How to Say Happy New Year in Welsh

Happy New Year in Welsh is Blwyddyn Newydd Dda. You’ll often see it paired with the Christmas greeting, Nadolig Llawen, on the same card, and Wales has New Year customs of its own to go with it. Here is what the words mean, how to combine them, and how to write them in a card to family in Wales or to Welsh relatives scattered further afield.

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda, word by word

• Blwyddyn means year.
• Newydd means new.
• Dda means good. Its dictionary form is da.

So the greeting reads “year new good”, with the adjectives after the noun, as Welsh usually has them. “Good” is the word used where English says “happy”.

Why dda and not da? Blwyddyn is a feminine noun, and in Welsh an adjective that follows a feminine noun changes its first letter, a change called the soft mutation. D softens to dd. The same rule explains a phrase you’ll see below, y Flwyddyn Newydd (“the New Year”), where blwyddyn itself softens to flwyddyn after y, “the”.

We don’t spell out pronunciations on this page; written respellings of Welsh tend to mislead. A Welsh speaker in the family will say it better than any guide can.

Christmas and New Year together

The most common combined greeting is:

• Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda: “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”. A means “and”.

It’s the line the First Minister of Wales used to close her 2024 Christmas message, and it’s a safe choice for any card sent in December. Our guide to Christmas greetings in Welsh explains Nadolig Llawen and the other Christmas phrases in more detail.

Other phrases for a New Year card

• Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i chi gyd: “Happy New Year to you all”, for a card to a whole household.
• Pob dymuniad da ar gyfer y Flwyddyn Newydd: “Every good wish for the New Year”. A good closing line, a little warmer than a plain greeting.
• Cofion cynnes: “Warm regards”, a friendly sign-off.
• Gyda chariad: “With love”.
• Diolch o galon: “Thank you from the heart”. The New Year is a natural time to thank someone for the year just gone.

How to write it in a card: bilingual examples

A Welsh greeting at the top and a Welsh sign-off at the bottom, with your own news in English between them, is an easy way to begin. Under each example you’ll find what the Welsh means.

1. To family back home

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i chi gyd! We watched the fireworks over the harbour in Sydney and thought of you all, still eleven hours behind us.

Gyda chariad, Catrin

Welsh parts: “Happy New Year to you all!” and “With love”.

2. To an old neighbour

Thank you for keeping an eye on Dad’s house this year. Diolch o galon, and Blwyddyn Newydd Dda.

Cofion cynnes, Huw

Welsh parts: “Thank you from the heart”, “Happy New Year” and “Warm regards”.

3. A card sent before Christmas that covers both

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! This is our first Christmas in Chicago, and we’ve already found the one shop that sells laverbread.

Welsh part: “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”

4. To a friend starting something new

Pob dymuniad da ar gyfer y Flwyddyn Newydd. New job, new city, same brilliant you. Ring me when you’ve unpacked.

Welsh part: “Every good wish for the New Year”.

5. To grandparents

To Mam-gu, Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! The children have learned to count to ten in Welsh and they’ll show you on the video call.

Welsh part: “Happy New Year!” Mam-gu is the word for grandmother most used in South Wales; in the North it’s usually Nain.

6. A short one for a busy week

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda. Here’s to fewer emails and more walks on the beach.

Gyda chariad

Welsh parts: “Happy New Year” and “With love”.

New Year in Wales: Nos Galan, Calennig and Hen Galan

New Year’s Eve is Nos Galan and New Year’s Day is Dydd Calan. On the evening of 31 December, the Nos Galan road race is run in Mountain Ash, and Llanwrtyd Wells holds a torch-lit procession.

The best-known Welsh New Year custom is Calennig, a New Year’s gift. Children went from door to door on the morning of 1 January, singing verses and wishing each household a good year, and were given food, coins or sweets in return. They traditionally carried a decorated apple pierced with three sticks and topped with a sprig of box and hazelnuts. The custom has faded in most places, though St Fagans National Museum of History has held Calennig events where visitors make the traditional gift.

In the Gwaun Valley (Cwm Gwaun) near Fishguard, people still keep Hen Galan, the “old New Year”, in mid-January. When Britain changed calendars in 1752, the valley kept its New Year on the old date, so it falls almost two weeks after everyone else’s. Our page on Christmas customs in Wales has more on the season’s traditions, including the Mari Lwyd.

For New Year wishes in other languages, including Irish, see our guide to greetings around the world.

Checked by a native speaker

The Welsh greetings on this page were checked by a native Welsh speaker before publication.

Cards for the turn of the year

On our New Year cards, you can open your message with Blwyddyn Newydd Dda and add your own words after it. You can also schedule a card for New Year’s Day, wherever in the world your family is. If you’d rather send something with a Welsh scene, the cards from Wales work just as well in the days after Christmas.