Christmas traditions are often tied up in those from other belief systems. Famously, the Roman festival of Saturnalia, in which homes were decorated, gifts were exchanged and an all-around spirit of good tidings was enjoyed by all, was celebrated in late December. The parallels between Saturnalia and the Christian holiday of Christmas are plain to see.
However, the holidays aren’t always bright, cheerful celebrations. There are some very dark elements to the holidays too. This may be the time that Santa comes to call, but it may also mark an appearance from the infinitely less jolly Krampus, or even Hans Trapp the Christmas scarecrow .
This is a tremendously spiritually significant time of year for all sorts of cultures, for all sorts of reasons, and one Welsh and English celebration is particularly fascinating for fans of the macabre and meaningful: The ritual of Mari Lwyd. If you like your holiday celebrations with a heaping helping of horse skull, this is one you’ll want to get involved with!
One aspect of the holiday season that’s been near and dear to many for generations is carol singing. Some who celebrate Christmas would consider the season incomplete without the merry sound of carol singers traveling from door to door. Perhaps you take part in the singing yourself. What you may not do, though, is carry along a horse skull on your rounds, but such is the magic of Mari Lwyd.
This Wintry Welsh celebration isn’t necessarily one that’s intended to be frightening or spooky, as tends to be the case with Halloween events. Much like Saturnalia, a lot of the traditional hallmarks of Christmas are incorporated.
Mari Lwyd, the ghostly horse who is said to emerge in Wales at this time of the year, is a skull carried by the revelers. The horse may be festooned in holly, tinsel, and other bright and jolly decorative touches you’d tend to see festooning a Christmas tree.
Mari Lwyd, which has been interpreted as “Gray Mare ,” is said to have been traditionally borne along by an all-male group, and there’s a grim sort of beauty about the trailing cloth with which it was covered.
Alternatives to a real horse’s skull were sometimes used, but the genuine article, lovingly adorned, would often be carried from house to house. You might think the skull would be a rather unpleasant thing to see being brandished around in your doorway, but the Mari Lwyd was sometimes considered a lucky omen!
The Christmassy connotations of the celebration have also been highlighted further, and it’s unclear whether it is truly pagan in origin. Mari Lwyd has also been interpreted as “Holy Mary ,” with the tradition itself being potentially seen as an example of Medieval Christianity adapting existing traditions and taking them under its own banner .
Mari Lwyd, it seems, is just one example of such a holiday season custom that dates back centuries. An event known as hoodening, which took place during this time of year in 18th century England, saw a wooden horse carried through the streets in similar fashion. Such model horses had been used for this purpose since around the 16th century in the region, and though the carrying of the horse itself strikes as quite unusual today, the broader tradition of visiting neighbors and community members with the expectation of being given money or potentially food for your troubles doesn’t seem so unusual.
A well-meaning and jolly carol-signing ritual it may be, but there’s a competitive side to the tradition too. The carriers of the horse didn’t simply knock on doors and sing for homeowners, but would engage in something akin to a holiday rap battle through their closed door! The skull is often spring-loaded, and so, with its articulated jaw, could even join in the action. It is said by some that the Mari Lwyd dates back to the Celts , and that the carols of today were the replacement for poetry and not-so-well-meaning lyrics that Mari Lwyd celebrants used to offer up.
In this sense, it’s clear that there are a lot of parallels to be drawn between this custom and Halloween trick or treating too. Traveling door to door with something a little macabre in tow, having fun, in the hope of being fed is something generations and generations of children have been doing, after all.
For the Celts, horses were an enormous prominent part of worship. The Goddess Epona, whose name will surely be familiar to all fans of The Legend of Zelda video games, was a patron of horses and their four-legged be-hooved friends .
Why is the Mari Lwyd presented as a skeletal horse, though? The story went, according to some tellings, that the horse could pass to the underworld . It’s a fitting image for a Winter celebration, a time of year defined by marking the passing of the darkest times, in the Northern Hemisphere, and of new beginnings on the horizon.
Mari Lwyd events have taken different forms over the centuries, and the horse may well have been the focus of social events celebrated by the ancient Celts.
It’s unclear just how far back the gray steed’s story truly stretches. What is certain is that the horse has been rearing its skeletal head for centuries, whether as a real skull or an artificial alternative.
January 16, 2025
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