Halloween Tales: Calan Gaeaf — When Spirits Roam In Wales

Earlier than the trendy Halloween got here again to the British Isles, there have been celebrations just like the Welsh Calan Gaeaf. The primary day of winter. The evening earlier than today was when the veil was thinnest and the spirits roamed the land. 

House, dwelling, without delay
The tailless black sow shall snatch the final one.
– Welsh rhyme from Nos Calan Gaeaf

Because the winds of autumn develop colder and the times shorter, the folks of Wales put together for Calan Gaeaf, a pageant steeped in historic custom and eerie folklore. Celebrated on the evening of October thirty first, this Celtic vacation marks the transition into winter—when the veil between the dwelling and the lifeless thins, permitting spirits to stroll freely among the many dwelling.

Learn Additionally: Halloween Traditions Throughout the World

Very like its extra well-known counterpart, Halloween, Calan Gaeaf is a time when ghostly apparitions and supernatural forces are stated to roam the earth. However in Wales, the evening is uniquely stuffed with tales of terrifying spirits, haunted crossroads, and ominous indicators of dying. It’s an evening the place even the bravest keep away from stepping outdoors after darkish.

The Origins of Calan Gaeaf Festivities

Calan Gaeaf, translating to “the primary day of winter” in Welsh, has roots within the historic Celtic pageant of Samhain. For the Celts, this evening represented the top of the harvest season and the beginning of the darkish half of the yr, when the world was gripped by chilly and the lifeless returned to stroll among the many dwelling. Or is it actually a convention for all Celts? There are those that declare there actually is not any proof that Samhain was ever celebrated in Wales, making some suppose it’s extra a Gaelic customized moderately than Celtic. 

However how far does this celebration date again although? The phrase, Galan or Calan is definitely from the latin, calends “first day of winter.” 

What’s Celtic although is the courting of the day. The evening earlier than the day is known as the Nos Galan Gaef, and that is when the spirits from the otherworld, or Annwn, are stated to come back out to play. The Celts counted the times to start on the night earlier than, not the morning off. 

The identical time period is within the Cornish language referred to as Kalan Gwav, or Allantide as it’s principally referred to as now. In Breton language in modern-day France it’s referred to as Kalan Goañv.

Wales, with its wealthy Celtic heritage, embraced these historic beliefs, and Calan Gaeaf grew to become an evening stuffed with each celebration and concern. Fires have been lit in villages to maintain the malevolent spirits at bay, and households gathered indoors to share tales of ghosts and ghouls, all whereas maintaining a cautious eye on the evening outdoors.

The Haunting Presence of Hwch Ddu Gwta

Among the many many eerie figures related to Calan Gaeaf, none is extra feared than Hwch Ddu Gwta, a fearsome black sow with no tail. Legend says that Hwch Ddu Gwta roams the Welsh countryside on Calan Gaeaf, accompanied by a headless girl, the Y Ladi Wen, stalking those that dare to enterprise outdoors after sundown. Anybody unfortunate sufficient to come across this spectral beast would absolutely be doomed, dragged away into the darkness and even to the underworld itself.

To keep away from Hwch Ddu Gwta and different stressed spirits, folks would rush dwelling earlier than dusk, locking their doorways tightly. The thought of being caught outdoors was a terror for a lot of, because it was believed the spirits may declare anybody out within the open on this haunted evening.

Hwch Ddu Gwta a Ladi Wen heb ddim pen
Hwch Ddu Gwta a gipio’r ola’
Hwch Ddu Gwta nos G’langaea
Lladron yn dwad tan weu sana.

The black sow and headless white girl,
Will try to catch the final to go away,
Thieves abound knitting stockings,
Beware the tail-less black sow on winter’s eve.

A sport performed by the bonfire was additionally that one of many males would put on a pig pores and skin and chase the kids to maintain the concern and legend alive. 

Divination and Darkish Omens Throughout Nos Galan Gaeaf

Except for the lurking spirits, Calan Gaeaf is an evening stuffed with historic customs and rituals. One of the vital unnerving traditions was a type of divination—an try to look into the long run and be taught of 1’s destiny, notably relating to dying. Folks would collect round bonfires (coelcerth) and throw stones into the flames, every particular person marking their stone with a particular image or identify. After the fireplace had burned down, the stones have been retrieved. It was stated that anybody whose stone was lacking within the morning would die earlier than the following Calan Gaeaf. You may additionally see the individuals who would die when you ran across the church thrice and peered into the keyhole of the church door. 

One other darkish custom concerned staring right into a mirror at midnight on Calan Gaeaf, with the idea that the face of your future partner—or, chillingly, a cranium—would seem behind you. If you happen to noticed the cranium, you’ll by no means marry, and die inside a yr. 

Boys would lower ten leaves of ivy, throw one away and put the remainder below the pillow. This is able to assist them see the long run, and in the event that they touched the ivy, they’d see witches, or gwrachod, as they slept. The boys would additionally gown in ladies’s clothes mimicking the Gwrachod and go from door to door for treats. This was thought to repel the evil spirits. 

The ladies grew roses in hoops they might undergo. They then lower the rose and put it below their pillows to see their future. Peeled apple pores and skin was additionally thrown over the shoulders to spell the primary letter of the long run husband. 

The Fashionable Halloween Celebration in Wales

Although at the moment, many of those outdated customs have light, the concern of spirits overseas on Calan Gaeaf nonetheless lingers within the corners of Welsh folklore. The outdated methods of celebrating look like it’s being swallowed by the extremely commercialized American Halloween.

On this eerie evening, even the skeptics can’t assist however really feel a shiver down their backbone because the wind howls via the hills and the evening closes in. In any case, because the outdated tales warn—when you’re out too late on Calan Gaeaf, you would possibly simply end up face-to-face with one thing that doesn’t belong on this world.

So when October thirty first comes round in Wales, watch out for wandering too removed from dwelling. Hwch Ddu Gwta could be watching, and the spirits could also be nearer than you suppose.

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