Cymraeg

Trick-or-treat has now become the most popular way of celebrating Halloween. But the holiday originates from a Pagan festival and has been celebrated in Wales in since the time of the Celtic Druids.

The old celebration indicated the last day of the Celtic year, with the boundary between the living and the dead opening so that, for one night, the souls of the dead could roam the earth.

Feast for the Dead

In the Middle Ages communities in some areas of mid Wales prepared a feast for the dead with the poor going door to door to 'Hel Bwyd Cennad y Meirw' - collecting loaves and cakes to offer to the dead.

Raising a Bonfire

By now raising a bonfire is considered a tradition on Guy Fawkes Day or Bonfire Night, but until recently, it was a Halloween ritual. The flames would prevent the souls of the dead from falling to earth. Some would place 'Hwch Ddu Gwta' (a black pig without a tail) representing the devil on the bonfire.

Hwch Ddu Gwta

Some believed that the Hwch Ddu Gwta roamed the area once the bonfire burnt out hunting residents on their way home capturing or killing the last person to leave! This may be where the Denbighshire area rhyme originated:

"Adref, adref am y cynta', Hwch Ddu Gwta a chipio'r olaf"

(Home, home right now, Hwch Ddu Gwta captures the last)

Other characters who roam the night in Wales were the Ladi Wen and a woman without her head.

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