Calennig () is a Welsh 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 spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word

kalends The calends or kalends () 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 new lunar pha ...

. The English word "

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...

" 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 A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...

and hazelnuts on

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

. Children would sing a verse and were often gifted with money or food.

Gift giving

The tradition of giving gifts and money on

is an ancient custom that survives even in modern-day

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, 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 Indian-born English historian specialising in early modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion, and modern paganism. A professor at the University of Bristol, Hutton has writte ...

gives the following example of Calennig rhyme from 1950s

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...

''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 in their graves.")

Ronald Hutton also notes that in the South East Wales and in the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the Counties of England, county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangle, triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and no ...

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 Thyme () is a culinary herb consisting of the dried aerial parts of some members of the genus ''Thymus (plant), Thymus'' of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae. Thymes are native to Eurasia and north Africa. Thymes have culinary, medici ...

or another fragrant herb and held by a skewer." Similarly, Fred Hando 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 ( or ; 3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh people, Welsh author and mysticism, mystic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for his influential supernatural ...

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,
E ''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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Saturnalia Saturnalia is an Roman festivals, ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the List of Roman deities, god Saturn (mythology), Saturn, held on 17 December in the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities until 19 December. By t ...
and suggests that the custom was brought to Caerleon by the Romans. 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