Folk-Lore of West and Mid-Wales

What It's About

A collection of folklore and customs gathered from West and Mid-Wales — primarily Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, and Pembrokeshire. The material spans love customs, wedding and funeral customs, fairies and mermaids, ghost stories, death portents, witches and wizards, folk-healing, and the traditions attached to particular fountains, lakes, and caves. Davies collected the stories directly from local, often elderly, informants, rendering the Welsh oral tradition into English as closely to the original idiom as he could manage, with the explicit aim of preserving customs and beliefs that were already fading by the early twentieth century.

Key Concepts

The book moves through courtship and marriage rites, death and burial customs, and a wide cast of supernatural figures: fairies, mermaids, ghosts, witches, and conjurers. It also covers folk-healing practices, the lore attached to specific holy wells, lakes, and caves, and local legends tied to named parishes and landmarks across the three counties.

About the Author

Jonathan Ceredig Davies (1859–1932) was born in Cardiganshire, Wales. Largely self-taught, he left home at sixteen to join the Welsh colony in Patagonia, and later spent time in Australia. He returned to Wales in 1901 and, from the mid-1920s, devoted himself entirely to the study of Welsh history, folklore, and genealogy. He was a member of the Folk-Lore Society.