Thank You For This

The thing with the Mari Lwyd, though, is that it's being... I don't know, 'appropriated' is the wrong word, but certainly turned into something it isn't.

Thing is, this is a folk tradition in the Welsh language, and that's the most important aspect of it. I feel partly responsible for this, because I accidentally became a bit of an expert on the topic of the Mari Lwyd in a post that escaped Tumblr containment, and I clearly didn't stress it strongly enough there (in my defence, I wrote that post for ten likes and some attention); but this is a Welsh language tradition, conducted in Welsh, using Welsh language poetic forms that are older than the entire English language, and also a very specific sung melody (with a very specific first verse; that's Cân y Fari). It is not actually a 'rap battle'. It's not a recited poem. It is not any old rhyme scheme however you want.

It is not in English.

Given the extensive and frankly ongoing attempts by England to wipe out Welsh, and its attendant cultural traditions, the Mari is being revived across Wales as an act of linguistic-cultural defiance. She's a symbol of Welsh language culture, specifically; an icon to remind that we are a distinct people, with our own culture and traditions, and in spite of everyone and everything, we're still here. Separating her from that by removing the Welsh is, to put it mildly, wildly disrespectful.

...but it IS what I'm increasingly seeing, both online and in real world Mari Lwyd festivals. She's gained enormous pop-culture popularity in recent years, which is fantastic; but she's also been reduced from the tradition to just an aesthetic now.

So many people are talking/drawing about her as though she's a cryptid or a mythological figure, rather than the folk practice of shoving a skull on a stick and pretending to be a naughty horse for cheese and drunken larks. And I get it! It's an intriguing visual! Some of the artwork is great! But this is not what she is. She's not a Krampus equivalent for your Dark Christmas aesthetic.

I see people writing their own version of the pwnco (though never called the pwnco; almost always called some variant on 'Mari Lwyd rap battle'), and as fun as these are, they are never even written in the meter and poetic rules of Cân y Fari, much less in Welsh, and they never conclude with the promise to behave before letting the Mari into the house. The pwnco is the central part to the tradition; this is the Welsh language part, the bit that's important and matters.

Mari Lwyd festivals are increasingly just English wassail festivals with a Mari or two present. The Swansea one last weekend didn't even include a Mari trying to break into a building (insert Shrek meme); there was no pwnco at all. Even in the Chepstow ones, they didn't do actual Cân y Fari; just a couple of recited verses. Instead, the Maris are just an aesthetic, a way to make it look a bit more Welsh, without having to commit to the unfashionable inconvenience of actually including Welsh.

And I don't really know what the answers are to these. I can tell you what I'd like - I'd like art to include the Welsh somewhere, maybe incorporating the first line of Cân y Fari like this one did, to keep it connected to the actual Welsh tradition (or other Welsh, if other phrases are preferred). I'd like people who want to write their version of the pwnco to respect the actual tradition of it by using Cân y Fari's meter and rhyme scheme, finishing with the promise to behave, and actually calling it the pwnco rather than a rap battle (and preferably in Welsh, though I do understand that's not always possible lol). I'd like to see the festivals actually observe the tradition, and include a link on the booking website to an audio clip of Cân y Fari and the words to the first verse, so attendees who want to can learn it ahead of time. I don't know how feasible any of that is, of course! But that's what I'd like to see.

I don't know. This is rambly. But it's something I've been thinking about - and increasingly nettled by - for a while. There's was something so affirming and wonderful at first about seeing the Mari's climb into international recognition, but it's very much turned to dismay by now, because she's important to my endangered culture and yet that's the part that everyone apparently wants to drop for being too awkward and ruining the aesthetic. It's very frustrating.

Signal boosting the Fuck out of this because HELP THIS POOR PERSON!!

pleeease signal boost this - i am so scared

i know that i haven’t made a personal post in a while, but i’m desperate and out of options. i am very scared.

there’s a person in my home that, two days ago, kept threatening me with violence. i’m 5′2 and he’s … much bigger and taller. he almost threw glass at me, at one point he pulled out a weapon on me because i took my mom’s room (that she offered) and he threatened to pay someone to beat me up

i can’t do this anymore. before i had the option of a gofundme or a youcaring or sharing my cash.me link i had a whole suicide note drawn up, but something in me told me to do this so i’m going for it and i really hope it works out because otherwise, i have no other options and i CANNOT do it for much longer.

 i’ve been locked in my room for days. i only leave to drink water or go to the bathroom. i don’t even eat because he occupies the living room and i’d have to pass him to get to the kitchen, which is what pissed him off enough to send him on a rant threatening to end my life. nobody in my family likes the cops (for obvious reasons) and i need my laptop as that’s really one of the few material posessions i have and need for school.

my last meal was yesterday because my sister bought me food, but idk when i can be able to eat again and i’m scared because i  haven’t been downstairs eating regularly since may and i’ve lost probably 20+ pounds

i need $900. I have $95. So, a little over 10% of the way there, but still not enough. i’d hope to get it by the end of this month, but as soon as possible. $900 would go towards the deposit and rent of an apartment i’d share with 2 friends, plus any other utility or moving costs. my scholarship and my job that starts August 6th will pay off the rest in august but i have to leave asap because i can’t do this much longer. 

i hate tying my identity to this blog.

my cash.me link is cash.me/$yss1rhc 

i have a youcaring link (takes paypal) and a gofundme link (takes 5% of all donations) that, if you ask for, i can pm to you to donate (because it does contain personal information, please only ask for it if you know you’re going to donate and you can’t pay with a card (i understand.) 

otherwise, i’m content with the cash.me

if you can’t donate, please, i’m begging you to reblog because i don’t know what to do anymore. usually i draw and offer commissions but my mental health is completely shot and i can’t… do anything.

if you donate, i do believe in positive energy and i’ll find a way to pay it back + pay it forward because it warms me how much people have helped me so far.

i wouldn’t do this if i didn’t think it was absolutely necessary. my heart is breaking at the fact that i would ever have to do this. 

i would rather sleep on a floor with boxes in an empty room than sleep in the same house as a person who’d rather risk throwing his life and son away because he hates me that much.  thank you so much.

20 million votes have been uncounted

Link to this Tweet here

Link to the tweet here for the image above

Link to the White house

If you need further help in a quick format, here is one, but i urge you to also add in the details for requiring an investigation, not just recount.

I know its a shitty situation and were tired but we still have to try to fight for a life that's worth living.

If you can blaze this post, GO FOR IT!!!

Just finished all that's said in the low light because I saw your glorious art of it...and holy shit that was fantastic!!! I'm also following the siren one you made art of and am enjoying it immensely.

Really the main question I have is do you have any other fic recommendations? Because so far your taste seems impeccable :D

awww thank you!! it's always a pleasure to share some of the goldmines in this fandom. as always, mind the tags, but here are some fics that make my heart feel fragile and vulnerable, in no particular order <3

cedar beam, pine rafter by joesoef

side by side by thirteenbullets

falling into forever by queeniegalore

rainstorm by serpentwyne

once more to see you by serpentwyne (unfinished, but already so excruciating in the best way)

you are more than warm belief by enderspren

easy, easy by saintlithic

(if you like these fics, remember to kudos and leave a nice comment!)

◇BLACK ARTIST◇

WhytManga, creator of Apple Black, Instagram + YouTube.

tobi.the.kid on Instagram

dennis_artworks on Instagram.

gdbee on Instagram

nikolasdraperivey, creator of black panther album cove. Instagram.

SUPPORT BLACK ARTISTS

I’m in, I call Equius because I has a bow

oh my god i’m finally done

i drew this when i was bored from time to time and it was originally supposed to be steampunk designs for the trolls but i went kinda crazy and now these are steampunky-victorianesque-punk-whatever designs

unfortunately most of them turned out meh though haha

reblog if you would eat lunch with all might

I live in fear of people like this; no matter what gender they lay claim to

Cursory research into the meanings of Mandalorian armour colours...

Black - ne'tra = justice, an unshakeable moral code (also wanting to avoid stains on your clothes)

White - cin vhetin = a fresh start or clean slate (good for converts/adult adoptions)

Grey - genet = mourning a loved one (or recently rejected)

Gold - ve'vut = vengeance (a warning colour)

Silver - shev'la beskar = unpainted armour, a search for redemption (Din Djarin's guilt complex, anyone?)

Bronze - tranyc'bes - nobility and high status (favoured by stuck-up self-important jackasses)

Brown - daryc - valour, galantry, The Audacity (particularly when associated with them cunty lil jedi cape drops)

Tan - vhekadla - loyalty (lit. 'sandy' but I don't like sand, it's coarse and rough and...)

Maroon - daryc'tal - power (all hail Maroon 5, our benevolent overlords)

Red - ge'tal = honouring a parent (very popular, 10/10)

Scarlet - galar'tal - defiance and relentlessness (Mandalorian Scarlett Johansson omfg be still my bi heart)

Orange - shereshoy = shereshoy, a lust for life (the party people)

Yellow - shi'yayc - remembrance, burnt out vengeance (makes for funky funerals)

Mint green - cin vorpan - lust for peace, guardians and peacekeepers (does not necessarily mean I want to fuck guardians and peacekeepers, get your head outta the gutter)

Green - vorpan = duty, commitment and hard work (favourite of farmers, too)

Teal - jahaal = healing, violence as a last resort, I've seen some shit and now I defend peace (favoured by healers and New Mandalorians)

Blue - kebiin = reliability and faithfulness (favoured by single parents)

Sky blue - kebii'tra = new love, newlyweds, marriage and all that fluffy stuff (Satine's famous jewellery TCW S2 - ObiTine for the soul)

Indigo - jiisaviin = prosperity, victory, the feeling that we have achieved our hopes (tempting fate, perhaps)

Lilac - saviin = luck, change, survival in adversity, hope for the future (associated with the old God of Luck)

Pink - cin ge'tal - respect and knowledge, a fusion of past and future (associated with journalists and academics)

Ofc this is a rough guide and if anyone either doesn't like my sense of humor or wants more detailed information, check out these posts too: x x x