Folk Costume may be defined as the traditional Sunday best of the Folk, whether of the country or the town. It is not the working or occupational dress, such as the smock and sun bonnet, the hats of the Cornish Bal maidens (workers in the tin mines), or the dress of the Newhaven fishwives; though they did once have a Sunday dress. Nor is it the dress of Morris and other ritual dancers, which are classified as disguise. Tradition in folk costume is like that in Music and Dance. its authenticity lies in active participation and transmission, rather than assumed origin. People have objected to the steeple crowned hat on the grounds that it came from France and was adopted as a riding hat by both men and women at the English Court. It was almost universal headgear for civilian Roundheads during the Civil War, and later descended to the peasants all over the country.

Sacherverall Sitwell, in an article on Welsh costume, says that the old ladiesin the Almhouses at Castle Riding, Norfolk, still wear red cloaks and steeple hats on Sundays. Who can tell why this hat, distinctive in all its variations, should have persisted in Wales. Possibly in Pembroke there is an ancestral memory of the women of Fishguard, who paraded the cliffs and frightened away Napolean's invading armada. Or is it remembered as a Puritan hat and therefore eminently suitable for Sunday wear?

Enough has been written about Welsh costume. My own Welsh Folk Dance and Costume gives explicit details of several regional varieties and the useful illustrated book by Megan Ellis, Keeper of Prints at the National Library, should be in the hands of everyone interested.

Among our members, different groups of dancers have adopted different styles of regional dress. The Sidani Morys costume, designed by Mr. and Mrs. Griff Morris of Portmadoc, was worn by the Portmadoc children and was soon copied by other groups. This was based on the local pattern but was carried out in light modern material, but carefully retaining the colouring of the stripes.

The Llangollen dancers wear a variety of local costumes, some with a 'becwn fawr' and some with a cotton 'becwn bach'. One of their members, Sheila Archer Jones, has carried out some useful research in the district and her findings are in our Newsletter 1955. Their leader, Mrs.Pierce, made the hats herself, by skinning men's old top hats and using the silk or beaver pelt to cover a fresh frame of cork sheeting.

The Brynmawr dancers have naturally followed the pattern worn by the dancers at Llys Llanofer, laying stress, as Lady Llanover did, on everything being handmade or produced locally. Several South Wales teams have copied them, or the Pontypool dancers, who had close connections with Llanover.

The recent complaint of some of our dancers who visited the U.S.A. and Canada, that they suffered from heat in thei dresses of heavy 'brethyn', makes it necessary to emphasise that modern materials may be used, provided the right colouring is chosen. It is a pity that some people in Wales fail to realise how fortunate we are to have so many authentic regional costumes. Other countries acclaim what our own nationals deplore. All of these dresses, when carefully made, are elegant and dignified: and the hats, when worn over neatly fitting caps, can be most becoming.