Katana VentraIP

Eisteddfod

In Welsh culture, an eisteddfod[a] is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music.[2]: xvi  The term eisteddfod, which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: eistedd, meaning 'sit', and fod, meaning 'be',[3] means, according to Hywel Teifi Edwards, "sitting-together." Edwards further defines the earliest form of the eisteddfod as a competitive meeting between bards and minstrels, in which the winner was chosen by a noble or royal patron.[4]

The first documented instance of such a literary festival and competition took place under the patronage of Prince Rhys ap Gruffudd of the House of Dinefwr at Cardigan Castle in 1176. However, with the Edwardian Conquest of Wales, the closing of the bardic schools, and the Anglicization of the Welsh nobility, it fell into abeyance. The current format owes much to an 18th-century revival, first patronized and overseen by the London-based Gwyneddigion Society. It was later co-opted by the Gorsedd Cymru, a secret society of poets, writers, and musicians founded by Iolo Morganwg, whose beliefs were "a compound of Christianity and Druidism, Philosophy and Mysticism."[5]: 191 


Despite the Druidic influences and the demonstrably fictitious nature of Iolo Morganwg's doctrines, rituals, and ceremonies, both the Gorsedd and the eisteddfod revival were embraced and spread widely by Anglican and nonconformist clergy. The revival therefore proved enormously successful and is credited as one of the primary reasons for the continued survival of the Welsh language, Welsh literature, and Welsh culture after more than eight centuries of colonialism.


During his two 20th-century terms as Archdruid of the Gorsedd Cymru, Albert Evans-Jones, whose bardic name was Cynan and who was a war poet and minister of the Presbyterian Church of Wales, created new rituals for both the Gorsedd and the eisteddfod which are based upon the Christian beliefs of the Welsh people rather than upon Modern Druidry. After watching the initiation of Rowan Williams into the Gorsedd at the 2002 National Eisteddfod, Marcus Tanner wrote that the rituals "seemed culled from the pages of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings."[5]: 189 


Since its 18th-century revival, the eisteddfod tradition has been carried all over the world by the Welsh diaspora. Today's eisteddfodau (plural form) and the National Eisteddfod of Wales in particular, are in equal parts a Renaissance fair, a Celtic festival, a musical festival, a literary festival, and "the supreme exhibition of the Welsh culture."[6]: 52 


In some other countries, the term eisteddfod is used for performing arts competitions that have nothing to do with Welsh culture or the Welsh language. In other cases, however, the eisteddfod tradition has been adapted into other cultures as part of the ongoing fight to preserve endangered languages such as Irish, Cornish, Breton, Scottish Gaelic, Canadian Gaelic, Guernésiais, and Jèrriais.

Events[edit]

Proclamation[edit]

As decreed by Iolo Morganwg during the late 18th century, each eisteddfod is proclaimed a year and a day prior to its opening day, by a herald from the Gorsedd Cymru.[6]: 154 


The proclamation is to read as follows, "When the year of Our Lord ----, and the period of the Gorsedd of the Bards of Britain within the summer solstice, after summons and invitation to all to all of Wales through the Gorsedd Trumpet, under warning of a year and a day, in sight and hearing of lords and commons and in the face of the sun, the eye of light, be it known that a Gorsedd and Eisteddfod will be held at the town of ----, where protections will be afforded to all who seek privilege, dignity, and license in Poetry and Minstrelsy... And thither shall come the Archdruid and the Gorsedd and others, Bards and Licensiates of the Privilege and Robe of the Bards of the Isle of Britain, there to hold judgment of Chair and Gorsedd on Music and Poetry concerning the muse, conduct, and learning of all that may come to seek the National Eisteddfod honours, according to the privilege and customs of the Gorsedd of Bards of the Isle of Britain:

History[edit]

Welsh bardic tradition[edit]

According to Jan Morris, "Welsh creativity is unusually disciplined, for since the earliest times the Welsh artistic tradition has been governed by codes and conventions – perhaps since the Druids, relying as they did entirely upon their memories, drew up rules of composition to make it easier for themselves. In the Wales of the Independence the Bards and Harpers were institutionalized, with their own allotted places in society, their established functions to perform. They regarded poetry and music as professions, for the practice of which one must qualify, like a lawyer or a doctor. There were agreed measurements of value for a work of art, and the subjects of poetry were formalized, consisting at least until the fourteenth century mainly of eulogies and elegies. Musicians were restricted by intricate rules of composition. Poets were governed by the Twenty-Four Strict Metres of the classical Welsh tradition. Among the Cymry Cymraeg the Metres still prevail."[6]: 152 


According to Hywel Teifi Edwards, "The Eisteddfod, then, has evolved from a medieval testing-ground-cum-house of correction for professional Bards and Minstrels into a popular festival which annually highlights the literary scene with the aid of the Gorsedd. Lectures and discussions in Y Babell Lên, followed by reviews of the Cyfansoddiadau a Beirniadaethau in a variety of publications help to encourage a deeper and more abiding interest in Welsh literature. That 'The National' acts as a means of heightening an awareness of language and literature as humanizing forces which no society can neglect with impunity is not too large a claim to make for it."[7]: 73 


Also according to Morris, "literature is the first Welsh glory, poetry its apotheosis, and the company of poets is the nobility of this nation."[6]: 161 

The 1992 Welsh-language biographical film focuses on war poet Ellis Humphrey Evans' (Huw Garmon) pursuit of his lifelong dream of winning the bardic chair at the National Eisteddfod of Wales and on his three-year-long battle against overwhelming pressure to enlist in the British Army during World War I. The bard is depicted as a tragic hero, with a visible disgust for the jingoism, ultranationalism, and Germanophobia that surrounds him. The film's emotional impact is increased when the real Hedd Wyn's love poetry and war poetry are read in voiceover at key moments of the film. The film was directed by Paul Turner and based on a screenplay by chaired and crowned bard Alan Llwyd. It also starred television actor Huw Garmon, who learned the dialect of Welsh spoken in Trawsfynydd during World War I by listening to the oral history tapes at St Fagans National History Museum, in the title role. The film was shot on location in Gwynedd and on a reconstruction of the battlefield at Passchendaele, but also on a shoestring budget of £400,000. However, Hedd Wyn went on to win the Royal Television Society's Television Award for Best Single Drama. It was also the first British motion picture to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.[170] In 1994, at the newly inaugurated BAFTA Cymru Awards, it won in six categories: Best Director (Paul Turner), Best Design (by Jane Roberts and Martin Morley), Best Drama – Welsh (Shan Davies and Paul Turner), Best Editor (Chris Lawrence), Best Original Music (John E.R. Hardy) and Best Screenwriter – Welsh (Alan Llwyd).[171]

Hedd Wyn

An early flashback during the 1996 biographical film shows Australian concert pianist David Helfgott (played by Alex Rafalowicz) as a child competing in an eisteddfod held in Adelaide, South Australia during the 1950s.

Shine

Maes (eisteddfod)

Celtic festivals

List of Celtic festivals

2018 Cardiff National Eisteddfod

Davies, W. Beynon (1970). . Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0900768630. Retrieved 30 January 2021.

Thomas Gwynn Jones

(1994a). A history of Wales. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-014581-8.

Davies, John

John Davies (1994b), Broadcasting and the BBC in Wales. Press. ISBN 0-7083-1273-X.

University of Wales

Translated by Martha A. Davies (2015), History of the Welsh in Minnesota, Foreston, and Lime Springs, Iowa, Great Plains Welsh Heritage Project. .

Wymore, Nebraska

(2015), The Eisteddfod, University of Wales Press.

Hywel Teifi Edwards

Edited by (1977), Diary of a Welsh Swagman Macmillan, Melbourne 1975, reprinted by Sun Books.

William Evans

Edited by Thos. E. Hughes, et al. (1895), History of the Welsh in Minnesota, Foreston, and Lime Springs, Iowa: Gathered from the Old Settlers.

Jones, William Hughes (1912). . Bangor: Jarvis & Foster. Retrieved 10 January 2021.

At the Foot of Eryri: A Book about Poetry in Wales

Lewis, Llŷr Gwyn (2019). "Arthurian tradition in modern Welsh literature". In Lloyd-Morgan, Ceridwen; Poppe, Erich (eds.). . Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, 9. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. pp. 245−259. ISBN 9781786833433. Retrieved 9 January 2021.

Arthur in the Celtic Languages: The Arthurian Legend in Celtic Literatures and Traditions

(2002) [1982]. Wales 1880-1980: rebirth of a nation. History of Wales. Vol. 6. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-821760-9.

Morgan, Kenneth O.

(1984), The Matter of Wales: Epic Views of a Small Country, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195042212

Jan Morris

Marcus Tanner (2004), The Last of the Celts, . ISBN 0300104642

Yale University Press

website (in Welsh) and (in English)

National Eisteddfod Festival

website

Llangollen International Eisteddfod