Côr Cymraeg Coventry have arranged (at the last minute) an evening of plygain singing at the Old Windmill pub in Spon Street Coventry, on Wednesday January 12, starting at 8pm. Plygain are a bit like folk style Christmas carols but are sung equally before and after Christmas. January 12 is the “old New Year”, that is to say the day that would have been New Year’s Day under the Julian calendar. In 1752 a correction was made to the calendar removing eleven days, as the calendar had gone out of step with the movement of the earth round the sun. The new calendar which we still use is called the Gregorian calendar. The Julian date for New Year is still celebrated in Cwm Gwaun, Pembrokeshire, in accordance with local traditions.
Plygain are usually sung in the context of a church service and by many different groups, but unfortunately there are not enough plygain groups in Coventry to do such an event justice, so we will just be singing them as songs in the pub.