A Gŵyl Mabsant ( Welsh for "Feast of the Patron"), 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,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 of a parish. 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 ...

, 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 doe ...

according to tradition 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 ...

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

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 doe ...

; following the shift to New Style 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 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, 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 refe ...

: 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