14th January 2024 - Happy New Year (Hen Galan)

Thought for the day :"If you are going to try cross-country skiing, start with a small country."

Rain 8 (including Hail) : Dry 6

Happy New Year - or at least Hen Galan

Happy Old New Year (Hen Galan)!!

Yr Hen Galan is a custom that dates back to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, as opposed to the previously used Julian calendar, which over the years, had lost 13 days, resulting in January 1st in the Julian calendar equating to January 14th in the Gregorian.

In some areas of Wales, the tradition of observing the new year according to the Julian calendar is continued, with the communities of the Gwaun Valley near Fishguard and Llandysul celebrating the ‘Hen Galan’ hen meaning old in Welsh and calan, meaning the first day of the month.

Seems that the habit in North Wales was to gather goodies or Clenig...
"Clenig, we used to go round on the first of the year and say clenig clenig a blwyddun Newydd dda in Beddgelert North Wales"

and of course Marie Llwyd ..

 

Back to Ffynnon Wen

Not a day for garden work today - spend most of the day working on the admin for the Court of Castell Penfro at the end of the Month - beginning to really hate the admin side of work - sooner I gave this secretaryship up the better!

But walked the dogs and the poor old lone sheep that has been wandering in the bottom field had not survived. Not dead long enough to interest the dogs thankfully - but will have to watch them over the next few days.

Temperature dropping again - and pretty chilly.

In other news:

Aberystwyth's great storm of 1938,

From 14th to 19th January 1938, a major storm caused extensive damage in Aberystwyth, with the promenade and pier being largely destroyed by 90 mph winds.

The promenade collapsed and was washed away in minutes. Wave after wave entered houses flooding the basements to a depth of several feet and smashing all furniture before them. Front doors were smashed to matchwood as boulders and paving slabs were hurled against them and large stones were driven against windows up to second-floor level, breaking the glass and letting in gallons of water.

At nearby Tanybwlch beach, three women decided to abandon their cottage and seek refuge with their neighbours when the front door was burst open by an enormous wave. The next wave brought the roof down, pinning two of the women firmly under the heavy roof beams, with the third being knocked clean out of the cottage, only feet from the swollen River Ystwyth. Their plight was noted by the driver of a passing train, who raised the alarm, allowing the emergency services to free the women from the wreckage..

Work rapidly commenced on a protective coffer dam and the rebuilt promenade was well protected by an apron of boulders. It was thought that the expensive lesson of 1938 had been well and truly learnt and that a repetition of the events of seventy years ago was a near impossibility. However, the recent storms in January 2014 have shown that there is no room for complacency when dealing with such forces of nature.

Cheers !