Books About Old Welsh Traditions

This post was last updated on May 2nd, 2025 at 12:19 pm

Despite modern lifestyles and technological advances, many old Welsh traditions have survived. They’ve been practiced for centuries and are still vital to Welsh culture. The books below discuss customs such as Mari Lwyd, Welsh traditional dress, Welsh food traditions, courting customs, and more.

One of the old Welsh traditions you may have heard of is that of the mysterious, downright eerie Mari Lywd—the “Grey Mare.” The custom became popular in South Wales in the 1800s but dates back as far as 1798. Some translation stories say the name is really “Grey Mary.” The former makes sense since people use a horse skull in this tradition. Also, horses could pass from our world into the Otherworld in ancient Welsh mythology.

Each year, a carrier takes Mari around the village between Christmas Day and the twelfth night after. And what is Mari? A real horse skull on a pole! She has glass beads or lights for eyes. (Yes, a horse skull with glowing eyes!) Colored ribbons make up her mane, and the pole beneath is draped with a white sheet that conceals the carrier. Sometimes, a jester and a Lady accompany the Mari. The Mari Lwyd and her followers go from house to house, singing wassails. Wassails are songs that bless the orchards or the household.

When someone opens their door to the Grey Mare’s knocking, they and the Mari engage in a battle of discourteous rhyming—a Welsh rap battle, if you will. If the Mari Lwyd wins, she will enter your home, and you’ll have a year of good luck. However, be careful! She likes to chase the people she fancies, and she might steal a thing or two. It’s probably best to hide your trinkets when Mari comes snapping her jaw at you.

This post is about books that discuss old Welsh traditions.

Books About Old Welsh Traditions

Classic Recipes of Wales: Traditional Food and Cooking in 25 Authentic Dishes by Annette Yates

Starting our list of books about old Welsh traditions is Annette Yates’ cookbook featuring Welsh traditional food. If you’d like to start cooking today, you can also find some recipes via the Welsh Things page.

From the blurb: This title presents all the very best of traditional Welsh food and cooking in 25 authentic dishes. You can discover the delights of Welsh food and cooking with ingredients sourced from rugged shorelines and mountainous peaks to rich, fertile valleys and sleepy fishing villages. You can try fabulous Welsh recipes, from everyday fare such as Welsh Rarebit, Fish Pie and Bara Brith teabread to more unusual regional dishes, such as Laverbread Cakes and Bacon, or Katt Pie. The introduction offers a concise overview of this unexplored culinary tradition, plus a guide to the most popular ingredients in the country. It features enticing breakfasts, warming soups, delicate fish, hearty stews, tempting side dishes, plus delectable puddings, teatime cakes, and sustaining bakes. 

Nutritional information for every recipe is provided. It is illustrated with wonderful photographs by Craig Robertson of practical steps and final dishes. Wales is justly famous for its unspoilt landscapes and fresh, natural ingredients. This beautiful little book provides a tasty sampler of the country’s cuisine. Discover a wealth of dishes including Glamorgan Sausages, Bacon with Parsley Sauce, Lamb Broth and Scallops with Bacon and Sage, as well as intriguing local treats such as Bakestone Bread, Anglesey Eggs and Snowdon Pudding. Packed with 130 pictures, cook’s tips, variations, and complete nutritional information, this book is essential reading for anyone who would like to discover the hidden secrets of Wales’ culinary heritage.

A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas

From the blurb: This nostalgic recollection of Christmas past by celebrated Welsh poet Dylan Thomas evokes the beauty and tradition of the season at every turn. The warmth of a family gathering. The loveliness of a mistletoe-decked home. The predictability of cats by the fire. The mischief and fun of children left to their own devices, and the sheer delight of gifts—be they useful or useless.

Readers will cherish this beautiful hardcover edition of the classic A Child’s Christmas in Wales. It’s complete with gold-foil stars, a debossed, glossy front picture, and sparkling snowflakes. Once inside, readers are rewarded with stunning, midnight-blue endpapers sprinkled with a flurry of more snowflakes. This book is a must-have gift for the season.

Brilliantly illustrated by Caldecott medalist Trina Schart Hyman with a combination of more than 40 full-color and sepia-toned images, this beautiful edition of Thomas’s beloved classic will enchant readers of all ages, year after year.

Christmas in Wales by Dewi Roberts

From the blurb: Celebrate Christmas the Welsh way in the company of some of the country’s leading writers, past and present. Christmas mass, the nativity play, turkey and plum pudding, the Mari Lwyd, presents, the weather, the shopping, and post-festive blues are among the many subjects drawn from stories, poems, diaries, and letters. Wartime Christmases in Swansea and the Rhondda—and home thoughts from India and Italy—pantomime characters, Christmas cards and New Year Resolutions; R.S. Thomas, Dylan Thomas, Dannie Abse, Gillian Clarke, Catherine Fisher, Bruce Chatwin, Sian James, Kate Roberts and Leslie Norris, Christmas in Wales has all the ingredients for the complete experience of the season of celebration.

Handbook of Old Welsh by Stephen Owen Rule

If you’re a student or admirer of Cymraeg (Welsh), you may also like to learn how the old Welsh language changed over time to become the way it is today. The Handbook of Old Welsh portrays interesting aspects of old Welsh words and their evolution.

From the blurb: With example texts and explanations, features, modern comparisons, hypotheses, peculiarities, and more. This book is written with an intentionally informal style and aims to make as many aspects of the nuances and peculiarities of Old Welsh more accessible to interested parties of all backgrounds.

It can serve as a stand-alone introduction or can be used in conjunction with other, more in-depth grammatical works, in the hope that it might shed light on some of the tricky concepts that make Old Welsh such a fascinating and rewarding subject for study.

Old Welsh Traditions: Welsh Folk Customs by Trefor M. Owen

From the blurb: Welsh Folk Customs has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.

Wales in 100 Objects: Exploring Welsh History, Culture, and Heritage Through Artifacts

From the blurb: Wales in 100 Objects is a beautiful volume to treasure, presenting what the author considers the 100 most important physical objects in Welsh history. Each spread contains an essay about the history and significance of the object and a striking full-page photograph. The objects, chosen by Green with the help of librarians, museum and gallery curators, and other experts, are shown in chronological order and range from the ancient to the recent.

They include a hand axe from 32,000 BC; a sign for the Wales Coast Path, officially opened in 2012; a Roman sword; St Cystennin’s bell; the Nanteos Cup (reputed to be the Holy Grail); William Morgan’s Bible; the earliest known copy of the music and lyrics for ‘Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau’; a window from the Tredegar Medical Aid Society (forerunner of the NHS); badges supporting the 1984–85 Miners’ Strike and Catatonia’s first release. All of the items are in Wales and accessible to the public, and locations are noted in each case.

Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales by Alwyn and Brinley Rees

From the blurb: In this widely acclaimed study, Alwyn and Brinley Rees reinterpret Celtic tradition in the light of advances made in the comparative study of religion, mythology, and anthropology. Part One considers the distinguishing features of the various cycles of tales and the personages who figure most prominently in them. Next, Part Two reveals the cosmological framework within which the action of the tales takes place. Part Three consists of a discussion of the themes of certain classes of stories which tell of conceptions and births, supernatural adventures, courtships and marriages, violent deaths and voyages to the other world, and an attempt is made to understand their religious function and glimpse their transcendent meaning.

Old Welsh Traditions: Welsh Courting Customs by Catrin Stevens 

From the blurb: Although birth, marriage, and death constitute the three major rites of passage, the period of courtship is also of infinite significance within man’s life cycle on earth. During this confusing and often confused period, lovers need to call upon the inherited wisdom and authority of customary practices and rituals to steer them safely through a critical stage of their lives. Welsh Courting Customs examines the rich tapestry of customs and traditions found in a predominantly rural Wales before the First World War. The practice of courting on the bed, caru ar y gwely, which so fascinated English tourists in the last century, is described and placed within its true social and economic background.

Although the study concentrates upon the Welsh perspective, there is also room for the wider British and European contexts. The wealth of information gleaned from a variety of sources, including poetry and literature, denominational publications, oral evidence, and actual artefacts, is woven together to present an in-depth treatment of one of the most fascinating aspects of Welsh social history. Indeed, Welsh courting customs encompass far more than the quaint but stereotypical love spoons which decorate our tourist trade today. Black-and-white photographs and illustrations.

This post was about books that discuss old Welsh traditions.