Nos Calan Gaeaf: Welsh halloween at St Fagan’s

National World - LocalTV

This halloween, people have been really getting into the spirit, from massive number of pumpkins picked to all the countless costumes bought up and down the country. This year has also seen the return of a favourite at St Fagan’s Museum. Their halloween nights are back and bigger than ever, so we take a tour around the site and look out for all the ghosts and ghouls along the way.

Transcript

00:00 St Fagans is an absolute staple for any family outing in South Wales.

00:06 So many of us would have explored around and seen all the different buildings from all

00:10 different parts of Wales and all different times in history.

00:13 It's one of those summertime places we all like to visit.

00:15 But St Fagans is not just for the summer and returning for the first time in a few years

00:20 is their Halloween nights, Noswaithaig Caelan Gaeaf.

00:25 It's a celebration of Welsh folklore with plenty of characters from old ghost stories

00:29 told around Wales hundreds of years ago, from Twm Siôn Catty to the Tailess Black Sow.

00:34 The creepy characters welcome children in to take photos and chat, and teach them all

00:38 about their stories.

00:39 Except maybe the Tailess Black Sow who didn't really have too much to say.

00:46 The whole site was totally kitted out and the hundreds of guests all around were clearly

00:50 getting into the Halloween spirit, with street food on the old green in the village and a

00:54 traditional old fairground.

00:56 It felt like everywhere you turned there was something else hiding around the corner.

01:04 Noswaith Caelan Gaeaf is a festival that has been celebrated in Wales for centuries.

01:08 It marks the beginning of a new year and can be seen as one of the early stems of the modern

01:12 day Halloween.

01:13 It's a night where people have traditionally avoided churchyards, stiles and crossroads

01:18 as it's believed that spirits all congregate there.

01:22 The gap between our world and the spirit world is smaller during the night of Halloween.

01:26 We are building ours, not in the summertime, but some people believe it might have, to

01:32 bring the sun back into the sky, to bring a good harvest.

01:36 But our wicca man is built on an original fire festival.

01:42 Some people think that Noswaith Caelan Gaeaf at Halloween is the original Celtic New Year.

01:48 Some people think it was just an important fire festival.

01:52 But it's an important fire festival because of the time of year it is.

01:57 Our world and the other world are very, very close together.

02:02 It's a chance to scare the mischievous spirits away and the whole crowd got involved, scaring

02:09 the spirits with their screaming and shouting while the wicca man burned.

02:12 If the spirits weren't scared into the burning man, then they'd be free to cause trouble

02:17 all Halloween and we couldn't have that, could we?

02:22 The whole event culminated in one big flourish in the centre of it all, the burning of the

02:26 wicca man.

02:27 It's a tradition that spans cultures and everyone has some kind of burning effigy as

02:30 part of their culture.

02:32 But the story behind the burning man here in St Fagans is an interesting one and links

02:36 heavily to the spirit world in Welsh folklore.

02:40 The whole event was a fantastic opportunity to learn about Welsh folklore while having

02:44 a bit of a fright along the way.

02:46 The burning man was a unique chance to experience an old culture head on and just the chance

02:51 to see one of Wales' best attractions in a totally different way at night was fun enough.

02:55 Luckily those pesky spirits were scared away for another year.

02:58 I'm David Watkins, Local TV, St Fagans.

03:00 Let's go.

03:01 (children screaming)

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