Eisteddfod
An Eisteddfod is
a Welsh festival of poetry, music and literature. It dates back to the 12th
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-19th 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 6th
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 19th 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.
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