#canu haf
“When we talk of May Day celebrations, we tend to think of children dancing around a maypole, ribbons clutched in their hands, or of Morris Dancers, bells jingling, performing on village greens. In many communities there will be village fetes, where the beer flows freely and trestle tables sag under the weight of sandwiches and cakes.
Here in Wales, all those things took place, but our ancestors knew that May Eve was even more important than May Day itself. It was one of the three great ‘spirit nights’ (ysbrydnos) of the year, when supernatural powers were unleashed and the spirits of the dead roamed abroad. The other two nights were the Eve of St John celebrated on 24thJune, and Hallowe’en and on each of them it was wise to protect yourself with rituals and customs that had been practised for centuries
On the darkening hilltops and in fields bonfires blazed. They were meant to ward off harmful spirits and to ensure a fruitful summer, but the proper rituals had to be observed in the lighting of the fires.
In each parish, nine men would be chosen to build the bonfire. They would turn out their pockets so that all money and every piece of metal were off their persons. Metal, especially iron, was a tricky, magical creation and could affect the success of the whole project. The men then went into the nearest woodland and gathered sticks from nine different trees. The sticks were carried to the spot where the bonfire was to be built. A circle was cut into the grass and the sticks were set crosswise in the circle. One of the men took two bits of oak and rubbed them together until a flame was kindled. From this the sticks were lit. Often two fires were made, some yards apart.
The assembled village watched this whole procedure. Round cakes of oatmeal and the same number of brown meal were split into four pieces and placed in a small flour bag and everyone present had to pick one out. The last piece left was the bag-holder’s. Those who picked out a piece of brown meal cake were obliged to leap three times over the fire or to run thrice between the two fires. This custom made sure of a good harvest. Those who had chosen the oatmeal cakes applauded the others and sang and danced, no doubt out of relief.
As dawn broke on May Day, people in villages and surrounding farms would be woken by the singing of May carols. These songs were known as carolau Mai, carolau haf, (summer carols) or as canu haf, (summer singing). Sometimes the expression canu dan y pared, or ‘singing under the wall’ was used.
At each house visited by the singers, congratulations would be exchanged on the approach of summer and the hoped-for good harvest. If the singers were really on the ball, they would include in their songs a verse or two applicable to each of the families they visited. It was worth doing so, because the delighted hosts would invite everyone in for food and drink.
The houses themselves would be carefully decorated and in the larger ones, the maids might have decked out the windows with roses, lilies and lavender.
At some point in the day, the inhabitants of each community made their way to the village green or a nearby field to watch the raising of the May Pole, which was often fashioned from the trunk of a birch tree. It was known as the ‘summer birch’ - y fedwen haf and the custom of raising it was called ‘raising the birch‘ - Codi’r Fedwen.
In south Wales, the pole was painted in different colours. Whilst it was on the ground it would be decorated with ribbons and coloured papers and when it was covered from end to end, it was ceremoniously raised. Dancing then took place, including one called ‘Thread The Needle’.”
I would recommend reading the full article, which is here [X]
