Calennig is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

word meaning "''New Year celebration/gift''", although it literally translates to "the first day of the month", deriving from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

word

kalends The calends or kalends ( la, kalendae) is the first day of every month in the Roman calendar. The English word "calendar" is derived from this word. Use The Romans called the first day of every month the ''calends'', signifying the start of a n ...

. The English word "Calendar" also has its root in this word. It is a tradition where children carry a decorated apple, pierced with three sticks and decorated with a sprig of box and hazelnuts on new year's day. Children would sing a verse and were often gifted with money or food.

Gift giving

The tradition of giving gifts and money on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...

is an ancient custom that survives even in modern-day

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, though nowadays it is customary to give bread and cheese. Many people give gifts on New Year's morning, with children having skewered apples stuck with raisins and fruit. In some parts of

, people must visit all their relatives by midday to collect their Calennig, and celebrations and traditions can vary from area to area. In ''Stations of the Sun'',

Ronald Hutton Ronald Edmund Hutton (born 19 December 1953) is an English historian who specialises in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and Contemporary Paganism. He is a professor at the University of Bristol, has written 14 ...

gives the following example of Calennig rhyme from 1950s

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location i ...

''Dydd calan yw hi heddiw,
'' ''Rwy'n dyfod ar eich traws
'' ''I 'mofyn am y geiniog,
'' ''Neu grwst, a bara a chaws.
'' ''O dewch i'r drws yn siriol
'' ''Heb newid dim o'ch gwedd;
'' ''Cyn daw dydd calan eto
'' ''Bydd llawer yn y bedd''.
("Today is the start of the new year, and I have come to you to ask for coins, or a crust, and bread and cheese. O come to the door cheerfully without changing your appearance; Before the next arrival of the new year many will be dead.")

Ronald Hutton also notes that in the south-east of Wales and in the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to ...

area, the skewered apple itself was known as the Calennig, and in its most elaborate form consisted of "an apple or orange, resting on three sticks like a tripod, smeared with flour, stuck with nuts, oats or wheat, topped with thyme or another fragrant herb and held by a skewer." Similarly,

Fred Hando Frederick James Hando MBE (23 March 1888 – 17 February 1970) was a Welsh writer, artist and schoolteacher from Newport. He chronicled the history, character and folklore of Monmouthshire, which he also called Gwent, in a series of nearly ...

in his 1944 book "The Pleasant Land of Gwent", reproduces an illustration of a Calennig seen at Devauden and quotes his friend

Arthur Machen Arthur Machen (; 3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His ...

When I was a boy in Caerleon-on-Usk, the town children got the biggest and bravest and gayest apple they could find in the loft, deep in the dry bracken. They put bits of gold leaf upon it. They stuck raisins into it. They inserted into the apple little sprigs of box, and they delicately slit the ends of hazel-nuts, and so worked that the nuts appeared to grow from the ends of the holly leaves ... At last, three bits of stick were fixed into the base of the apple tripod-wise; and so it borne round from house to house; and the children got cakes and sweets, and-those were wild days, remember-small cups of ale. Back in the 1880's, my mother, who came from Tregarth, Bangor, taught us this song, the words which were as follows: ''Calennig, Calennig, Bore Dydd Calan,'' ''Dyma'r amser i rannu'r arian,'' ''Blwyddyn newydd dda i chi,'' ''Ac i bawb sydd yn y ty,'' ''Dyma yw ein dymuniad ni,'' ''Ar ddechrau'r flwyddyn hon,'' ''O dyma ni yn ddod,'' ''I ganu'r flwyddyn hon,'' ''I chi a phawb sydd yn y ty'' ''Ar ddechrau'r flwyddyn hon.'' We used to sing this song from door to door, hoping to be rewarded with some money from our efforts. Machen traces the Calennig to the
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

Saturnalia Saturnalia is an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 23 December. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple ...
and suggests that the custom was brought to Caerleon by the
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
. Hando, F.J., (1944) "The Pleasant Land of Gwent" - Chapter Ten, Trellech and the Virtuous Well, R. H. Johns, Newport, p.62

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2020 New Year celebrations Holidays in Wales