The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1872-04-13
A WELSH HORSE WEDDING.


aad was customary when churches were
scarce, and marriages in chapels and re-
gister offices were not by law established
1t was truly a public ceremonial, and
caused much excitement amongst the
mountains The farmer of century ago
was as primitive as the peasant, and the
manners and customs of each were eunal>
ly original. In nothing did this show
more decidedly than in the Horse We'd
ding.
AS soon as the day was fixed the whole
country was astir-nothing else was talked
Of No telegraphic messages were needed
to convey the news from farm to faim.
The very hills proclaimed it. the sheep
bleated ii, the winds whispered it, Evan
and Gwen were to be united, and Nature,
animate and inanimate, rejoiced.
To understand peculiar customs, one
must live amongst the people. To ap-
preciate Horse Wedding, one must, at
least, imagine lie scene which originated
II; probably a farmstead amongst the
hills, surrounded by trackless downs,
toaning torrents, primeval oaks, green
lands, or cSrn fields and near it, possi-
bly,, an old British encampment, or some
gigantic stone, pointing back awards, with
imperishable finger, TO the Bards and
| Druids.
Hence were sent invitations to similar
farmsteads and all respectable dwelling
! houses, whether tenanted by gentle or
simple, for miles around. An old man
possibly of bardic descent, was chosen as
the bearer. lie carr led in his hand a
staff, covered with many Co lored ribbons,
which he planted the threshold Of
each house as he delivered his message
This was in rhyme. He bade all the in
mates 10 the wedding, in verses, which
he sang, intoned, or crooned, according
to his capabilities and inspiration of the
moment His song was suitable to the
indwellers, and breathed of love and life
! for the young, marriage and happiness
for the old. The Cymry, like The Italians,
were m,proUisrtOri. The cid man, his
ribboned staff, aud impromptu Invitations
were poetical and graceful.
OI the wedding morning the house.
hold of the mountain farm would be astir
q: day break SO would be the friends and
neishbors, Tor early in the morning arrived
the IN JrOO.eitOrt. These native poets,
who few centuries earlier weuld have
been called 'Bards,' and were then styled
Seek Outs, placed themselves ON either
! side of the close door. There they began
their lyric measure. They poured out
| praises of the bride and her family; they
invited her forth they described the
! beauty of the morning or the surround
ing scene they extemporized by turns,
un,il their subject and their rhyihmical
| powers were exhausted. Meanwhile the
party of the bride arrived. Trampling of
horses strong cultural Cellic-laughter
! -jests-interrup!e the flow Of verse. All
were on horseback, and the yard and
stables were full At the same moment
similar proceedings were enacted at the
house of the bridegroom, it might be at
neighboring farm.
At last the door unclosed, and the
bride appeared, trembling and blushing,
accompanied by her father. The strains
! were answered-th0 Seek Outs had
found. Noisy congratulations followed !;
then the swiftest horse was chosen, and
saddled, bridied and pillioned. The father
, mounted the bride was lifted, or lifted
| bel no
clasped her arms round him, and they
rode off The bridal party followed,
consisting of men, women and children,
some riding single, some double, like the
bride aud her father. They clattered
through the yard, and from fifty 10 a
hundred horses galloped after the bride
On some neighboring hill top and at about
the same time, the bridegroom and a
similar company left his abode, he rid
ing the best horse that he could COM
mand.
Imagine two torrents pouring down
from two separate mountains, and meet
ing somewhere in the valley below, and
you have an idea of these impetuous
equestrians. 'O'er brake and DER briar,'
through firm stones and through loose
stones, down hill and across dale, into
brook or fordabe river, they dashed hell
ter skelier, until the two parties encoun-
tered. Then began the race for the
Bride.
She and her father were ever foremost,
the bridegroom and his party behind but
all rode as if riding for their lives 1t was
a dangerous wedding pastime. There
might be as many as a hundred horses,
and they, as horses will, however sedate,
got into the spirit of the chase. sober
hacks, numbering farm-horses, steady
cObs, frisky ponies, kicking mares, even
broken-winded hunters, became race>
horses for the time. And as to their RI
ders, they lost their heads; old men and
women forgot their age, and We'd with
their youngers.
Sometimes four or five abreast, some
times huddled together by the dozen or
score, sometimes single, they galloped
on-now one foremost, now another
The sober clothing of the men mingled
with the bright colors of the women, SO
that sex was scarcely distinguish BILE,