Hen Galan: New Year in the Gwaun Valley
"Hen Galan Hapus" is how to say "Happy Old New Year in Welsh"
One of the great things about Wales is its varied collection of unique historic traditions. You may already be familiar with the traditional dress worn on March 1st in honour of St Davids Day and you might have heard of the art of carved lovespoons as gifts, but have you heard about Hen Galan? This is the custom of celebrating New Year in the Gwaun Valley - but it's not held on 1st January as you might expect.
From singing songs in the native Welsh language and folk dancing to celebrating our very own Valentine’s Day (St Dwynwen’s Day held on the 25th Jan) and cooking up hearty bowls of cawl; we’ve got many charming traditions and rituals that make up the Welsh culture. But there's one which is particularly interesting, and that's Hen Galan.
What is Hen Galan?
Hen Galan is the celebration of the New Year and is held a little later than usual, on the 13th of January. It's not a common celebration as it is only really remembered by one small Welsh-speaking community in the depths of Pembrokeshire known as the Gwaun Valley. You'll find this region in the rolling hillsides of mid-Pembrokeshire, not too far a drive from Fishguard, Newport and Haverfordwest.
This celebration has become a tradition as a result of once following the Julian calendar, named after the Roman Julius Caesar. Nowadays, we follow the Gregorian calendar which was established in 1582 as the previous calendar had become out of sync with important festivals due to miscalculations. Whilst many European countries happily accepted the new calendar, the Gwaun Valley in the far west of Wales chose not to.
That was until the Julian calendar was eventually abolished nearly 200 years later in 1752. Despite now following the current calendar, as the rest of us do, the Gwaun Valley felt they couldn't quite part with the annual tradition of celebrating the New Year in mid-January, so have kept the celebrations going as a little memento to olden times.
How is Hen Galan celebrated?
Locals of the Gwaun Valley still celebrate Hen Galan traditionally to this day; children roam the valley, walking from one house to the next, singing carols and songs in Welsh with the hope of being given "calennig" in return. "Calennig" is often sweets or money, pennies would be thrown to the crowds of small children.
Whilst the children of the Gwaun Valley make their way through the village, the men gather together for the Mari Lwyd. This one-of-a-kind tradition consists of a horse’s skull (a wooden version is used these days) being affixed to the top of a pole draped with ribbons and flowers, as pictured below.
The Mari Lwyd
The men then parade the Mari Llwyd through the valley from house to house chanting as they go. The inhabitants of each house are to reply with a verse but if they fail, the group invite themselves in for food, drink and celebrations. These traditions are all about bringing the community together and so the dwellers of these houses often give no verse in response and instead welcome the men inside. Nowadays, the Mari Llwyd ritual is seen throughout the Christmas season and has been known to start appearing recently at various midwinter events across the country.
Some traditions die out with time passing, but not this one. Bessie Davies, the late landlord of the Dyffryn Arms, had a large hand in ensuring that this tradition was upheld over the many years. Many locals often saw fit to head to her pub for a tipple or two at Yr Hen Galan; Bessie is very much a traditionalist so you’ll be served beer through a hatch which will be from a jug and an old-fashioned barrel.
The Dyffryn Arms
New Year Breaks in Pembrokeshire
Get involved with one of Pembrokeshire's most long-standing New Year traditions and book yourself a January cottage holiday to stay in West Wales for Hen Galan. After all, there's no harm in celebrating a fresh new start twice.
