Backstory — The Mari Lwyd

The mostly warm, fuzzy, cozy, sanitized Christmas is mainly a product of 19th and 20th century American influence. In earlier times, Christmas had a spooky side — one example of which is the Welsh tradition of the ghostly gray mare: the Mari Lwyd.  Mentioned in this Episode Jeff Belanger The Fright Before Christmas by Jeff Belanger Music in this Episode "John Barleycorn" — Julius H., via Pixabay "Dread Lake" — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive "Mile Marker 323" — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive "Relaxing Acoustic - Noel" —Oleksii Kaplunskyi, via Pixabay "Dramatic Uplifting Cinematic Piano" — Yevhen Onoychenko, via Pixabay Additional sound effects via Freesound