00:00 St Fagans is an absolute staple for any family outing in South Wales.
00:06 So many of us would have explored around and seen all the different buildings from all
00:10 different parts of Wales and all different times in history.
00:13 It's one of those summertime places we all like to visit.
00:15 But St Fagans is not just for the summer and returning for the first time in a few years
00:20 is their Halloween nights, Noswaithaig Caelan Gaeaf.
00:25 It's a celebration of Welsh folklore with plenty of characters from old ghost stories
00:29 told around Wales hundreds of years ago, from Twm Siôn Catty to the Tailess Black Sow.
00:34 The creepy characters welcome children in to take photos and chat, and teach them all
00:38 about their stories.
00:39 Except maybe the Tailess Black Sow who didn't really have too much to say.
00:46 The whole site was totally kitted out and the hundreds of guests all around were clearly
00:50 getting into the Halloween spirit, with street food on the old green in the village and a
00:54 traditional old fairground.
00:56 It felt like everywhere you turned there was something else hiding around the corner.
01:04 Noswaith Caelan Gaeaf is a festival that has been celebrated in Wales for centuries.
01:08 It marks the beginning of a new year and can be seen as one of the early stems of the modern
01:12 day Halloween.
01:13 It's a night where people have traditionally avoided churchyards, stiles and crossroads
01:18 as it's believed that spirits all congregate there.
01:22 The gap between our world and the spirit world is smaller during the night of Halloween.
01:26 We are building ours, not in the summertime, but some people believe it might have, to
01:32 bring the sun back into the sky, to bring a good harvest.
01:36 But our wicca man is built on an original fire festival.
01:42 Some people think that Noswaith Caelan Gaeaf at Halloween is the original Celtic New Year.
01:48 Some people think it was just an important fire festival.
01:52 But it's an important fire festival because of the time of year it is.
01:57 Our world and the other world are very, very close together.
02:02 It's a chance to scare the mischievous spirits away and the whole crowd got involved, scaring
02:09 the spirits with their screaming and shouting while the wicca man burned.
02:12 If the spirits weren't scared into the burning man, then they'd be free to cause trouble
02:17 all Halloween and we couldn't have that, could we?
02:22 The whole event culminated in one big flourish in the centre of it all, the burning of the
02:26 wicca man.
02:27 It's a tradition that spans cultures and everyone has some kind of burning effigy as
02:30 part of their culture.
02:32 But the story behind the burning man here in St Fagans is an interesting one and links
02:36 heavily to the spirit world in Welsh folklore.
02:40 The whole event was a fantastic opportunity to learn about Welsh folklore while having
02:44 a bit of a fright along the way.
02:46 The burning man was a unique chance to experience an old culture head on and just the chance
02:51 to see one of Wales' best attractions in a totally different way at night was fun enough.
02:55 Luckily those pesky spirits were scared away for another year.
02:58 I'm David Watkins, Local TV, St Fagans.
03:00 Let's go.
03:01 (children screaming)
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