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Archiver > CARMARTHENSHIRE > 2000-07 > 0962793125


From: Pat Powell <>
Subject: Re: The customs and rituals of the Welsh
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 11:32:05 +0100


Hi Barrie

Thanks very much for this extract. I really enjoyed it.
I shall have to show it to my "other half" as it will explain so many
things about me!!!! -- Eating lots of leeks, and cheese, a great love of
making soup, a great hatred of wearing coats .... I could go on with
even more!

Anyway it's great to read your snippets - keep them coming.

Cheers

Pat



In message <000501bfe64a$50491b40$.?>, tots
<> writes
>From William Caxton's 'The description of Britain' published in 1480 and was
>based on a 14th century Middle English translation of the Latin
>'Polychronicon' or Universal History.
>
>The way of life in Wales is very different from that in England in matters
>of food,drink,dress,and in many other aspects. The people are extremely well
>dressed in a shirt,mantle,and an excellent pair of trousers to protect them
>against the wind and rain. In this garb they brave the weather,even though
>it is extremely cold. They always go about in this garb;fighting,amusing
>themselves,leaping,standing,sitting,and even sleeping without sheets all the
>time. The people walk about without
>surcotes,gowns,coats,overmantles,gipouns,tabards,cloaks,wraps,belts,or
>headgear such as hoods,hats or caps to cover themselves with, and they are
>always bare-legged. They practice no other way of going about even if they
>are to meet the king. They fight with arrows and short spears against anyone
>who harms them,and when the need arises they fight better on foot than on
>horseback. Instead of castles and towers,they take woodlands and marshes as
>defensible strongholds. When they think the moment is ripe they will flee
>from a battle. Gildas says the Welsh are unstable and not to be relied on
>for peace. When people ask the reason,it is hardly any wonder that people
>expelled from their own land should attempt to expel others. However,it is
>all been for nothing,since now many woodlands have been felled and mighty
>castles have been built beside the sea.
>The people are capable of going for a long time without food and greatly
>like their native foodstuffs; they know how to eat and enjoy themselves
>without elaborate cookery. They eat hot and cold barley-bread and oak cakes;
>these being wide,round,thin biscuits,which they find very suitable for so
>great a race.They rarely eat wheat-bread or cook in ovens. They have a kind
>of gruel for soup,accompanied by leeks,butter,milk,and cheese shaped oblong
>and in blocks. They eat such concoctions eagerly; this causes them to drink
>mead and strong ale in large quantities;often all day and all night. The
>redder the wine the more highly they esteem it. They tell many idle
>stories;for when they are occupied with drinking they are full of talk. Both
>at and after meals they greatly enjoy salt and leeks. Householders
>customarily regard it as very fitting to dispense bowls of soup to people
>whom they invite for meals; they share out the food at mealtimes,giving
>everyone his portion and retaining any surplus for their own consumption.
>When they have the misfortune to be short of meat,they always eat hot
>salmon,however much the doctor may forbid it.
>Their houses are low,constructed of small wooden rods,and are not placed
>close together as in cities,but far apart and not over-high. When everything
>at home has been eaten up,they will move on to their neighbours to eat
>whatever they can see and find,and then return home. They lead an idle
>life,burning things for warmth,sleeping and doing other such things.
>Welshmen have a regular custom of washing their guests' feet at night;if
>their feet are washed all over,they know themselves to be welcome. They live
>together in such comfort that they hardly ever carry a purse around. Whether
>at home or out,they keep their money and their comb suspended from their
>breeches. It is remarkable that they are so fastidious,detesting
>farting,when they do not balk at depositing their own excrement at their
>very doors.
>At great banquets they have harps,tabors,and pipes to provide music. They
>carry corpses in procession with great lamentation,blowing loudly on
>goats'horns. They greatly esteem Trojan blood,since they are all descended
>from it. They are fond of observing family relationships,even when distant
>to the hundredth degree. They set themselves up above others, though they
>greatly venerate priests,and honour Almighty God's servants like heavenly
>angels.
>This race has often been deceived into desiring battle madly,by the
>prophecies of Merlin and by enchantment. The beastly manners of these Celts
>have now been improved by contact with the Saxons,as is manifestly
>recognized. They cultivate gardens,fields,and slopes,and congregate together
>in pleasant towns. They ride about fully armed,wearing breeches and shoes.
>They sit pleasantly at their meals and sleep in many a comfortable bed. To
>anyone considering them, they seem more like Englishmen than Welshmen
>nowadays. If people should wish to know the reason,it is because they now
>live at peace more than they were formerly accustomed to do,because of their
>prosperity,for their possessions would be diminished if they often got
>involved in conflicts. The fear of losing what they have has now made them
>peaceable.
>
>Barrie
>#2032
>
>
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>

--
Pat Powell

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