Stars and Ribbons e-bog

This is a lively introduction to a little-known subject, the Welsh wassailing poems, and it should benefit historians, social scientists, and linguists.The volume presents poems copied from manuscripts held at various libraries, and from personal collections of unpublished poems, all forming part of a social custom celebrated at the turn of the year. It presents translations of those poems, along with music where possible. It should provide musicologists and folklorists with further material for their studies.The book identifies five rituals in particular when Welsh wassail songs were sung: at Christmas, the New Year, during the Mari Lwyd celebrations, at the Wren Hunt, at Candlemas (2 February).The book is not argumentative or controversial, but is more concerned with solid descriptive scholarship rather than with the discussion of theoretical issues; many would regard this as one of the book's major strengths. This volume makes two original contributions to knowledge and understanding. The first contribution is to provide a rich collection of songs for the first time in their original language, translated into English and with musical notation. It also provides a comprehensive analysis of these poems and of the society in which they were sung. In so doing, it advances new insights into the tradition of winter wassailing in Wales.