"Nothing short of locks or bolts could keep out the lifters." • Welsh Easter Customs.

"I recall the inhabitants of Llangollen, Denbighshire, ascending Dinas Bran on Easter Day to greet the rising of the sun with three somersaults." 

An account of Easter Sunrise from Rev. John Williams of Glanmor.

When Welsh folk customs are mentioned, we automatically conjure up images of the Wren, the Mari Lwyd and Old New Year. We don't seem to talk about what the Welsh did during the Easter period. 

In this blogpost I take a look at traditional Welsh Easter folk customs. 

 

Dydd Sul y Blodau at Ogmore Vale.

Dydd Sul y Blodau and Easter Sunday were (and still are) the days that the Welsh tend the graves of their loved ones. 

An account of the tending of graves in the Vale of Glamorgan from Charles Redwood:

“The sides of the graves were raised up with fresh turf and fresh earth was placed on the surface; the end stones were whitewashed and women planted rosemary and rue whilst girls brought baskets of crocuses, daffodils and primroses which they placed in somewhat fantastic figures upon all graves.”

In rural parts of Wales, particularly north Wales, no elaborate flowers were placed on graves on these days. Instead, people chose to clean the graves of their loved ones. The graves were whitewashed, weeds were pulled and simple tributes were left by loved ones. 

Egg Clappers - National Museum of Wales.

It was a custom in parts of North Wales to 'clap for eggs' on the Monday before Easter. 

It was known as 'Clepio wyanu'r pasg' or 'clepian wyanu'. Children of Anglesey would chant 'Clap, Clap, gofyn wy I hogia bach ar y plwy' when begging for eggs. In Amlwch, it is noted that children might collect as many as forty eggs per child.

In parts of Glamorgan and Conwy villagers undertook the hellish custom of 'Stocsio'.

The last man in the parish to be married before Easter Sunday was on that day straight after morning service, set out for the highest point in the district. Accompanied by a number of men, the newly married man climbed upon a hillock and addressed the crowd of people.

He then issued the following commands:

• All men under sixty had to be up and dressed before six.
• All men under forty were to be presentable before four. 
• All those under twenty could not go to bed but had to be prepared and ready and in their places. 

If these commands were disobeyed, the offenders were put in the stocks for a number of hours. 

"Ye young fellows yt can get up soon in ye morning to come & pull y'ir comrades out of bed, put them y'stocks & holding up one of y'ir legs, pour a pail of water down it." 

An account of 'Stocsio' from Loveday's Diary of a Tour in 1732.

As Easter Monday dawned, the stocks were prominently positioned on the main street or marketplace. It was common for the house of a 'lazy, bed loving bachelor' to be attacked first. The villagers got into the house by getting through a window or forcing the door. The bachelor was then forced from his bed, carried out into a cart and taken to the stocks.

The newly married man acted as the Master of the Revels. He lectured the bachelor on the sins of idleness and the story of the sluggard. He then took the unfortunate victim's hand and belaboured it several times with a gorse branch and asked a number of questions as he did so.

These questions included: 

• Whether he likes better, the mistress or the maid?
• Ale or Butter Milk?
• Whether he would go through the gate of a field if open or over the stile? 

If the victim tried not to answer or told deliberate lies he suffered serve reprimands and more mishandling with the gorse branch. The hapless prisoner was then released, somewhat worse for wear, scratched and cut as he was, to the sound of much cheering. He then joined his former tormentors in the hunt for fresh victims. 

Any girl found to have spied on these proceedings had her shoe removed from her foot and kept from her until she paid the forfeit of one or two kisses. Elderly ladies and married women caught spying had to pay sixpence or less. 

Chapel Chairs photographed by John Thomas.

In many parts of both south and north Wales, it was a custom for the lower classes to partake in the custom of 'Lifting'. 

On Easter Monday, the men lifted the women and on Tuesday the women lifted the men. 

The 'lifters' went around in groups of three or four. Playing the fiddle and carrying a chair draped in ribbons, the 'lifters' went door to door, seizing the occupants and placing them in the chair. The chair was then raised three times in the air and bystanders cheered and clapped.  

The poet Ceiriog tells of how in one house an old lady was persuaded to sit in the chair. She was so heavy that the chair could not be lifted.

 An account of 'Lifting' from Trefor M Owen:

"Any respectable woman would not be seen outdoors before noon. They were kept within their houses with the doors locked. Nothing short of locks or bolts could keep out the lifters, and great was their relief when the afternoon came that day." 

(Sources: LLGC - National Museum of Wales - Folklore and Folk Stories of Wales - Alan Roderick - Alun Morgan)