01725nas a2200229   4500000000100000000000100001008004100002653001800043653001500061653001400076653001000090653001300100653000900113653001000122100001700132245006100149856011800210300001000328490000700338520113000345022002001475       2018                            d10aArtificiality10aDevolution10aMari Lwyd10aPwnco10aRevivals10aTrac10aWales1 aDavid Howell00aContemporising Custom: the re-imagining of the Mari Lwyd  uhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85055808947&partnerID=40&md5=df1796ac053f65f26f7654a2afac4d8e  a66-790 v133 aIntangible forms of heritage are particularly vulnerable and susceptible to change. While evolution is inevitable for a living entity, at what point do we consider a tradition to have evolved beyond the parameters of that which made it distinctive? This article focuses on the Welsh tradition of the Mari Lwyd. This seasonal, animal head tradition is celebrated in Wales as a resistant, surviving legacy and is frequently described as a continuance of an  ancient tradition . However, the legitimacy of this claim is questionable. Instead, this paper proposes that the contemporary Mari Lwyd seen in Wales today, are unique entities, distinct from the historically recorded examples. In many respects, they should be treated as a new form of intangible heritage, which have emerged only in the last few decades. Understanding how the historical variant of this tradition has evolved into the distinct modern version is of critical importance in terms of understanding how  elements  of intangible heritage are altered and manipulated beyond the confines of what first made them distinctive and considered to be of importance.  a19753586 (ISSN)