by Carys from Cardiff asks Santa about stockings, learns about Mount Snowdon, and hears about Welsh caroling traditions
Dear Santa, my name is Carys and I am eight years old. I live in Cardiff, Wales, where my mamgu says our language has words so long that even grown-ups need practice saying them.
Dear Carys, I have practiced Welsh place names for centuries and I still occasionally trip over the really long ones.
Santa, I have three questions.
My first question is, do you fill Christmas stockings? My little brother hangs three by mistake every year because he forgets we only have two children in our house.
I do, Carys, and I have quietly filled that mysterious third stocking for years, on the theory that any household that generous deserves the benefit of the doubt.
My second question is about our mountains. My teacher says the tallest mountain in Wales has a Welsh name that is different from the English one. Is that true?
It is true, Carys. What is commonly called Snowdon in English is known as Yr Wyddfa in Welsh, and it is the highest peak in Wales. Flying past it on a clear, snowy night is a genuinely beautiful part of my route through your country.
My third question is about caroling. My family goes to a special Christmas morning service called Plygain in our village, where people sing carols very early. Why do we do that?
Plygain is a lovely old Welsh tradition, a service traditionally held in the very early hours of Christmas morning, where villagers take turns singing unaccompanied carols, some of them centuries old. It is a wonderful example of a community keeping its own music alive together, and I always slow the sleigh down over Wales just to listen.
Merry Christmas, Santa.
Your friend,
Carys Hughes
Cardiff, Wales
P.S. Nadolig Llawen, Santa. That means Merry Christmas.
Nadolig Llawen to you too, Carys. I have been practicing that one all week.
