welsh heart is melting.
That is so completely amazing that you did that for your kids, and as a former bookseller, I give you all the awwws! 😊
I have welsh roots in my family but dont know much about the folklore or myth. Does anyone have any book or channel recommendations?
Petition for Jimmy to record asmr
On it. No really. Gonna get real weird.
When you said "get cozy" at the end I legit thought you said "get covid" which is, in fact, the new worldwide tradition; especially if you're trying to eat the same apples as everyone else at the party
Awesome video and loved how you filmed it with the candle light!! Will make some apple treats to celebrate :)
Brilliant as always! Thanks for this
There may, or may not, be photographic evidence of what happened the one time I remember bobbing for apples when I was a wee girl living in the US. Let's just say, my hands may have been involved.
But yes, apples and cinnamon are much more of a sign of autumn and winter than pumpkin spice for me as well.
*Pictures you as a nipper, madly shovelling apples into your mouth as the grown-ups are turned away*
@@TheWelshViking I don't remember grown-ups being turned away, as I have a feeling they must have been too busy trying not to get caught laughing 😂
Who else was worried that he was going to burn his face with the candle?
I am definitely going to be creating some skulls with Celtic symbols this year. My problem is that I know nothing about Celtic symbols so is there some direction that you can offer or perhaps you can suggest some symbols that I should put on my skull? I’ll make two and send you one.
Lovely video! Thank you.
Love your videos.
Sounds fun and easy ! I'm sick of the commercialized American version of Halloween. As a parent I feel pressure to get my children costumes and I just cant do it anymore.
I did wonder how your hand was doing with all that wax. :D
I’ve had worse working in moody bars, but still, my manicure!
I hope that isn't the black flame candle! Seriously though, great video.
Apples make more sense in Finland also, since many Finns still have apple trees in their yard, even in the suburbs of the largest cities. It would be much more interesting to see different countries and cultures adjust the Fall celebrations to fit their own circumstances, instead of adopting foreign and/or commercial customs as is, or just simply revive their own forgotten traditions. New traditions, like the skulls described in the video, are also fascinating and exciting, and I highly recommend and encourage everyone to come up with their own. There's always room for more creativity and variation! :)
Hear hear, Lunareon!
Finnish harvest and winter customs seem so wonderful, I’ve wanted to visit for a very long time.
*Nos Calan Gaeaf* literally translates as 'Night of Winter's eve' ,the (three months) season of winter would commence on the 1st of November and finish on the last day of January - the peak of this three months season being December the 21st (shortest day)
The three month season of Spring would then start on the 1st of February and then end on the last day of April.
The three months of summer would then begin on May the 1st , ending on the last day of July- the peak of the three month summer season being July the 21st ( longest day)
Autumn would begin September the 1st , ending on October the 31st -the eve of winter *Nos Calan Gaeaf*
🏴👍
Some people will pay good money to have hot wax dripped on them. Look at it this way, you got it for free!
I carved turnips for the first time this year. I'm not sure I'll ever go back to pumpkins. :D
Just FYI, it looks like Ko-fi will only take paypal, and paypal is currently unable, for some reason, to add new cards, so those of us who have just had new cards are stuck.
Never mind - works if you log in to paypay separately to ko-fi.
What a great video! Also, as a neopagan myself, I can't imagine taking offense to the merriment, that's the best part! I just take offense to corporations sticking their noses in and making plastic costumes...
*Me:* Anxiously watching the candle the entire video whilst listening.
*TWV:* "Burning hot wax just dropped on my fingernail and it was not fun".
*Me:* 😮😫
💫💕
I'm pretty sure that the elephant bit was a joke so please don't sacrifice elephants to ancient gods.
As an aside, I'd like to share a point about sacrifice. It's partial speculation and partially based on the various words used in ancient traditions to describe the act of sacrifice so take it as you will. But a sacrifice was...well a sacrifice. By that, I mean that often a sacrifice was something that the individual would sorely miss. A prized pig just before the winter months, an expensive sword thrown into the bog, loch, or river as an offering, a well-bred horse that was both expensive and a status symbol. Yes, there are instances of people sacrificing their enemies, but in those cases, it seems that the actual sacrifice was the effort and threat to one's life that it took to defeat that enemy.
So consider what is valuable and important to our modern minds and that would be an actual sacrifice. But please don't throw cellphones into rivers. Not good for the environment.
*face palm* Tell me, why in the F***king H*** would you want to write your name on a stone???!!!! {Great way to get the kids to go the heck home, however.} Love the winter, all my clothes are made for winter! Stay well!
Would they get in trouble if the threw in a dozen stones with their names on them? 😉😂
Random European christian person: criticizes Halloween celebrations for being "alien to the christian and local tradition"
Also the same person: spends month's wages on presents and engorges oneself unconscious to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
I'm no fan of commercialization myself, I just wish some people out there were more aware that a whole lot of their religious festivals was set on specific dates or even specifically invented to replace the pre-christian festivals. And in some cases the gluttony and fun parts that don't have anything to do with christian liturgy are the remnants of the actual celebrations of the cultural rites of their ancestors.
And OMG my aunt's face expression when I told her about where christmas trees come from xD