The book presents a comprehensive collection of folk-lore gathered directly from aged peasants across Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, and Pembrokeshire. The author documents unrecorded Celtic traditions before they disappear from memory entirely, structuring his findings by subject to mirror classic Scottish and Irish studies.
The initial chapters detail ancient courting practices, such as night-visiting and the use of hazel and birch tokens for rejecting or accepting suitors. Various forms of divination are outlined, including tea-cup reading, mirror gazing on All Hallows Eve, and candle-and-pin rituals used by young people to foresee their future spouses.
Wedding customs form a substantial part of the text, describing horse weddings, the role of the professional bidder who invited guests with a decorated staff, and the financial contributions expected from attendees. The narrative details the boisterous feasting, the humorous arguments at the bride's door, and the subsequent celebrations known as the neithior.
Funeral practices follow, noting the public nature of burials, the tradition of the wake-night, and the historical presence of the sin-eater alongside the distribution of food and drink. The text records rural customs like spade money, the parson's penny, and the planting of yew trees in churchyards that often occupy ancient druidical sites.
Subsequent sections record seasonal celebrations throughout the calendar year, covering Christmas plygain services, New Year water-sprinkling, St. David's day leek-wearing, and May Day bonfires. Harvest customs are detailed, particularly the harvest mare and the complex rituals surrounding the final sheaf of corn brought home from the fields.
The final portions of the work focus on fairy lore, presenting numerous local legends regarding the Tylwyth Teg. Tales of mortals who wandered into fairy rings and spent years in subterranean palaces are paired with accounts of fairy brides who married mortals under strict conditions before eventually returning to their lakes.
