A rhydd yr esboniad a ganlyn o'i eiddo ei hun:
These were held, so far as I can gather from the descriptions usually given of them, exactly as I have seen a kermess or kirchmesse celebrated at Heidelberg, or rather the village over the Neckar opposite that town. It was in 1869, but I forget what saint it was with whose name the kermess was supposed to be connected the chief features of it were dancing and beer drinking. It was by no means unusual for a Welsh Gwyl Fabsant to bring together to a rural neighbourhood far more people than could readily be accommodated; and in Carnarvonshire a hurriedly improvised bed is to this day called gwely g'l'absant, as it were a bed (for the time) of a saint's festival.' Rightly or wrongly the belief lingers that these merry gatherings were characterized by no little immorality, which made the better class of people set their faces against them.
revelry, rustic Dywaid Marie Trevelyan:— Mal Santau, or Mabsant was the title given to festiv— ities held from parish to parish for a week at a time. These celebrations were chiefly held on saints' days St. David's Day being the grandest festival of all. The Mal Santau, or Mabsant, included sports, dancing, solo and partsinging, and varied kinds of amusements. Harpists and fiddlers attended every Mabsant, and the inn that had the best musician obtained the most custom. Sometimes these festivities were held in the town halls of little country towns, or else in the village inns, or barns lent by farmers for the occasion.——Glimpses of Welsh Life and Char— acter, by Marie Trevelyan. London: John Hogg, 13 Pater noster Row. 1893.[1]
Dywaid Robert Jones, Rhos Lan:
Yr oedd mewn llawer o ardaloedd un Sul pennodol yn y flwyddyn a elwid gwylmabsant, ac yr oedd hwnw yn un o brif wyliau y diafol; casglai y'nghyd at eu cyfeillion luaws o
- ↑ Gweler hefyd Folk Lore and Folk Stories of Wales, by Marie Trevelyan, with introduction by E. Sydney Hartland. London: Elliott Stock. 1909
