Welsh Journals

A Miscellany of Welsh Weather-Lore. D. MACHRETH ELLIS. ABBREVIATIONS. C.C.­" Coelion Cymru." Rev. Evan Isaac (Aberystwyth, 1938). C.F.Cymru Fu." C.R.C.­"Canu Rhydd Cynnar." Collected and edited by Dr. T. H. Parry-Williams (Cardiff, 1932). C.P. Cymru'r Plant." (The 1905 volume contains several arlicles dealing with weather- proverbs). E.T.— Welsh National Eisteddfod Transactions of 1895. (Cardiff, 1887). F.F.W.Folk-lore and Folk-Stories of Wales." Marie Trevelyan (Stock, 1909). Gwyddionadur.Y Gwyddionadur Cymraeg (Vol. Ill contains a long list of Welsh proverbs). P.W.The Proverbs of Wales." T. R. Roberts (London, 1909). T.E.-Transactions of the National Eisteddfod of Wales, held at Ffestiniog, 1898 (Liverpool, 1900). (This volume contains a large number of old sayings connected with wea'her- lore, and most of these are incorporated in this collection in order to make it as full as possible). W.F. Welsh Folk-lore." Professor T. Gwynn Jones. (Methuen & Co., 1929). Shr.F.Shropshire Folk-lore.' Burne and Jackson (Ludgale, 1883). The rapid advance of science with all its accompanying host of inventions and labour-saving devices, has resulted in so great a mechanisation of our daily life that even the countryman is, perforce, becoming increasingly dependent on new machinery and modem conveniences. The old hand-flail has been superseded by the threshing-machine; the mowing-machine has taken the place of the scythe; the wooden hay-rake is in danger of becoming obsolete; and the tractor is continually supplanting the horse. Like almost everything else, the country-side is being speeded-up — and much of its old-world charm has been lost in the process. In the light of modem science, old traditions and old beliefs are coldly scrutinised and examined, and are, more often than not, condemned as being unworthy of an enlightened age. So it is with weather-lore. Old country- sayings dealing with the weather have but a faint hope of competing successfully with the weather-glass, or with the weather-forecast so conveniently provided by radio or newspaper. Compared with the impressive dicta of meteorological experts, it must be admitted that popular weather-lore often appears vague and unconvincing, not to say naive; nevertheless, there is about these old weather-sayings a homely