MARI LWYD

A look into an ancient folklore tradition, and the people who help keep it alive.
Directed, Produced and Edited: Jordan M Paterson & Matt Adams
Cinematography: Donny Johnson
Co-producer: Kate Flemming
Composition: Rhys Timson
Sound Design: Dan Weller
A Special thanks to Sue & John Exton for welcoming us to step into their world of tradition, community and magic..
Thanks to Chepstow Village, Mick Lewis and the wassailing community.

[@meredithaprobert]

Welsh-American and just learning about Mari Lwyd. What a beautiful tradition. "It's like going to war and then peace breaks out." I don't know why, but it's made me cry. We all need some of that passion and beauty in our lives these days.

[@JordanMPaterson]

[@oaktreeholler]

I'm a fellow Welsh/Irish American. I made a Mari Lwyd this year and look forward to midwinter celebration

[@MilaJohns]

@@oaktreeholler Any tips on how to acquire a horse skull?! I'm a fellow Welsh/American and I've spent the last 2 years searching for one without success and it's driving me batty!

[@amywalker209]

I've just acquired a skull via a well known Internet auction site. Very much looking forward to decorating it and getting it out and about, educating others in this fascinating tradition.

[@badentv1390]

Imagine this singing at your door at the middle of the night

[@SodiumSunset]

You just have to rap battle it until one gives up If you lose they get to drink all your beer tho

[@hijeyhh484]

And you are not at Wales

[@leachimgod13]

Imagine this thing shoeing up in 8 Mile

[@SodiumSunset]

@Zackdroid they destroy your house and call you a b1tch

[@0vsyanka5]

@Commander Bacon probably nothing, but i loved this tradition!

[@GothLady1987]

Awww, they're so pretttyyy! The music rocks! Wish we (modern) Americans had something like this. So GOTH!

[@mattwilson773]

This is visually stunning. Incredible tradition 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@larryfroot]

Mari Lwyd arrives at the door and a rap battle begins between her handlers and the householder. A rap battle in Welsh is called a pwnco, and has been for centuries!

[@dkongjohn6390]

Dw i’n hoffi Mari lwyd!

[@adolfoaguilar5237]

This is so... Beautiful and spooky at the same time

[@gabrielhandled5406]

If the Mari lwyd wins in a singing competition they get to raid your fridge for all the alchahol. True fact

[@hyperboreanradio8933]

Absolutely amazing, I love these sorts of traditions. American Yuletide traditions are rather tame in comparison to the Old Countries on Mother Europa. I keep finding amazing ones I know did make it over here though I'm not sure if the ones who kept it alive have been able to maintain. Hopefully they can have a revival similar to Krampus, I would especially love Carolling to integrate more of the Mumming elements from Europa.

[@feloniousbutterfly]

They are re-emerging in America!!

[@patriciahayes2664]

2:40 - Mr. and Mrs. Mari Lwyd. :D

[@aethelwulf7819]

Truly fascinating!

[@carbonarapadrino]

Fascinating! What a great film, thank you.

[@brianmelton7946]

Beautiful video. Hiraeth I am feeling.

[@adelemarieish]

I love Mari Lwyd, have done for years. I believe it goes back way beyond the Celts, the Beaker people.

[@atlashellwalker9769]

Note to self: don’t take any hallucinogenic shit when in wales. No not even if you really want to

[@chaseeeko5037]

this is so beautiful

[@chegeny]

Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda. 🎄☃🌟🎄

[@sophiejenkins3318]

It is a Welsh tradition, yet where is that representation in this film? Beautifully done, but lacks the REAL soul of the tradition I'm afraid.

[@goaway7785]

It’s truly a beautiful tradition

[@Dead_in__side__]

Exactly. That’s so weird.

[@mrman5808]

Bruh it's rap battling a horse skull to protect your beer and food

[@banjowarrior365]

So much focus on the England flag 🙄

[@rehabwales]

I thought the same. So many St George flags shown. This tradition had nothing to do with England. It's Welsh.

[@markbarrera6807]

I love this way too much- a sad American.

[@jackieroberts7895]

Cymru am byth

[@gabrielhandled5406]

As a Welshman myself I find this very neet

[@TheMerryWolf]

I absolutely adore the artistry and personality in all these Mari Lwyds! I want to make my own hobby horse like that, but I'm afraid since I'm not Welsh it might be inappropriate of me to do so.

[@Wotsitorlabart]

There were/are very similar hobby horse traditions in England involving horses, rams and bulls heads and Wales had other Mari Lwyd like hobby horses but differently named. Do what ever you wish - nothing sacred about it.

[@annalawday4795]

Nonsense, don’t be put off because you’re not Welsh, wanting to be part of keeping tradition alive should be open to all. I’m in the middle of making a couple of Mari’s at the moment, loving it x

[@Jabberwoc]

_BRILLIANT!_

[@highlanderro]

SUCH AN UNDERATED MATERIAL

[@ChaosInsurgentEvelyn]

im surprised this isn't a fnf mod yet it's basically a rap battling skeleton horse

[@earthdakini]

Cymru am byth 💕

[@hrvatska67]

Pure nightmare fuel

[@rhysdavies9376]

I'm from Caerphily and haven't seen this before, but i love it! It feels to me like a marriage of death and giving. I don't know, we were never taught it in school, and after watching this video for the first time (a few weeks ago) I quized my mum (fyi I'm 36) and she told me that she's seen it in a few villages but never where we are. I love to see this partly because it feels very halloweeny to me (without intention of causing offence), its more that it's a celebration of death, the amazing things that come of life that are magnified by death and all that. Apologies for the rambling, I'm getting more and more into my heritage as the days o by, and this is the next big thing for my brain to understand! I have to say though, I'm so proud / content with Welsh culture purely because it's so entrenched in nature (and community). Everyone i know, trained or not, has a love of the world around them, and i think that's our base - i can't type how proud i am of that!

[@aaroncarson1770]

It's an amazing tradition. It's actually so spooky, I'm surprised it hasn't been featured more in films.

[@gabrielhandled5406]

If the Mari lwyd wins in a dining competition they get to raid your fridge for all the alchahol. True fact

[@moniquebrown1094]

thank you

[@WelshBitterRabbit]

Love the cinematography, would you please be able to tell me the music that is played at 1:03

[@lockandloadlikehell]

Wow

[@CosmicallyUniversal]

Why do people keep thinking they do rap battles- I’m confused pls someone tell me

[@WillHuw]

It's basically what happens. The Mari Lwyd challenges the owner of a house to made-up-on-the-spot rhyming battles (In modern parlance "Rapping"), If the Mari Lwyd wins, it gets to come in, raid your fridge, drink your beer etc.

[@aster6000]

i didn't cry you cried

[@h.m.d.2989]

Umm this is my kind of holiday season...

[@backwoodsbumpkin7209]

There’s very few horses in my region so I had to make do with a cow skull I found in an abandoned pasture

[@hayleyrowden-cooper9322]

Where do you get the skulls? I would love to do this. we have a visiting group who come to our chapel. obviously with restrictions this year they are unable to..

[@Wotsitorlabart]

First. Kill a horse.

[@IngimundurAO]

i love this Tradition :)❤️ ps: how do you get so many horse skulls?

[@IngimundurAO]

ok thank you :)

[@leadslinger49]

@@sokudo7974 I always thought it was Taco Bell.

[@66LordLoss66]

Dead horses.

[@IngimundurAO]

Duh!

[@feloniousbutterfly]

I appreciate the themes of this and find it important to document as well as continue old traditions. I will say from a filmmaking perspective, as your audience, I would rather listen to the traditional and folk music you undoubtedly recorded making this than the overly dramatic cinematic music you used. It's just so overdramatic and melancholic compared to the music played at these events.

[@jeffmansfield5795]

All good stuff but it is the Grey Mary not the grey mare. Mare in Welsh is caseg, Mari means Mary. All goes back to the horse that was in the stable when Mary gave birth to JC. Now it's out looking for a home.

[@WillHuw]

Another theory is that it is much older than Christianity and is a corruption of "Marw llwyd" (Grey death) and refers to the ending of the year when foodstuff for grazing animals such as horses became very scarce, and they go from house to house for food.

[@YorkyOne]

@@WillHuw Not really that old - mast horses (of which Mari Lwyd is one) only becomes documented in the 1800's. And the coal mining areas of Derbyshire, Notts and Yorkshire had their own versions called 'Poor Old Horse' with the same rites and rituals.

[@Wotsitorlabart]

​​@@WillHuwPS. In the chapter on the Mari Lwyd in 'Ritual Animal Disguise' by EC Cawte the author gives a thorough account as to the possible meanings of the name - none of which relate to 'Grey Death'. He points out that with its close resemblance to the English customs called 'the hooden horse', 'the old horse', 'the wild horse' etc and the fact that the Mari Lwyd represents a horse then the 'Grey Mare' is the most likely meaning.

[@peterlavery8830]

Getting midsommar vibes

[@juliacarter5068]

Its a midwinter tradition

[@redbirddeerjazz]

@@juliacarter5068 Midsommar is a horror film about Scandinavian folk traditions

[@jimsworthaparece1612]

I came here wanting to see a rap battle after watching Sam O'Nella Academy

[@Skyspyder]

I know that is a Welsh person pretending to be Meri Lwyd but as you might know children are afraid of that being in there house at night 😅

[@stopYmpersonatYngmYacCount]

,,what it could mean,, Maybe they just wanted to stick a horse skull on top of a stick and walk around at night to forget about the constant dread of their painful existing.

[@silhouette124]

Yes but why

[@JuanHernandez-uo7cw]

Is we dumb any one?

[@jonhy8351]

What

[@JuanHernandez-uo7cw]

@@jonhy8351 their a podcast that talk about this and is called is we dumb

[@lunabranwen]

Did I see an English flag? Get rid of it 🤔🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@benpearson49]

This video is far too dramatic for what is just silly creepy fun.

[@muzwot9603]

Superb tradition and heritage ruined by flags and nationalism imo.

[@yDynSdici]

appropriation of our culture, like Arthur etc etc etc