Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Mari Lwyd
Sikes describes a decorated horse skull carried from house to house on Twelfth Night. Ribbons, improvised ears and dark bottle-glass eyes give the object a face, while the group accompanies it with songs and noise. Outside the door, singers ask to enter and the household may answer in verse. Admission leads to the horse’s antics, a reel, refreshments and a departing song of thanks.
Also known as Mary Lwyd
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalSikes describes a decorated horse skull carried from house to house on Twelfth Night. Ribbons, improvised ears and dark bottle-glass eyes give the object a face, while the group accompanies it with songs and noise.
Further detail
TraditionalOutside the door, singers ask to enter and the household may answer in verse. Admission leads to the horse’s antics, a reel, refreshments and a departing song of thanks.
Context & interpretation
This entry describes the nineteenth-century Twelfth Night form recorded by Sikes, who spells the name Mary Lwyd. His proposed Christian origin is not adopted as settled; other regional or present-day forms may differ.
Original passages
Source 1
British Goblins
The skeleton of a horse's headOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 271
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0271
- Original scan leaf
- 272
- Recorded leaf number
- 272
- Current Reader position
- 270
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
British Goblins
the parties within denying the outsiders admissionOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 272
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0272
- Original scan leaf
- 273
- Recorded leaf number
- 273
- Current Reader position
- 271
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed