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The Mari Lwyd - indoor festival Saturday 10th January 2026
4.30om til late
£10 per person
Under 2’s free
Saturday Give your name on entry- we operate a guest list system.
After purchasing a ticket you full email confirmation will be sent out 24-48 hours. This confirmation is your proof of purchase.
Tickets cannot be refunded after purchase please read our terms and conditions on our website before checking out.
Please be mindful that younger children might get scared.
Lots of traditional food and drink on sale- Alcoholic and non alcoholic
Fires lite and merriment throughout the building.
Take part in a Poetic battle and folk music and dancing - Sing and dance the night away within a warm family friendly environment
The Mari Lwyd is an old Welsh Midwinter tradition.
It is one of the wassailing traditions i.e it involved people going from house to house or pub to pub during "Y Gwyliau", the Christmas and New Year holiday asking for food, drink, and money.
Unlike carol singers, who sing on the doorstep and ask for money, the Mari Lwyd takes things a lot further. The Mari is a decorated horse's skull on a pole carried by someone covered by a sheet which also forms the
Mari's gown. At the door the Mari party demand admission to the house by entering into a rhyming competition,the Pwnco, with the people inside - they take it in turns to make up verses which may be comical or even rude, and
whoever can keeps this up the longest wins. If the Mari wins then the group gets welcomed in for food, music, drink, dancing, mischief, merriment, and, maybe, mayhem.
The Mari usually does win and this is for the best - there is a story of a household who locked the doors and wouldn't answer or let the Mari in. They ended up having to get a new door and frame after Mari and her gang barged their way in.
Once inside Mari and her team of characters including the Ostler, Merryman the Fiddler and Punch and Judy will provide entertainment and bring luck and blessing for the New Year while sweeping away any bad luck
from the Old. The " residents" will be welcome to join in with the fun and singing.
This is an old tradition, the first written record dates to 1800 and there are records of it taking place in Gwent in the 19th century. The Monmouthshire Mercury of 1838 describes it as thriving around Pontypool, Govilon and Abergavenny. The tradition faded in the late 19th century and during the First World War. There has been a great revival of the tradition in the later twentieth century which has become huge in the 21st,thanks to social media.
Llanyrafon Manor will be having a visit not from just any Mari Lwyd but from Mari Afon Lwyd herself, named after the local river. Mari Afon Lwyd (or Fflosi for short) has been with Cwmni Gwerin Pontypwl Welsh Dancers for over 40 years now but is still always ready for some fun!
ADDRESS: Llanyrafon Manor Farm, Llanfrechfa Way, Cwmbran NP448HT
Parking is free in our onsite carark on the right side as you drive as you drive in.
You can find us opposite the Crows Nest Pub - Please use the carpark entrance walk up the path through the orchard to the house.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Llanyrafon manor Farm, Cwmbran, United Kingdom
Tickets
