A Gŵyl Mabsant (

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

for "Feast of the

Patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

"), also known as the

patronal festival A patronal feast or patronal festival ( es, fiesta patronal; pt, festa patronal; ca, festa patronal; it, festa patronale; french: fête patronale) is a yearly celebration dedicated, in countries influenced by Christianity, to the "heavenly advoc ...

or Wake of a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

,Baring-Gould, Sabine & al
''The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and Such Irish Saints as Have Dedications in Britain'', Vol. I, pp. 64 ff
Chas. Clark (London), 1908. Hosted at Archive.org. Accessed 18 Nov 2014. is a traditional Welsh festival held annually in commemoration of the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of a

. Prior to

1752 In the British Empire, it was the only leap year with 355 days, as September 3–13 were skipped when the Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 1 – The British Empire (except Scotland, which h ...

, the corresponding fair was reckoned by the

Saint's Day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

according to

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

or to the official

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

or Anglican

Calendar of Saints The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

; following the shift to

New Style Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 158 ...

dating, however, the fair was reckoned eleven days later. (For example, St. Teilo's Fair in

Llandeilo Llandeilo () is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated at the crossing of the River Towy by the A483 on a 19th-century stone bridge. Its population was 1,795 at the 2011 Census. It is adjacent to the westernmost point of the ...

was originally held on 9 February but came to be held on the 20th.) By the 19th century, the fair often began on the following Sunday and then lasted between three days and a week. By that time, the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

had already removed the religious solemnities formerly observed and replaced them with programmes of recreational activities. Owing to the combination of betting, feasting, and

drinking Drinking is the act of ingesting water or other liquids into the body through the mouth, proboscis, or elsewhere. Humans drink by swallowing, completed by peristalsis in the esophagus. The physiological processes of drinking vary widely am ...

, parish festivals built up a reputation for their rowdiness.Jones, T. Llew. "Gŵyl Mabsant" in ''Llafar Gwlad'' (Winter 1997), pp. 10–11, & (Spring 1998), pp. 8–9.Suggett, Richard. "Festivals and Social Structure in Early Modern Wales" in ''Past & Present'', Vol. 152 (Aug 1996), pp. 79–112. The local, rural nature of the fairs also occasioned many variations in the rules of the contests, leading to disagreements between parishes. The fairs had mostly died out by the 1860s.

Customs

Cockfighting A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...

: Birds were specially trained for the contest and the owner of a victorious cockerel was held in high esteem; large amounts of money could be wagered on the outcome of the fights. *Grinning Matches: For old women *Eating Hot Pudding *

Bando Bando ( my, ဗန်တို, ) is a defensive unarmed martial art from Myanmar. Bando is sometimes mistakenly used as a generic word for all Burmese martial arts, but it is only one martial art; Burmese fighting systems collectively are ref ...

: A team sport, similar to the modern game of field hockey; teams used clubs to strike a ball towards a goal. It continued in some areas until the late 19th century and was particularly popular in Glamorgan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gwyl Mabsant Patronal festivals in Wales

Customs

See also

References