Thinking Alaudanum
Jan. 29th, 2017 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
braingunkYr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol
I promised I would write about the connection between Bronze-age priests, a twelfth-century prince, a smackhead stonemason, and Wales’ most prestigious literary and cultural festival.
The first recognisable eisteddfod was at Christmas 1176 when the Lord Rhys ap Gruffudd, ruler of Deheubarth[1] invited bards, harpists and pipers from all over Wales to his court at Aberteifi (Cardigan) for a competition possibly inspired by or modelled on the Norman puys[2]. He offered sums of money as well as the prize of a chair to the best poet and the best musician.
Y Nadolig yny flwyddyn honno y cynhelis yr Arglwydd Rhys ap Gruffudd llys yn ardderchog yn Aberteifi, yn y castell, ac y gosodes deuryw ymryson yno, un y rhwng beirdd a phrydyddion, un arall y rhwng telynorion a chrythorion a phibyddion ac amrafaelion genhedloedd gerdd miwsig, ac ef a beris gosod dwy gadair i'r gorchfygwyr ac ef a anrhydedodd y rhei hynny o roddion ehelaeth[3][4].
At a time when most people sat on stools or benches, a high-backed chair with arms, such as the lord himself sat in, was quite a thing.
The names of the winners are not recorded but it is known that a young harpist of Rhys’ own court was judged the best musician, while the poetry competitions were won by poets from Gwynedd. [5]
The next eisteddfod was not until 1450/1 in Carmarthen, and two were held at Caerwys (Flintshire) in 1523 and 1567. All three were very concerned with protecting the professional interests of praise-poets (one of a poet’s duties was to sing praise to his lord) and harpists, and there was a strong competitive element as well. At the Carmarthen eisteddfod, the winner, Dafydd ab Edmwnd, was awarded a small silver chair in recognition of his victory and of his work in revising the rules of cynghanedd[6] and the strict meters.
The tradition of awarding miniature chairs continues today (though usually in wood, as silver is slightly beyond the means of the average community eisteddfod), and even one of the prizes at the National Eisteddfod is a chair (more than one prifardd has confessed that their chair has had to be put in storage because English housebuilding companies just don’t consider the possibility that prifeirdd might want to keep their chairs in the house).
Various poetic gatherings were held in coffee shops and pubs in the eighteenth century, often announced in that year’s almanacs with the results published the following year. 1791 at Bala is regarded as a turning point when the Eisteddfod ceased to be a closed event with only poets and musicians attending, but was opened to the public for the first time. The first truly national eisteddfod was held in Aberdâr in 1861.
There have been various attempts over the years to establish a permanent base for the Eisteddfod but so far it still alternates between the North and South. The location is announced two years ahead of time, which gives the local communities time to raise the money for their contribution to the cost. Some more anglicised counties struggle to reach their targets but in the more Welsh-speaking areas, targets are not infrequently smashed. Thanks to this community involvement and its peripatetic nature, the National Eisteddfod has been described as “Wales’ leading mobile regeneration project”.[7]
The Eisteddfod is formally proclaimed at least a year and a day ahead of time (nowadays a ceremony is held in the May of the preceding year). The proclamation is accompanied by great pomp and quasi-masonic pageantry (not entirely surprising given that Iolo Morgannwg was a freemason). Led by the Archdruid and senior officials, the Gorsedd (see below) process through the town to the Gorsedd stones where the Archdruid formally opens the Gorsedd. If the Archdruid’s term of office (three years) is ending, the Archdruid-elect is formally invested with the crown, vestments and sceptre of office at the beginning of this ceremony and then presides over the rest of the proceedings, including proclaiming that “Yn wyneb haul a llygad goleuni” (in the face of the sun and under the eye of light) an Eisteddfod will be held at [Town] between [dates, year]. At the end of the ceremony, a copy of the Rhestr Testunau (list of titles and set-pieces for all competitions) is presented to the Archdruid, which signals its official publication.
There is a perception that the Eisteddfod is nothing more than a poetry festival or poetry and old songs. In fact, it is one of the principal commissioners for contemporary music, drama, dance and art, and it hosts an important science festival on the Maes (the Eisteddfod field) and a prestigious architecture competition. A youth camping field (Maes B) also hosts concerts by some of the biggest popular bands and artists, while Maes C, normally held in the host town, acts as a sort of official fringe and hosts poetry slams, smaller concerts and talks. Maes D is the Welsh-learners’ pavilion on the main Maes. Maes-e is a Welsh-language bulletin board (anyone remember those?) established in 2002 by Nic Dafis as a place to discuss anything at all in Welsh “heb y barnu na’r cystadlu[8]”.
The principal prizes are awarded by the Gorsedd. The Crown, awarded on the Monday of Eisteddfod week, is awarded for the best sequence of poems with scansion and rhyme, but not in cynghanedd. The Literature Medal (formerly the Prose medal) is a recent addition to the Gorsedd ceremonies, and is awarded for an original unpublished novel no more than 40,000 words. The chair, which is generally regarded as the highlight of the Eisteddfod, is awarded on the Friday for an awdl (ode) or sequence of poems in a variety of meters and forms of cynghanedd. The winners of these competitions, if they are not already members, are inducted into the Gorsedd the following year. A second prose prize, Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen (the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize) is awarded by the Eisteddfod (not the Gorsedd) and does not confer automatic membership of the Gorsedd. Contemporary music and dance also feature prominently alongside the more traditional forms.
At the 1819 Dyfed Provincial Eisteddfod at the Ivy Bush Hotel, Carmarthen, the Gorsedd were formally part of an eisteddfod for the first time. This was a provincial eisteddfod, not a national, but it is regarded as a major event in the development of the National Eisteddfod.
Since 1861 a National Eisteddfod has been held every year except in 1914, when the outbreak of the First World War intervened, and 1940, when the BBC broadcast its famous Eisteddfod Radio to compensate for the impossibility of holding a physical eisteddfod. The Denbigh Eisteddfod in 2001 suffered disappointing visitor numbers due to the mismanagement by Defra of the Foot and Mouth epidemic but still went ahead. The Chair was won by Mererid Hopwood (the first woman ever to win the chair, and a very popular decision because she writes in a way that makes poetry accessible to all), the Crown by Penri Roberts, the Medal Ryddiaith by Elfyn Prichard, and Tlws y Cerddor (the principal prize for musical composition) by Euron J. Walters. The Daniel Owen was withheld as the adjudicators felt nobody had reached the required standard.[9]
I mentioned the perception of stuffiness above. For evidence of why this is simply not the case, look no further than Meifod in 2015. Tlws y Cerddor was awarded to Osian Huw Roberts, lead singer of the rock band Candelas, for a work (a chorus and two solos from a musical, along with an outline of the rest of the production) that the adjudicators said “explodes originality” and was “infectiously dramatic”[10]
Iolo Morgannwg (Edward Williams, 1747 - 1826) was a stonemason by trade but also a talented poet, author, antiquarian, and literary forger. Born in Llancarfan in -the Vale of Glamorgan, he is more usually associated with Trefflemin (Flemingston), where he lived as an adult.
Due to a chronic pain condition which left him unable to sleep in a bed[11], he became addicted to laudanum (an opium derivative). This “may well have had a serious effect on his state of mind”[12]. Nevertheless, he was a man of great intellect who took a keen interest in many fields including agriculture, horticulture, architecture, geology, herbalism, politics, theology and folk music (he may have composed or at least recorded the dance tune Tŷ Coch Caerdydd which is still regularly danced today). He composed many popular Unitarian hymns and was an accomplished poet – one of the foremost Romantic poets of his day, but is best known today as a literary forger, most notably ‘discovering’ a huge tranche of previously unknown works by Dafydd ap Gwilym (fl. c. 1330-50), who is in turn credited with revolutionising and revitalising Welsh poetry. Iolo succeeded not only in fooling his contemporaries (none of whom, the Gwyddoniadur notes, “could hold a candle to him in terms of knowledge and learning”[13]), but almost the whole of Welsh academe until the end of the 19th Century and into the 20th.
In 1792 he created Gorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain, the culmination of his druidic revival. He held a procession through Regent’s Park in London and up Primrose Hill where he held the first Gorsedd. See https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/the-regents-park/things-to-see-and-do/memorials,-fountains-and-statues/iolo-morganwg-memorial-plaque
Other notable eisteddfodau, gorseddau and similar festivals which I simply don’t have space to touch on here, include:
Urdd Gobaith Cymru (ages 7 - 24) (no Gorsedd) - www.urdd.cymru/cy/eisteddfod/ (Cymraeg/Proper); www.urdd.cymru/en/eisteddfod/ (foreign)
Llangollen International Eisteddfod (no Gorsedd) - http://international-eisteddfod.co.uk/cy/ (Cymraeg/Proper) http://international-eisteddfod.co.uk/ (foreign)
Eisteddfod Rhys Thomas James, Pantyfedwen - http://www.lampeter-tc.gov.uk/cy/cymuned/eisteddfod-rhys-thomas-james-panyfedwen/ (Cymraeg/Proper); http://Www.Lampeter-Tc.Gov.Uk/En/Community/Rtj-Eisteddfod/ (foreign)
YFC Eisteddfod – http://www.yfc-wales.org.uk/cymraeg/beth-sydd-ymlaen/eisteddfod (Cymraeg/Proper); http://www.yfc-wales.org.uk/whats-on/eisteddfod (foreign)
The South Wales Miners’ Eisteddfod (1948 – 2001) at its peak was so important that it could invite Paul Robeson to perform. As the US government had revoked Robeson’s passport, in 1957 the Eisteddfod committee set up a transatlantic telephone link between the Grand Pavilion in Porthcawl and Robeson’s home in New York so that he could honour his commitment to perform for the miners[14].
US Left Coast Eisteddfod - https://www.facebook.com/AmeriCymru/ (foreign only)
Gold Cost Eisteddfod (Queensland, Australia) http://www.goldcoasteisteddfod.com.au/ (foreign only)
Oireachtas - http://www.antoireachtas.ie/ (Irish); http://www.antoireachtas.ie/en/ (foreign)
Mòd - http://www.ancomunn.co.uk/index.php/nationalmod/ga (Gaelic); http://www.ancomunn.co.uk/index.php/nationalmod/ (foreign)
Gorsedh Kernow - http://gorsedhkernow.org.uk/about.html (biling: Kernewek/foreign)
Goursez Vreizh - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goursez_Vreizh; http://www.gorsedd.bzh/?lang=bzh (Brezhoneg/Proper); http://www.gorsedd.bzh/?lang=fr (Foreign: French); http://www.gorsedd.bzh/?lang=en (Doubly foreign)
This is only a very superficial overview. I would have liked to touch on the reasons why the National Eisteddfod was created and why it developed as it did (possibly in response to Brad y Llyfrau Gleision – the Treachery of the Blue Books) but I’m already approaching 2,000 words and gormod o bwdin dagith gi (enough is enough). I may well write about Iolo again as he’s such a fascinating character, and some of the other Eisteddfodau deserve to be covered more fully, too.
Remember to let me know if there’s an aspect of Welsh culture of folklore that you’d like me to write about.
[1] The south-western kingdom of Wales, comprising Dyfed (≈Ceredigion and Penfro), Dinefwr, Brycheiniog and Gŵyr (Gower)
[3] John Davies, Menna Baines et al: Gwyddoniadur Cymru (Yr Academi Gymreig, 2008); p. 326-7
[4] At Christmas that year, the Lord Rhys ap Gruffudd held a splendid court at Aberteifi, in the castle, and set two kinds of competitions there, one between bards (journeyman poets) and prydyddion (master poets entitled to train junior bards) and another between harpists and crythorion (crwth players) and pipers and sundry kinds of musicians, and he caused two chairs to be given to the victors and he rewarded them with generous gifts.
[6] Lit. ‘harmony’ (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynghanedd for a discussion in English, or Mererid Hopwood, Singing in Chains (Gwasg Gomer, 2004)
[8] Without the judging or the competition – a lyric from the 1993 song Maes-e by Datblygu (David R. Edwards, Libertino Records)
[10] http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/it-explodes-originality-national-eisteddfod-9799125
[11] Gwyddoniadur; p. 959
[13] Ibid - my translation
