Eisteddfod

An Eisteddfod is a Welsh festival of poetry, music and literature. It dates back to the 12^th century, when the festival was held by Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth at his court in Cardigan in 1176. There were invited poets and musicians from all over the country. The prize for the best poet and musician was a Lord’s chair. This tradition was inherited by the modern eisteddfod National Eisteddfod of Wales, which is now the largest festival of competitive poetry and music in Europe. The earliest large scale Eisteddfod was the Carmarthen Eisteddfod in 1451.

Interest in Welsh art declined after the order of Elizabeth I of England to examine and license the bards. It revives again in 1789, when Thomas Jones organized an eisteddfod in Corwen and the public was part of the festival.

Welsh Dragon

The red dragon is commonly associated with the Welsh flag. It is also a Welsh symbol, which popularity is supposed to evolve from a Roman-British national symbol. The oldest record of the red dragon dates back to 829 AD. It was written in the Historia Brittonum or the History of the Britons which is the history of native British people.

The red dragon represents Welsh things and it is used by native people and private organizations.

Mabinogion

Mabinogion is a little collection of eleven pose stories gathered from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales represent pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions. Some of the details of these tales date back to older Iron Age traditions. In the mid-19^th century, the English translator Lady Charlotte Guest was the first who translates Mabinogion in English and popularizes its name.

The word Mabinogion originally indicates only the Four Branches of the Mabinogi which are the most popular poses from the collection.

Welsh sports, music and literature

There are ranges of sporting, musical and literature traditions associated with Wales.

sports

-Wales takes a major place at world sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup and the Commonwealth Games. Glamorgan County Cricket Club is the only participant in England. It also has world-class participants in snooker and boxing as well as athletes who have won a great number of Olympic, World and European medals.

music

-Wales is known with its harpists, male choirs and solo artists. The annual National Eisteddfod is a Welsh festival of poetry and music that gives the opportunity of musicians and singers to perform them as well as the Llangollen International Eisteddfod.

Traditional Welsh instruments are telyn deires (triple harp), fiddle, crwth, pibgorn (hornpipe) and other instruments.

literature

-Some of the notable Welsh singing artists are Sir Geraint Evans, Dame Gwyneth Jones, Dame Anne Evans and Dame Margaret Price.

There are a lot of Welsh notable bands like Badfinger in the 1960s, Man and Budgie in the 1970s and The Alarm in the 1980s. Recently successful bands include Lostprophets, Bullet for My Valentine, Funeral for a Friend and Kids in Glass Houses.

Welsh literature traditions varied from the 6^th century until now. In the Middle Ages the core tradition was poetry and storytelling as well as Welsh prose that contained religious and practical works.

In the middle of the 16th century the poetry declined. It was a period of political, social, and economical change in Wales.

The first Welsh book was printed in 1546 by Sir John Price of Brecon who was an aristocrat. Most of the Welsh publications and poetry had a religious nature.

In the 19^th century there was a slow pick up in novel writing. One of the notable novelists was Daniel Owen, author of Rhys Lewis (1885) and Enoc Huws (1891).

Wales national rugby union team

Rugby sport was introduced for the first time in Wales in 1850, when Reverend Rowland Williams became Vice-Principal at St David's College, Lampeter. The first Welsh club was established in 1871. The first match was played in 1881 against England. The match was organized by Newport's Richard Mullock.

Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) was established in 1881. It represents Wales in the international rugby tournaments. Its first ‘golden age’ was between 1900 and 1911. One of their first winnings was in 1995, they won New Zealand 3-0 at Cardiff Arms Park. Their second ‘golden age’ was between   1969 and 1980 when they won eight Five Nations Championships.

Promotion of Welsh language

Welsh still remains to be a minority language. Nowadays, it is a compulsory subject in schools until the age of 16. BBC Radio Cymru is a national Welsh language radio that was launched in 1977. Golwg is a weekly national Welsh language magazine; Y Cymro is a weekly newspaper and Golwg360 is a news service online. There are also a lot of online and face to face Welsh courses. Welsh communities, spread around Wales, help to revive Welsh.