Ah, Wales. Beautiful. Ancient. Brave. Steadfast. Home of a baffling language and a horse-skulled excuse to get drunk.
Apparently this is not some ancient character - it's just something some drunk Welshmen came up with. Make a hobby horse out of a skull and go a-wassailing. Horse skulls are kind of jolly, I suppose, and when you show up at someone's door with it, they kind of have to address you, so you sing and drink. Not bad.
The Mari Lwyd is a skull affixed to a pole like a hobby horse and then you bedazzle that skull. One person under a sheet carries it around, and another speaks/ sings for it as a leader. And then a bunch of other drunks join in, singing in a small crowd around the figure. You knock on someone's door, and you carol for booze.
No one is quite sure where the tradition started, why, or, indeed, what "Mari Lwyd" refers to - but it might just mean "The Gray Mare". She ain't what she used to be, indeed.
So, no, don't fear the Mari Lwyd. It's just here for your booze and snacks.
Wait... am I Mari Lwyd?
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