Welsh lovespoons: courtship carved in wood

In many Welsh homes a curious object hangs on the wall: a wooden spoon too elaborate to be used, its handle pierced with hearts, chains and little balls trapped in cages. It is the lovespoon, a gift that for centuries young countrymen carved with their own hands for the girl they wished to court. Its history combines rural craftsmanship, folk symbolism and a very practical idea of betrothal.

A handmade gift

The spoon was an everyday, familiar object, and carving a decorated one required time, patience and skill. That is precisely why the gift had value: it showed that the young man could work with his hands and so, in the thinking of the time, provide for a family. The girl who accepted the spoon also accepted, at least in part, the proposal to keep company.

The wood most often used was whatever was available nearby, such as sycamore, lime or fruitwood. Carvers often worked during the long winter evenings, with a simple knife. Some scholars note that sailors, too, devoted themselves to this work during voyages, and that the custom was not exclusive to Wales: similar objects are found in Scandinavia, in Brittany and in other regions of Europe.

The St Fagans spoon

One of the oldest dated lovespoons known goes back to 1667 and is kept at the National Museum of History at St Fagans, near Cardiff. The custom was probably older, but wood survives poorly and many examples have been lost. From the eighteenth to the nineteenth century the tradition is well documented in the Welsh countryside, and museums hold numerous variants.

Over time the spoons became more and more decorative, until they lost any practical function. Some have two or three bowls, others a very long handle with intricate fretwork. In the twentieth century, when the custom of courting with a spoon had died out, the lovespoon became a symbolic gift for weddings, anniversaries and births, as well as an emblem of Welsh identity.

A language of symbols

According to tradition, every carved motif had a precise meaning. The heart stood for love, the chain for the wish to stay together, the wheel for the work by which the young man would support the household. The loose balls enclosed in a cage, cut from a single piece of wood, are often interpreted as the number of children hoped for, or as love kept safe.

Other recurring symbols are the key and the lock, alluding to the shared home, the cross as a sign of faith, the flower as a wish for growth and the double bowl as an image of the couple. It should be remembered, however, that many of these interpretations were codified in recent times, and that each carver could give the motifs a personal meaning.

The lovespoon tells of a way of courting founded on time and labour rather than on wealth. Into an object as humble as a spoon, the young man put his skill and his patience, offering the girl tangible proof of his intentions. It is no surprise that Wales has made it one of its most recognisable symbols.