Christmas Past artwork

Backstory: The Mari Lwyd

Christmas Past

English - December 04, 2023 08:00 - 11 minutes - 8.14 MB - ★★★★★ - 746 ratings
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Previous Episode: Backstory — Christmas Seals
Next Episode: Backstory — Stollen

The mostly warm, fuzzy, cozy, sanitized Christmas is mainly a product of 19th and 20th century American influence. In earlier times, Christmas had a spooky side — one example of which is the Welsh tradition of the ghostly gray mare: the Mari Lwyd. 

Mentioned in this Episode

Jeff BelangerThe Fright Before Christmas by Jeff Belanger

Music in this Episode

"John Barleycorn" — Julius H., via Pixabay"Dread Lake" — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive"Mile Marker 323" — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive"Relaxing Acoustic - Noel" —Oleksii Kaplunskyi, via Pixabay"Dramatic Uplifting Cinematic Piano" — Yevhen Onoychenko, via PixabayAdditional sound effects via Freesound