The Mari Lwyd in the Modern Day
The Mari Lwyd has now spread further, and is practiced even in countries outside of Europe. The purpose and methods of practice also vary even more greatly. Often, instead of traveling from home-to-home, men will instead travel from bar-to-bar with the Mari Lwyd. Some have altered the Mari Lwyd's appearance significantly; one such example is featured below, where a large, blue Mari Lwyd was decorated by children in Walthamstow, England. This was done as part of a tradition known as wassailing. The original Mari Lwyd tradition is itself a form of wassailing, involving traveling from home-to-home and sharing toasts; however, the Walthamstow Mari Lwyd combined the traditional horse figure with another form of wassailing in which apple trees are visited (Scribble & Smudge 2016).
As with other examples of tradition, the Mari Lwyd is a way of shaping and reinforcing a shared identity, or "special connection" with each other (Sims and Stephens 2011, 71). While historical Mari Lwyd practices usually brought people together in small groups, most contemporary Mari Lwyd practices are now used to bring together the community as a whole, and often involve charitable causes (Howell 2018, 73).
