1.
Christopher Williams (Welsh artist)
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Christopher David Williams was a Welsh artist. Williams was born in Maesteg, Wales and his father Evan Williams intended him to be a doctor, but he disliked the idea. A visit to the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, in 1892 and he left the Gallery with a firm decision that he would be an artist. He studied first in Neath at the towns Technical Institute in 1892 and 1893 under Mr. Kerr, from 1893 he spent three years at the Royal College of Art and then studied at the Royal Academy Schools from 1896 until 1901. In 1902, his Paolo and Francesca was hung in the Royal Academy and these were the first of 18 paintings by Williams exhibited there. He also exhibited with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters until 1930, in 1911, Williams received a commission from King George V to work on a commemorative painting of the Investiture of Edward, Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle. As well as attending the ceremony, he visited Buckingham Palace and he completed two versions of this painting. Among his portraits were those of David Lloyd George, Sir John Williams, Sir John Rhys, Sir Henry Jones, Sir John Morris Jones, Dr Stanton Coit, Sir Frederick Mills and he painted the first of three portraits of Lloyd George in the summer of 1911. Lloyd George described him as one of the most gifted artists Wales has produced, during the First World War, he painted the Welsh Charge at Mametz Wood, now in Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Williams painted three scenes from the Mabinogion, ceridwen and Branwen are in the collection of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea. Blodeuwedd is at the Newport Museum and Art Gallery, Williams painted many landscapes in Wales, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, Morocco and Holland. Amongst his landscapes is The Red Dress at the National Museum of Wales and he had a great love for humanity and deep sympathy with the downtrodden and oppressed. Shortly before his death in 1934, he presented to the Salvation Army a large picture of the Thames Embankment scene at night which he called Why, Williams married Emily Appleyard and together they had two sons, Gwyn and Ivor. Evan Gwyn Williams was an astronomer and his son was the artist Ivor Williams. He was the brother-in-law of fellow artist Fred Appleyard, in 1973, an exhibition was organised on the centenary of Williams birth at the National Museum of Wales, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Maesteg Town Hall. A major retrospective exhibition of his took place from July to September 2012 at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. A version of this exhibition toured to the Gwynedd Museum and Art Gallery, Branwen The subject is from the Mabinogion. The beautiful Branwen was a sister of the King of Britain and she died in Anglesey, and Branwen looked towards Ireland and towards the Island of the Mighty, to see if she could descry them
2.
Welsh mythology
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Welsh mythology consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. Like most predominately oral societies found in the prehistoric Britain, Welsh mythology and this oral record has been lost or altered as result of outside contact and invasion over the years. The only character to appear in every branch is Pryderi fab Pwyll, the king of Dyfed, who is born in the first Branch, is killed in the fourth, and is probably a reflex of the Celtic god Maponos. The only other recurring characters are Pryderis mother Rhiannon, associated with the peaceful British prince Manawydan and he manages to win her hand at the expense of Gwawl, to whom she is betrothed, and she bears him a son, but the child disappears soon after his birth. Rhiannon is accused of killing him and forced to carry guests on her back as punishment. The child has been taken by a monster, and is rescued by Teyrnon and his wife and they return him to his real parents, Rhiannon is released from her punishment, and the boy is renamed Pryderi. In the second branch, Branwen, sister of Brân the Blessed, king of Britain, is given in marriage to Matholwch, Matholwch and Branwen have a son, Gwern, but Matholwch proceeds to mistreat Branwen, beating her and making her a drudge. Branwen trains a starling to take a message to Bran, who goes to war against Matholwch and his army crosses the Irish Sea in ships, but Brân is so huge he wades across. The Irish offer to make peace, and build a big enough to entertain Bran, but inside they hang a hundred bags, telling Efnysien they contain flour. Efnysien kills the warriors by squeezing the bags, later, at the feast, Efnysien throws Gwern on the fire and fighting breaks out. Seeing that the Irish are using the cauldron to revive their dead, Efnysien hides among the corpses and destroys the cauldron, only seven men, all Britons, survive the battle, including Pryderi, Manawyddan and Bran, who is mortally wounded by a poisoned spear. Brân asks his companions to cut off his head and take it back to Britain, Branwen dies of grief on returning home. Five pregnant women survive to repopulate Ireland, Pryderi and Manawydan return to Dyfed, where Pryderi marries Cigfa and Manawydan marries Rhiannon. However, a mist descends on the land, leaving it empty, eventually they return to Dyfed and become hunters again. While hunting, a white boar leads them to a mysterious castle, Pryderi, against Manawydans advice, goes inside, but does not return. Rhiannon goes to investigate and finds him clinging to a bowl, the same fate befalls her, and the castle disappears. Manawydan and Cigfa return to England as shoemakers, but once again the locals drive them out and they sow three fields of wheat, but the first field is destroyed before it can be harvested. The next night the field is destroyed
3.
Bala Lake
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Bala Lake is a lake in Gwynedd, Wales. The name Tegid may be related to Welsh teg, meaning fair and it was the largest natural body of water in Wales before its level was raised by Thomas Telford to help support the flow of the Ellesmere Canal. It is 3.7 miles long by 0.5 miles wide, the River Dee runs through it and the waters of the lake are famously deep and clear. The lake lies in a valley which follows the Bala to Tal-y-Llyn fault line. The valley was blocked by a moraine in the area of the village of Bala, thus forming the lake. George Borrow wrote of the lake in Wild Wales in 1856, The lake has not its name. In English the lake is named after the town of Bala. An older, now unused, English name for the lake is Pemble Mere or Pimble Mere, hoare goes on to say that it is, in modern days, better known by the name of Bala Pool. Bala Lake has abundant pike, perch, brown trout, roach, according to legend, whilst the Dee itself flows through the lake, the waters never mix. However this was not confirmed by the detailed limnological work undertaken from the 1990s, to understand, the lake now forms part of the River Dee regulation system and the level at its outflow is automatically controlled. Depending on flow conditions and the level of water in Llyn Celyn, in the 1990s the lake suffered from blooms of blue-green algae which indicated a significant and worrying eutrophication of the lake. Investigation by the Environment Agency in partnership with the water industry, in the legend of the History of Taliesin, the character Tegid Foel was the husband of the goddess or witch Ceridwen. The place where his court stood is now beneath the waters of the lake, according to folk tradition, the court was drowned one night. It is said that the light of the court and the town around it can be seen on a moonlit night. This new challenge, dubbed The 3 Lakes Challenge, is proposed as the equivalent of the famous National Three Peaks Challenge. Bala has two sailing clubs, and a number of companies provide kayaks, yachts and various types of boats for hire. Bala Lake Bala Lake Illustrated Guide www. geograph. co. uk, photos of Bala Lake and surrounding area Bala Lake news and events The Three Lakes Challenge
4.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
5.
Awen
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Awen is a Welsh, Cornish and Breton word for inspiration. Emma Restall Orr, founder and former head of The Druid Network, defines awen as flowing spirit, in current usage, awen is sometimes ascribed to musicians and poets. It is also used as a male and female given name. It appears in the stanza of Hen Wlad fy Nhadau. Awen derives from the Indo-European root *-uel, meaning to blow, the first recorded attestation of the word occurs in Nennius Historia Brittonum, a Latin text of c. 796, based in part on earlier writings by the Welsh monk and it occurs in the phrase Tunc talhaern tat aguen in poemate claret where the Old Welsh word aguen occurs in the Latin text describing poets from the sixth century. It is also recorded in its current form in Canu Llywarch Hen where Llywarch says I know by my awen indicating it as a source of instinctive knowledge, on connections between awen as poetic inspiration and as an infusion from the Divine, The Book of Taliesin often implies this. After having answered the questions, they do not recover till violently shaken by other people, if consulted a second or third time upon the same point, they will make use of expressions totally different, perhaps they speak by the means of fanatic and ignorant spirits. As to the later Bards, you shall have a most curious Account of them and this vein of poetrie they called Awen, which in their language signifies rapture, or a poetic furore & as many of them as I have conversed with are gifted or inspired with it. The British Druid Order attributes the symbol to Iolo Morganwg, it has been adopted by some Neo-Druids, the emblem as used by the OBOD is surrounded by three circles representing the three circles of creation. Various Neo-Druidic groups and individuals have their own interpretation of the awen, the three lines relate to earth, sea and air, body, mind and spirit, or love, wisdom and truth. It is also said that the stands for not simply inspiration. The three foundations of awen are the understanding of truth, the love of truth, and the maintaining of truth, muse Óðr Vates Welsh poetry Kenneth Jackson, Tradition in Early Irish Prophecy, Man, Vol.34, pp. 67–70. Awen – The Holy Spirit of Druidry British Druid Order site A Short History of the Awen The Druid Network site
6.
Taliesin
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Taliesin was an early Brythonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin. Taliesin was a bard who is believed to have sung at the courts of at least three Brythonic kings. Ifor Williams identified eleven of the poems ascribed to Taliesin as possibly originating as early as the sixth century. Some of the events to which the poems refer, such as the Battle of Arfderydd, are referred to in other sources, in legend and medieval Welsh poetry, he is often referred to as Taliesin Ben Beirdd. Taliesin was highly regarded in the century as the supposed author of a great number of romantic legends. According to legend Taliesin was adopted as a child by Elffin, the son of Gwyddno Garanhir, in later stories he became a mythic hero, companion of Bran the Blessed and King Arthur. His legendary biography is found in several late renderings, the earliest surviving narrative being found in a chronicle of world history written by Elis Gruffydd in the 16th century. Details of Taliesins life are sparse, the first mention of him occurs in the Saxon genealogies appended to four manuscripts of the Historia Brittonum. The writer names five poets, among them Taliesin, who lived in the time of Ida of Bernicia and a British chieftain, Dutigirn. Taliesins authorship of several praise-poems to Urien Rheged is commonly accepted, and these poems mention The Eden Valley and these poems refer to victories of Urien at the battles of Argoed Llwyfain, The Ford of Clyde and Gwen Ystrad. Taliesin also sang in praise of Cynan Garwyn, king of Powys, Wales, according to the Welsh Triads Taliesin had a son, Afaon, who was accounted a great warrior who suffered a violent death, probably in Lothian. More detailed traditions of Taliesins biography arose from about the 11th century, in the mid-16th century Elis Gruffydd recorded a legendary account of Taliesin that resembles the story of the boyhood of the Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhail and the salmon of wisdom in some respects. The tale was recorded in a slightly different version by John Jones of Gellilyfdy. This story agrees in respects with fragmentary accounts in The Book of Taliesin. According to the Hanes Taliesin, he was known as Gwion Bach ap Gwreang. He was a servent of Cerridwen and was made to stir the Cauldron of Inspiration for one year to allow for Cerridwen to complete her potion of inspiration, upon completion of this potion, three drops sprang out and landed upon Gwion Bachs thumb. Gwion then placed his thumb in his mouth to soothe his burns resulting in Gwions enlightenment, out of fear of what Cerridwen would do to him, Gwion fled and eventually transformed into a piece of grain before being consumed by Cerridwen. Gwion was then reborn and given the name Taliesin, according to these texts Taliesin was the foster-son of Elffin ap Gwyddno, who gave him the name Taliesin, meaning radiant brow, and who later became a king in Ceredigion, Wales
listen) Ce-rid-wen) was an enchantress in Welsh medieval legend. She was the mother of a hideous son, Morfran, and a beautiful daughter, Creirwy. Her husband was Tegid Foel, and they lived near Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid) in north Wales. Medieval Welsh poetry refers to her as possessing the cauldron of poetic inspiration (Awen) and the Tale of Taliesin recounts her swallowing her servant Gwion Bach who is then reborn through her as the poet Taliesin. Ceridwen is regarded by many modern Pagans as the Celtic goddess of rebirth, transformation, and inspiration.
