_Curious Welsh Custom._--A custom prevails in Wales of carrying about at
Christmas time a horse's skull dressed up with ribbons, and supported on
a pole by a man who is concealed under a large white cloth. There is a
contrivance for opening and shutting the jaws, and the figure pursues
and bites every body it can lay hold of, and does not release them
except on payment of a fine. It is generally accompanied by some men
dressed up in a grotesque manner, who, on reaching a house, sing some
extempore verses requesting admittance, and are in turn answered by
those within, until one party or the other is at a loss for a reply. The
Welsh are undoubtedly a poetical people, and these verses often display
a good deal of cleverness. This horse's head is called _Mari Lwyd,_
which I have heard translated "grey mare." _Llwyd_ certainly is grey,
but _Mari_ is not a mare, in Welsh. I think I have heard that there is
some connection between it and the camel which often appears in old
pictures of the Magi offering their gifts. Can any of your readers
inform me of the real meaning of the name, and the origin of the custom,
and also whether a similar custom does not prevail in some parts of
Oxfordshire?