The concept of ‘Calan Gaeaf’ was used at least as far back as the time of the 10th century king Hywel Dda – ‘Howell the Good’ in English. ‘Kalan Gayaf’ is referred to several times in the eponymous Laws of Hywel Dda, which codified an even earlier set of Welsh laws. Nos Galan Gaeaf may be thought of nowadays as the Welsh Halloween.
Calan Gaeaf is the first day of the Celtic winter, 1 November in the modern calendar, so Nos Galan Gaeaf is the evening before. The ‘C’ of Calan undergoes a grammatical soft mutation after ‘nos’. The term is also seen in Cornish as Kalan Gwav and in Breton as Kalan Goañv. The Celtic day began at sunset rather than midnight, so the onset of winter was originally seen as occurring in the evening of what’s now 31 October.
The spirits are abroad
Nos Galan Gaeaf is of course related to, and some would say derived from, the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced “sow-een”). A time of death and rebirth, Samhain was seen as the time when the separation between the living and the dead, or spiritual, world was at its thinnest, and the spirits of the otherworld could enter the living world.
Modern pagans see this as an occasion to connect with and venerate one’s ancestors. But traditionally it was a time when there was a need to placate the spirits and fairies in case they did harm to the living. This came to include the spirits of the dead, or ghosts. It was this belief that led to the various traditions associated with Nos Galan Gaeaf and Halloween.
Avoiding graveyards
The most prominent and understandable tradition was that of avoiding graveyards, crossroads, and stiles – places where spirits were thought to congregate. Being home before dark or before the light of the feast bonfire went out was also important.
The feast
As there was not enough food to keep all the livestock alive through the winter, much of it would be slaughtered and preserved against the coming winter months. This has been interpreted by some as a sort of ritual slaughter of the animals.
Not all of the meat was preserved, and there would be a great village feast and a bonfire or ‘coelcerth’. Women and children would dance around the fire, and as it died out they would all run home for fear of being chased and caught by various evil spirits such as Y Ladi Wen, the Headless White Lady, or Y Hwch Ddu Gwta, the Tailless Black Sow. As it became dark, one of the local men might dress up in a pigskin and chase the children home.
Another tradition relating to the bonfire was throwing a stone with your name or some other distinguishing mark into the fire. The ashes were searched the following day and if your stone was burnt clean you were in for good luck. If you couldn’t find your stone, it was said that you would be dead within a year. The horror!
Gwrachod
Gwrachod means ‘witches’ or ‘hags’. Men would roam villages dressed in rags and masks or in women’s clothing, going from door to door begging for coppers, fruit, or nuts. People believed that dressing up like this would repel evil spirits, or disguise you so that the evil spirits couldn’t seek you out, and that giving these characters small gifts would bring good luck.
It is easy to see how this is related to the modern custom of trick-or-treating (or “trickle treating”, as I heard one child say who was even further removed from the original tradition).
Turnip carving
A precursor to the American tradition of pumpkin carving, ugly or scary faces were carved into swedes or turnips and displayed in people’s windows to ward off evil spirits. Later, hollowed-out turnips with ugly faces on them and a lighted candle put inside were placed at the side of roads to ‘scare’ people for fun. Nowadays, I’m sure it is much easier to carve a pumpkin than a turnip!
What the future holds
Human nature being what it is, there were also many traditions around foretelling the future, especially in the areas of love and luck. I have already mentioned the custom of throwing name stones into the feast bonfire.
Another custom, with several variations, was to walk or run around the local churchyard three times. You would then peer through the keyhole of the church door at midnight, when you were supposed to see the faces of those who would die over the coming year.
On a more cheerful note, a popular custom was for unmarried women to peel an apple in a single piece and throw the skin over their shoulder. The shape of the apple skin when it landed was supposed to show the first letter of the name of their future husband.
Another way to tell the future was bobbing for apples – Twco Fala. The size of the bite a person managed to get was supposed to indicate how much luck they would have in the coming year. I tried bobbing for apples in my younger days but could never get a single bite, because they kept floating away. There must be some trick to it. Or treat.
Nowadays, many of these old customs have died out. In these enlightened times, nobody is frightened of evil spirits anymore. The modern Halloween, heavily influenced from across the Atlantic, is just a time for a bit of fun and dressing up. But we all still like a good ghost story, and perhaps a bit of a scare, and it is as well to remember the origins of this long-surviving tradition. Blesséd be! And don’t peep through a church keyhole, just in case.
