Over the past few weeks, I have seen discussions on social media about the New Year. Some people preferring to celebrate the New Year at the start of the Astrological Year which many did prior to the Gregorian calendar. I can dig that and understand that this makes perfect sense as springtime is a good time for starting anything new. Generally, I feel that all calendars are arbitrary divisions created by humans for our own conveniences. This means we can celebrate the full turn of our planet around the sun at any time of the year that feels right to us and more than once if we like. Being a person who enjoys the fun of New Year why not celebrate several? But there is one New Year that does stand out to me, which I refer to as my Main New Year as during this time I feel a more powerful emotional reaction to the season. For me, the Main New Year will always be when the sun gets stronger, and our days begin to lengthen. This is aided by the presence of the Mari Lwyd whose presence throws me into an ecstatic trance enabling new wheels to take new motions.
I recall the first time I met Mari at a pagan event. I knew who she was as I had seen photographs, but I was not prepared for the tide of joy that washed over me when I first saw her in person. Since then, I have been hooked and few things please me more than being able to attend a Mari Lwyd event or a Wassail where a Mari will be present. Not content with being a spectator I went more deeply into the Mari Lwyd Tradition by becoming part of a team who looks after a Mari. I spent many happy hours in 2024 giving her a makeover by creating a new sheet, mane and ears.
Mari lifts one out of the mundane and into the crossroads where humans and the otherworld merge at the liminal time of solstice. We do not know how the tradition came to be, the roots of this being lost in the mists of time, but those who participate know instinctively that magick is afoot. Participating in this old tradition honours those who have gone before, our ancestors who also practiced the Mari Lwyd tradition and we in turn keep it alive for the next generation. This does not mean that you must be Welsh to work with the Mari Lwyd; anyone is free to experience the joys of the Grey Mare. The more the merrier as far as I’m concerned. The Wassail is an English tradition but is practised in some areas of Wales where there has been a strong history of English migration into an area, leading to the merging of the Mari Lwyd and the Wassail.
I am a person who struggles at winter, feeling my motivations dip quite severely as the days grow shorter. This means lighting up the night is very important to me. Whether it be from a Christmas Event or from a Yule Event, the illuminations give me strength and courage to go on. There is always light in the dark.
Lighting up the Night
Mari is usually illuminated when she appears and I forget that there is a human being behind the sheet, finding myself interacting with her as a real entity. To me she has become just that, the mare from the otherworld that appears to us in our darkest hours to spread, joy, mirth and good luck. I often have the task of being Ostler for a Mari Lwyd and most of the time I am not interacting with the person under the sheet; that person has gone and instead I am speaking directly to Mari.
The Wassail is a tradition to wake up the orchards and thank the trees while ensuring a good harvest for the coming year. A Wassail is often visited by several Mari Lwyds to bring good luck and joy to the proceedings. As well as waking up the trees and honouring them we are waking up ourselves following the winter slumber. A good brisk stroll to the orchard with a bit of shouting and some noise makers on a January will wake up anyone. As I awaken, I know that the darkest time of the year is over, and I feel the optimism that the worse of the winter is behind us. It is time for me to wake up, to wake up to the season, to wake up to the magick that surrounds us, to wake up to the undiluted joy of being. To wake up to the chaos that surrounds us knowing that we are a part of this chaotic confusing kaleidoscope of life and death within the multiverse. To wake up to our non-separateness from the source of all creation and destruction that I call Chaos.
A Medley of Maris
