Come and Dress St Caron’s Well
Calling all artists, craft and other makers—-An open invitation to let your imagination run wild and join us to dress St Caron’s well.
St Caron’s Day falls on the 5th March and we’re planning a Welsh bagpipe led ‘ritual walk’ with Ceri Rhys Matthews to St Caron’s well, Tregaron.
Well dressing is prevalent across the United Kingdom. Across Wales and the UK there are ceremonies and folkloric customs associated with wells.
As far as I can tell, there’s no specific custom associated with St Caron’s well on St Caron’s day. So, this is a great opportunity to use your imagination. We can make our own tradition and celebrate St Caron and all things Tregaron.
Some wells are dressed with flowers, colourful rags, pins even. We have some ideas about what we will do. St Caron has been associated with the Chi Ro symbol, and maybe you could weave or paint somehting based on that? Just an idea! : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Rho
If you’d like to be involved, you don’t need to book or register, just join us on Saturday 5th March at 10.30 at Riverside Café. This is open to all. The well dressing will be filmed as part of our project on the well.
This site gives some great information and ideas about well dressing and activities over the weekend: https://www.folkradio.co.uk/…/st-carons-well-festival…/
If you have any questions or want to get involved in the project please DM me. Please like and share!
If you have any questions or want to get involved in the project please DM me. Please like and share!
February 16, 2022 at 12:51 pm
Annwyl Dafydd,
Great blog, been having a little read. I especially like the geological references (being a geographer from Aberystwyth/ Lampeter Unis). I am hoping to be able to make it to the well dressing, but things are up in the air for me. In the meantime, I have an obscure brochure/ handbook from Dyfed Archaeological Trust, which mentions Ffynnon Caron, especially in connection to a tradition of drinking the water at Easter time with the addition of sugar!
If you’d like a screenshot of the pages/ brochure, drop me an email and I’ll send it over. There is a huge section in Welsh, which I think relates to Ffynnon Caron, and then a couple of random sentences in English, “Swains and maids used to resort in Easter Day to drink the mother of all liquors produced by this spring. … The company assembled at the well, having drunk several pints of the clear water, sang the verses.” (notes from ffyhonnaucymru.org.uk, apparently).
On a personal note, I’m somewhat devoted to Saint Brighid/ Sant Ffraid and I do like making her crosses from reeds, which are nice hung in the trees near to wells.
Cofion Cynnes,
Katherine
October 22, 2022 at 5:23 am
Hi Katherine-see you for the lantern making-I just remembered your interest in Saint Brighid/ Sant Ffraid-this is something we coudl do too?
Dafydd