The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-12-27
She Discourses About the First Day Of the
Year in Wales as She Has Observed
1t From Her Welsh Castle.
EIecial to THE SUNDAY GAIL

| Ing the Christmas season fairies, witches,
| ghosts and COLLINS are not only powerless.
| but are even afraid 10 venture abroad.
| Shakespeare refers to this superstition of
the Welsh peasantry in Hamlet" when he
| puts the following lines into the mouth Of
| Marcellus:
| Some say that 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
| The bird OF dawning singeth all night long,
And then, they say, no spirit stlrs abroad;
The nights are wholesome then no plane Is strike.
No fairy takes, no witch hath power to charm.
DO haloWed ana so gracious Is the time.
While Shakespeare has thus'setsforth that
| portion of the Welsh superstition regarding
| Christmas, Welsh folk-pOet Of some abil-
| lty, in q volume of folk ballads published in
I 1850. has illustrated in The following lines
the REGULAR dread with which the peasantry
OF Wales regard the augmented power of
fairies, witches and evil spirits upon New
Years eve:
On New Years eve the path along,
The milkmaid shortens with song
Her solitary way;
She sees the fairies with their queen
Triphand in hand the crced green
And hears them raise. at times unseen
The ear-erchanting lay.
Among the Welsh people fairies are
know n as Y. Tylwyth Teg, which means
the fair folk or family and they are believed
to be rampant and to possess unusual power
upon New Years eve. They are thought
| to have great fondness for children, and
| woe betide the fond mother who has in any
| way offended the Y. Tylwyth Teg during
| the now dying year. Let her watch we'll
| the cradle where her darling lies sleeping,
| for ii she fails TO do so the malicious fairies
| Will come in her absence, steal away her
| chilli and substitute for it "pleuLynneuid"
| or ehangeing, who, though it may at first
| be the exact counterpart of the stolen babe,
| VIII soon alter into a frightful- looking,
| shrunkcn, pulling brat. not infrequently be-
| coming idotic. ANY child of that descrp-
| ton is always regarded in Wales as a New
| 1ears eve changellng, and such children
| do not usually live long
| There are said TO be well authenticated
| cases of this kind having TRANSFERRED in
| Wales within the past twenty years This
belief in New Years eve changelings, how
| ever, Is by no means confined to Wales.
| Martin Luther, the great reformer, tells us
| in his "C0lloquia Mensalia" that while
travelling in Anhait he saw one of these
changelings. who would eat as much as
| two threShers, would laugh and be joyful
| when any evil happened in the house, but
would cry and be very bad when all went
| we'll" He then goes on to state that lie
| advised the Prince to throw it into the river
Moldaw. The Prince did not care to act
upon this suggestion, whereupon Luther
| admonished the people 10 pray God to take
the little devil away. This advice being
| acted upon, he records that "in the second
year afterward the chaDgeling died" The
inference that the good people who, in obe-
| dience to Luther's advice, prayed for the
removal of this poor little innocent, aided
| their faith by works and assisted it out of
the world in which it had been so unchar-
| itably received, is irresistible.
| Many OF the superstitions OF the Welsh
I paasantry with regard to New Years day
take the form of omens or auguries fore
telling joy or sorrow, prosperity or disaster
| during the coming year. Thus it is a pop
ular belief among this most interesting peo-
| pie that II lamp or candle be taken out of
| house on that day some member of the
| family will die before the expiration of the
| new year, while to throw out dirty water.
| ashes, or anything whatsver-no matter how
| worthleSs-ls regarded as certain 20 bring
| misfortune to the entire household during
the whole Of that twelve-month. 1t is
| customary for yourg man to knock
| on New Years morning, al the house of
| the Welsh damSel with whom he is smitten.
| Ii 1t is she who opens, the swain is said to
| be her first foot'-that is, the first to set
| foot at her home in the new year-and, as
| such, is entitled TO a kiss. II not uufre-
| Quently happens, however that some with
| cred old maiden aunt, wrinkled grand
| mother or other ancient beldame receives
| him, and then be is her first foot" and is
in honor bound to kiss her, let the duty be
! ever so disagreeable.
| A favOrte superstition among the peas
| antry of Wales is that unless some new ar
| ticle of clothing be worn on New Years
| day misfortune is sure to follow throughout
the entire year: They have an old-folk
| rhyme on this subject, which runs as fol-
| lows:
| At New Years let your clothes be new
Or else be sure you Will 1t rue.
Every one is familiar with the legend of
| Rip Van Wrinkle as introduced to our litera-
ture by Washington Irving, and has laughed
! and cried over the pathetic story of the big
| hearted. rolicking Dutchman who drinks
| with the ghostly Hendrick Hudson and his
shadowv crew in the fastness of the Cats
kills; sleeps for period of time which he
believes to be one night, but which is in
| reality twenty years, and who wanders
| down the mountain to find all his old friends
dead and gone, his home broken up, his
wife married again, his little daughter
| grown out of his recollection, even his faith
full dog Schneider among the missing. But
| probably few are aware that there is scarce
| ly country whose people do not relate
this story in some form, and that
the source from which Irving derived
| his version of it is New Years
| Eve legend of the Harz Mountains. But if
Won will travel among the peasantry of
| Wales and inquire with regard to their folk
| lore concerning New Years day and its
mystic eve, they will tell you the legend of
two Welsh Rip Van Wrinkles who, while
| wandering among the ravines of their alive
mountains on one New Years Eve encoun-
| tered two fairy maidens, who entced them
| across a fairy bridge into fairy land,
| where they spent period of such blissful
| happiness that it seemed but one day. Re-
|
found that seven generations had lived and
| died during their absence, which had eX-
| tended over century.
One of the oldest and most universal OF
all New Years customs among the people
| of Wales, and one around which cluster
many popular superstitions, is that of hav-
| ing a bonfire lighted by each household at
nightfall on New Years eve. This was
done by both the Celtic and Germanic ma
| tons, and like them the peasantrv of Wales
| inv thnc Nnu ~ E.n ,,.,N.
| peculiarly sacred character. They were in
tended both to light the spirit of the old
| year on It's passage and to greet with cheer
| full welcome the coming of the new In
| proportion as these fires were large and
| bright, or small and dull, as they were kim
| died readily or with difficulty. and as they
| burned slowly or brskly, so it was believed
| would be the happiness or unhappiness the
| good or i'll fortune of the household to which
| that fire pertained. Should n New Years
eve fire die out from any cause before the
| hour of midnight such an event is consid-
cred certain precursor of death and dis
| aster.
In many parts of Wales the ashes of the
| New Years fro above alluded to are care
fully preserved from year to year. Special
| virtue is attached to these ashes in the cure
| of certain forms of disease. For the "fail-
ing sickness" (epileptic fits), and indeed for
| any form of commissions, they are regarded
as a specific. They are also thought by the
believers in such things to possess some
| power as love philters. but like all such
| potions they must, of course, be aiminis-
tered without the kno Wedge of the person
to be influenced. 1t is generally believed by
| all the native antiquarianS with whom
have conversed OIL this subject, that the
| great majority of these Welsh superstltions
| associated with the New Years eve fire arc
unquestIonably derived from the Germanic
| and Celtic nations mentioned above as the
| originatOrs OF the custom of lighting ont the
| wpl ha