Folklore Workshops – Mari Lwyd

Each Tuesday afternoon workshop will centre around the myth or folklore topic of that week. The aim will be to discuss ideas surrounding that belief or narrative and to come up with a finished piece using any of the methods and materials that are available. You will have access to paper/card, printing materials (linocut, block, mono or collagraph), paints, drawing materials, 3D resources (clay, paper mache, wire, wool), paints and other bits and pieces. You will have an experienced artist to help you develop your ideas and produce your artwork.

The Mari Lwyd (meaning “Grey Mare”) is a traditional Welsh winter festival custom. It involves a decorated horse’s skull mounted on a pole, carried by a person hidden under a white sheet. The “Mari” is made from a real horse’s skull that has been decorated with colorful ribbons, bells, and baubles. It often has glass baubles for eyes and a movable lower jaw attached to strings so it can snap and clack at bystanders. The person carrying the skull is completely covered by a long white cloth, usually leading a rowdy troupe of characters. If the homeowners are outsmarted or run out of rhymes, they are traditionally expected to welcome the Mari Lwyd and its entourage inside to provide them with food, ale, and hospitality, which in turn brings good luck to the household for the coming new year. While first documented in Wales around the early 19th century, historians believe the custom has roots reaching much further back, likely stemming from pre-Christian pagan folklore or traditional English wassailing.