Christmas trap

Introduction

During your Christmas break, you one day find yourself changed into a tiny wren. It's early in the morning of Christmas Eve and you are in deep shock. Finally you fly out of your bed and look in the mirror and somehow recognize that this particular expression on your bird-shaped face is one of horror. Now you feel completely lost and confused, because even the room you were sleeping in looks weirdly old-fashioned. 

What can you do to become a human again? And where on Earth, are you?

The door of your room are half-open so you fly ahead to check the rest of the house.

You realize that the rest of the house is not your home any more. It looks unfamiliar and old and when you eventually hear some people’s voices but you don't even understand what they are saying.  They use a different kind of speech, a different language probably. For a minute or two you are unable to move, but then you understand a word and then another…

It’s Welsh! And you’ve learnt some Welsh at a university or in aschool, or wherever, your memory is playing tricks on you right now so you don’t remember it clearly. 

But something’s telling you, that it’s a revenge of your disappointed Welsh teacher who wanted you to repent for your sins of ignorance and misbehaviour.

And now, when you finally added two and two, you know what your mission is: stay alive through all the Christmas until the final battle of Wren’s Day. And if you succeed, you will come back home in your human form.

Task

Follow the instructions below to complete all the quests and find your way back into your time, country and human form.

Process

DAY ONE  - The Christmas Eve

To prepare yourself for the fight you have to learn some spells: the sacred words of Christmas spirit.  They would be your guidance through the following days.

 

 

Look through the websites (for example links below) and find Welsh words for:

 



1. Merry Christmas -

2. church -

3. Christmas Eve -

4. mistletoe -

5. angels -

6. presents -

7. Christmas tree -

 

and English words for

 

Plygain

yad nerw

Mari Lwyd

Holming

Noson Gyflaith

 

helpful resources 

https://www.felinfach.com/blogs/blog/welsh-christmas-traditions

https://welearnwelsh.com/blog/welsh-christmas-greetings-vocabulary-sayings/

Welsh Christmas Food and Recipes | National Museum Wales

A Traditional Welsh Christmas - Christmas celebrations in Wales (historic-uk.com)

BBC - Wales - Christmas - Content - Welsh Christmas customs

7 Welsh Christmas traditions you'll wish we still celebrated - Wales Online

 

Now, that you are armed in the magical words, you can peacefully fall asleep. But you can't. You still feel that something is missing...

 

DAY TWO - Christmas

Too find some Christmas spirit, please listen to this beautiful carol.

 

https://youtu.be/9hR0WcvmIsU

 

The Christmas meals are crucial for your survival. As you fly around the house, hungry and desperate, you have to choose carefully what you eat. Everything which is not a traditional Welsh Christmas food will be poisonous to you!

 

Decide if sentence about traditional welsh christmas dishes is right or wrong. If wrong, give a correct answer or explenation.

1. Turkey for many centuries has been a traditional bird served as christmas main meal.

2. Blood goose tart is populat in some regions of Wales.

3. Plum pudding is made of plums and Welsh lamb and isn't a dessert but a very popular aperitif. 

4. One of traditions in Wales is christmas - toffie making.

 

To fully uderstand what th Welsh Christmas are about try to find out what these customs are about:

1. How was Gwyl San Steffan celebrated in the past?

2. What is pwnco and part of which custom is it?

3. What is wassail?

 

DAY THREE - The Boxing Day

 

You feel very lucky this morning. Until you realise which part of the Christmas it is. And now the realisation comes to your mind, you now remember the one phrase you couldn't find. And now you finally see its meaning. Someone made a cruel joke out of you, writing the letters in reversed order: "Yad nerw" is "wren day" of course! The firs made much more sense then, but now... Well, you feel special for a while: a wren day. Your own day of Christmas. So what do they do? They praise and honor wrens, don't they? Well… Not quite...

 

To safe yourself, find, as fast as you can, information about the wren day customs in the past.

 

 

That night you quickly fall asleep. If you were lucky, it's your last day of this surprising trip.

Now you feel a little nostalgic.

Write down everything you are going to miss from your three magical days in the past – Wels – Christmas.

 

 

 

 

Evaluation
Conclusion

Have you managed to safe the wren? I hope you have. 

Nadolig Llawen!

Credits