Mari Lwyd reared her skeletal head over the weekend, with events across Ceredigion and Gwynedd.

On Saturday 13 January, a strange horse's skull draped in fairy lights with baubles for eyes turned up asking for entry to a pub in Dinas Mawddwy with a group of bawdy men.

The mare called Mari or 'Grey Mary' comes from an obscure Welsh folklore tradition involving the use of a horse's skull, with historians not being able to place exactly where the strange celebration first stemmed from.

This doesn't stop celebrators however, and at Aberystwyth Bandstand and Dinas Mawddwy the horse skull paraded eight feet in the air along streets requesting entry to various establishments with lewd and rude rhymes known as 'pwnco'.

For the celebrations in Dinas Mawddwy the horse was head adorned with colourful streamers and a ghost-like white sheet draped around a pole holding her up to make her tower over everyone.

Her paraded from pub to pub singing to be let in with the help of the men attending the establishments such as Y Llew Coch, whilst the women sing back in a hearty exchange of rude rhymes.

If Mari, also translated as 'mare', gains entry to the establishment, the household is said to get good luck for the rest of the year.

This merry affair continued with a ceilidh dance to finish off the evening.

People attended from Gwynedd and Powys, with Welsh native speakers and keen learners both having ago with songsheets in hand.

The tradition was first mentioned in writing in 1800 but the exact meaning of Mari and origin still remain up to the beholders imagination.

Mari Lwyd celebrations are continuing across Cymru throughout January, including 19 January at the Cellar in Cardigan and further afield at the Muse in Brecon, Powys, on 4 February.