w]n bach_, the frilled
mob-cap and the small plaid shawl of a previous generation. Curious
instances of old Welsh superstitions are to be found amongst the
peasantry of the more remote districts, particularly in the lovely
country in the valleys of the Towy and Teifi, where belief in fairies,
fairy-rings, goblins and "corpse-candles" still lingers. The curious
mumming, known as "Mari Lwyd" (Blessed Mary), in which one of the
performers wears a horse's skull decked with coloured ribbands, was
prevalent round Carmarthen as late as 1885. At many parish churches the
ancient service of the "Pylgain" (a name said to be a corruption of the
Latin _pulli cantus_) is held at daybreak or cock-crow on Christmas
morning. A species of general catechism, known as _pwnc_, is also common
in the churches and Nonconformist chapels. The old custom of receiving
New Year's gifts of bread and cheese, or meal and money (_calenig_),
still flourishes in the rural parishes. The "bidding" before marriage
(as in Cardiganshire) was formerly universal and is not yet altogether
discontinued, and bidding papers were printed at Llandilo as late as
1900. The horse weddings (_priodas ceffylau_) were indulged in by the
farmer class in the neighbourhood of Abergwili as late as 1880.

AUTHORITIES.--T. Nicholas, _Annals and Antiquities of the Counties of
Wales_ (London, 1872); W. Spurrell, _Carmarthen and its Neighbourhood_
(Carmarthen, 1879); J.B.D. Tyssen and Alcwyn C. Evans, _Royal
Charters, &c., relating to the Town and County of Carmarthen_
(Carmarthen, 1878).

CARMATHIANS (QARMATHIANS, KARMATHIANS), a Mahommedan sect named after
Hamdan Qarmat, who accepted the teaching of the Isma'ilites (see
MAHOMMEDAN RELIGION: _Sects_) from Hosain ul-Ahwazi, a missionary of
Ahmed, son of the Persian Abdallah ibn Maimun, toward the close of the
9th century. This was in the Sawad of Irak, which was inhabited by a
people little attached to Islam. The object of Abdallah ibn Maimun had
been to undermine Islam and the Arabian power by a secret society with
various degrees, which offered inducements to all classes and creeds and
led men on from an interpretation of Islam to a total rejection of its
teaching and a strict personal submission to the head of the society.
For the political history of the Carmathians, their conquests and their
decay, see ARABIA: _History_; CALIPHATE (sect. C. SS 16, 17, 18, 23);
and EGYPT: _History_ (Mahommedan period).

In the