SUPERSTITION IN WALES.
AN AMAZING PRACTICE. The custom of slitting a baby's ear "to make it bright and lively" is still practised in many parts of Wales. Dr Arthur medical officer of | health for Carmarthenshire, speaking at a meeting of the Pontavduiais (South Wales) Maternity and Child Welfare centre, protested against the practice, which is known as " Torri llech." The j custom, he said, should have been stamped out at tho same time as witchcraft and fortune-telling. Sir Vincent Evans, the noted Welsh antiquarian, states that the exact translation of the words ." torri llech" was " cutting a slit." A Welshman resident in London said the practice wm a common one in his boyhood, particularly in the remote rural districts, but sometimes also'in the towns. He added:—"lf any one was slow at his work, the critics would always remark, ' You couldn't . have had your ear slit.' I thought, however, that the custom had died down long ago."
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18180, 28 August 1922, Page 9
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156SUPERSTITION IN WALES. New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18180, 28 August 1922, Page 9
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