Gerald of Wales on Welsh grooming habits And hospitality. I have to say that when I stayed in Wales the hotel beds were very comfortable!
Taken from 'The Journey Through Wales and the Description of Wales'.
"Both the men and the women cut their hair short and shape it
around their ears and eyes. Like the Parthians the women cover their heads with a flowing white veil, which sticks up in folds
like a crown. Both sexes take great care
of their teeth, more than I have seen in any country. They are constantly cleaning them with green
hazel shoots and rubbing them with woollen cloth until they shine like ivory. To protect their teeth they never eat hot
food, but only what is cold, tepid or slightly warm. The men shave their beards, leaving only
their moustaches. This is not a new
habit, but one which goes back to time immemorial. You can find it in the book which Julius
Caesar wrote about his exploits, for there we read: the Britons ‘shave their
whole body so that they can move more freely, for, when they run through the
forest grove’s, they want to avoid the fate of Absalom. Of all the people I have seen the Welsh, are
the most particular in shaving the lower parts of the body.
It is Julius Caesar, too, who tells us that, when they were
about to fight a battle, the Britons used to daub to their faces with shiny war
paint. They made themselves so bright
and ghastly that the enemy could hardly dare to look at them, especially if the
sun was shining."
Welsh hospitality and eating habits
"In Wales no one begs.
Everyone’s home is open to all, for the Welsh generosity and hospitality
are the greatest of all virtues. They very much enjoy a welcoming others to their
homes. When you travel there is no
question of you asking for accommodation or of them offering it: you just march
in to a house and hand over your weapons to the person in charge. They give you water so that you may wash your
feet and that means that you are a guest. With these people the offering of water in
which to wash one’s feet is an invitation to stay. If you refuse the offer, it means you have
only dropped in for refreshment during the early part of the day and do not
propose to stay the night.
In Wales young people go about in groups and families, under
their chosen leader. They spend their
time in exercise and practicing with their weapons, with the result that they’re
ready at a moment’s notice to protect their homeland. They enter an one’s house without asking
permission, as if it were their own.
Guests who arrive early in the day are entertained until
nightfall by girls who play to them on the harp. In every house there are young women just
waiting to play for you, and there are certainly no lack of harps. Here are two things worth remembering: the
Irish are the most jealous people on earth, the Welsh do not seem to know what
jealousy is; and in every Welsh court or family menfolk consider playing on the
harp to the greatest of all accomplishments.
When night falls and no more guests are expected, the evening meal is
prepared, varying according to what the house has to offer, and to the number
and importance of the men who have come.
You must not expect a variety of dishes from a Welsh kitchen, there are
no highly seasoned titbits to whet your appetite. In a Welsh house there are no tables, no
tablecloths and no napkins. Everyone
behaves quite naturally, was no attempt whatsoever at etiquette. You sit down in threes, not in pairs as
elsewhere, and they put food in front of you all together, on a single large
trencher containing enough for three, resting on rushes and green grass. Sometimes they serve the main dish on bread,
rolled out large and thin, and baked fresh each day. In ancient books you will find the same bread
called ‘lagana’.
The whole family waits upon the guests, and the host and
hostess stand there and make sure that everything is being attended to. They themselves do not eat until everyone
else has finished and if there is a shortage of anything, it will be they who
go without. Finally the time comes to
retire to rest. Alongside one of the
walls is placed a communal bed, stuffed with rushes, and not all that many of
them. The sole covering there is a stiff
harsh sheet, made locally and called in Welsh a ‘brychan’. They all go to bed together. They keep on the same clothes which they have
worn all day, a thin cloak and tunic, which is all they have to keep the cold
out. The fire is kept burning all night
at their feet, just as it has done all day, and they get some warmth from the
people sleeping next to them. When their
underneath side begins to ache through the hardness of the bed and their
uppermost side is frozen stiff with cold, they get up and sit by the fire,
which seems more reasonable and soothes away their aches and pains. Then they go back to bed again, turning over
on their other side if they feel like it, so that a different part is frozen
and another side bruised by the hard bed."
Today's research photo Manorbier Castle South Wales, home of Gerald of Wales.
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