Mari Coed

 Location: Rowtons Museum of the Paranormal and Spirituality

Year / Period Created
2025

Description:
When we began the dreaming of this Mari Lwyd we knew that her heritage was of upmost importance. It was right to bring her into this world in a place her soul would know, where her roots would grow from the very soil which would hold her once our work was done. Coed Hills, in the Vale of Glamorgan, was that place. With the song of living horses carried over us by the wind, we toiled with wood, metal, cloth and stone until her body was ready to dance.

And in the dreaming we could feel that she was an Old Soul. And so we chose for her head the most aged skull we could find. When living, she had walked amongst the Victorians; and so in death, perhaps she will provide a bridlepath bridge back to that time where so much of what we live with now was begun.

In the Crowning, of plants that were once so vibrant and are now so withered, we released her. We will venture alongside her for one solar cycle, learning her story as she feeds ours. Who knows where we will be once it is done.

Is there is a folktale connected to your Giant or Beast?
It is said that when you come from the land you belong to the land. And so, when asked to birth a Beast, both essence and ether are of upmost importance in the dreaming.

The purpose and particulars of our Mari Coed is still in the forming. And there, already, lies a paradox. She is not ours. No more so than any of us were our parents when they brought us into this world. They may well have had ideas. And they most certainly did the act of making us. But we are our own. Our bodies are formed from Earth’s air, land and water, taking form in flesh and bone whilst our minds wonder at and wander across these lands. And no parent can foretell what journeys their offspring may choose to go on.

And yet, her destiny in part has been set. In time, she will stable in Carmarthen at Rowtons’ Museum of the Paranormal and Spirituality. And over time, she will steadily, humbly and persistently earn her place among the Greats of the Ancestral Herd of Mari Lwyds who have roamed the hills and valleys of Wales.

Who Carries the Giant / Inhabits the Beast, or Is It a Shared Role?
The Mari Coed is brought to life by Harry and is handled by her Ostler Amerie

How is it stored?
Currently Displayed in the window of the FPS Shop in Teignmouth, will head to Carmarthen, Wales to stable at Rowtons’ Museum of the Paranormal and Spirituality from Winter 2026.