In West Wales “Ceffyl Pren” was resorted to when a man was supposed to have been unfaithful to his wife whom he had promised to cherish, or a woman who had broken her marriage covenant.
It was customary to make a straw man riding a straw horse, as an effigy to represent the guilty. Such effigies were carried round the most public places in order to make those who were guilty of breaking the Seventh Commandment ashamed of themselves. The procession was a very noisy one, and accompanied by men with horns and brass, etc., and sometimes a song was composed for the occasion.
Such procession went round the neighbourhood for about three weeks, and sometimes a gun was carried to shoot the straw rider.
At last the effigies were burnt before the house or houses of the guilty, and then the crowd dispersed.
It is supposed that such custom has come down from the time of the Druids when it was customary to burn evil-doers in effigies of straw as sacrifices to the gods.
In some cases people were not satisfied in carrying an effigy, but seized the guilty man and woman, and carried them publicly on a ladder for miles round the country.
THE EMPLOYMENT OF DOGS TO TURN ROASTING-SPITS.
It was customary in former times to place a dog inside a wheel which he turned with his fore-feet, the wheel being connected by a chain with the wheel end of the spit.
There was a dog employed in turning the roasting-spit in this manner at Newcastle Emlyn about one hundred years ago.