1.
Culture of Wales
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Wales has a distinctive culture including its own language, customs, holidays and music. Wales is primarily represented by the symbol of the red Welsh Dragon, building on the construction in Wales during the Roman era of occupation, these early kingdoms were also influenced by Ireland, but precise details are unclear prior to the 8th century AD. Several Kingdoms arose at that time, including Gwynedd, Powys, gruffydd was killed by his own men on 5 August 1063 while Harold Godwinson sought to engage him in battle. This was just over three years before the Norman invasion of England, which led to a change of fortune for Wales. By 1070, the Normans had already seen successes in their invasion of Wales with Gwent fallen, the invasion was seemingly complete by 1093. However, the Welsh rebelled against their new overlords the following year, while Gwynedd grew in strength, Powys was broken up after the death of Llywelyn ap Madog in the 1160s and was never reunited. Llywelyn the Great rose in Gwynedd and had reunited the majority of Wales by his death in 1240, after his death, King Henry III of England intervened to prevent Dafydd ap Llywelyn from inheriting his fathers lands outside Gwynedd, leading to war. The claims of his successor, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, conflicted with those of King Edward I of England, maredudds son, Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur, anglicised his name to become Owen Tudor, and was the grandfather of Henry Tudor. Henry took the throne of England following the Wars of the Roses when his forces defeated those of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. The House of Tudor continued to reign through several successive monarchs until 1603, official symbols of Wales include the Welsh Dragon, daffodil and leek. Both the dragon and leek date back to the 7th century and he also introduced the Red Dragon standard, although this symbol was most likely introduced to the British Isles by Roman troops. It may also have been a reference to the 6th century Welsh word draig, the standard was appropriated by the Normans during the 11th century, and used for the Royal Standard of Scotland. Richard I of England took a red dragon standard with him on the Third Crusade, the colours of the leek were used for the uniforms of soldiers under Edward I of England. Both symbols were popular with Tudor kings, with Henry VII of England adding the white and it was largely forgotten by the House of Stuart, who favoured a unicorn instead. By the 17th and 18th centuries, it common practice in Great Britain for the gentry to wear leeks on St. Davids Day. In 1807, a a red dragon passant standing on a mound was made the Kings badge for Wales, following an increase in nationalism in 1953, it was proposed to add the motto Y ddraig goch ddyry cychwyn to the flag. This was poorly received, and six years later Queen Elizabeth II intervened to put the current flag in place, the daffodil is a more recent development, becoming popular during the 19th century. It may have linked to the leek, as the Welsh for daffodil translates as St Peters Leek
2.
History of Wales
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The history of Wales begins with the arrival of human beings in the region thousands of years ago. Neanderthals lived in what is now Wales, or Cymru in Welsh, at least 230,000 years ago, while Homo sapiens arrived by about 31,000 BC. However, continuous habitation by humans dates from the period after the end of the last ice age around 9000 BC, and Wales has many remains from the Mesolithic, Neolithic. During the Iron Age the region, like all of Britain south of the Firth of Forth, was dominated by the Celtic Britons, the Romans departed from Britain in the 5th century, opening the door for the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Thereafter Brittonic language and culture began to splinter, and several groups formed. The Welsh people were the largest of groups, and are generally discussed independently of the other surviving Brittonic-speaking peoples after the 11th century. A number of kingdoms formed in present-day Wales in the post-Roman period, internecine struggles and external pressure from the English and later, the Norman conquerors of England, led to the Welsh kingdoms coming gradually under the sway of the English crown. The Welsh launched several revolts against English rule, the last significant one being led by Owain Glyndŵr in the early 15th century. In the 16th century Henry VIII, himself of Welsh extraction as a grandson of Owen Tudor. Under Englands authority, Wales became part of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707, yet, the Welsh retained their language and culture in spite of heavy English dominance. The publication of the significant first complete Welsh translation of the Bible by William Morgan in 1588 greatly advanced the position of Welsh as a literary language. Wales played a full and willing role in World War One, the industries of Empire in Wales declined in the 20th century with the end of the British Empire following the Second World War, while nationalist sentiment and interest in self-determination rose. The Labour Party replaced the Liberal Party as the dominant political force in the 1940s, the nationalist party Plaid Cymru gained short lived momentum in the 1960s. In a 1997 referendum Welsh voters approved the devolution of responsibility to a National Assembly for Wales. The Red Lady of Paviland, a human skeleton dyed in red ochre, was discovered in 1823 in one of the Paviland limestone caves of the Gower Peninsula in Swansea, South Wales. Despite the name, the skeleton is that of a man who lived about 33,000 years ago at the end of the Upper Paleolithic Period. He is considered to be the oldest known burial in Western Europe. The skeleton was found along with jewellery made from ivory and seashells, following the last ice age, Wales became roughly the shape it is today by about 8000 BC and was inhabited by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers
3.
Welsh people
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The Welsh people or the Welsh are a nation and ethnic group native to, or otherwise associated with, Wales and the Welsh language. Prior to the 20th century, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh, the term Welsh people applies to people from Wales and people of Welsh ancestry perceiving themselves or being perceived as sharing a cultural heritage and shared ancestral origins. Over 300,000 Welsh people live in London, the same etymological origin is shared by the names of various other Celtic or Latin peoples such as the Walloons and the Vlachs, as well as of the Swiss canton of Valais. 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. They thus carry a sense of land of fellow-countrymen, our country, the word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century. It is attested in a 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. During their time in Britain, the ancient Romans encountered tribes in present-day Wales that they called the Ordovices, the Demetae, the Silures and the Deceangli. The people of what is now Wales were not distinguished from the rest of the peoples of southern Britain, all were called Britons and spoke the common British language, a Brythonic Celtic tongue. Celtic language and culture seems to have arrived in Britain during the Iron Age, the claim has also been made that Indo-European languages may have been introduced to the British Isles as early as the early Neolithic, with Goidelic and Brythonic languages developing indigenously. The genetic evidence in this case would show that the change to Celtic languages in Britain may have occurred as a cultural rather than through migration as was previously supposed. The assumed genetic imprint of Neolithic incomers is seen as a cline, with stronger Neolithic representation in the east of Europe, when the Roman legions departed Britain around 400, a Romano-British culture remained in the areas the Romans had settled, and the pre-Roman cultures in others. According to Stephen Oppenheimer 96% of lineages in Llangefni in north Wales derive from Iberia, Genetic marker R1b averages from 83–89% amongst the Welsh. The people in what is now Wales continued to speak Brythonic languages with additions from Latin, the surviving poem Y Gododdin is in early Welsh and refers to the Brythonic kingdom of Gododdin with a capital at Din Eidyn and extending from the area of Stirling to the Tyne. John Davies places the change from Brythonic to Welsh between 400 and 700, offas Dyke was erected in the mid-8th century, forming a barrier between Wales and Mercia. The genetic tests suggested that between 50% and 100% of the population of what was to become England was wiped out. In 2001, research for a BBC programme on the Vikings suggested a strong link between the Celts and Basques, dating back tens of thousands of years. The UCL research suggested a migration on a huge scale during the Anglo-Saxon period and it appears England is made up of an ethnic cleansing event from people coming across from the continent after the Romans left, said Dr Mark Thomas, of the Centre for Genetic Anthropology at UCL
4.
Languages of Wales
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The two official languages of Wales are Welsh and English. The majority of the population of Wales is able to speak English, English is widely used throughout the country and is the native language of most people in the South and the North East of the country, in the West and North, Welsh is the dominant native language. Nevertheless, there are a number of communities throughout the country to which these generalisations do not apply, for example, despite being located in the overwhelmingly English-speaking city of Swansea, 45% of Mawrs residents speak Welsh as their native language. According to the 2011 census, Welsh is spoken by 19% of the population, Welsh English or Anglo-Welsh is the distinct form of English used in Wales. Aside from lexical borrowings from Welsh like bach, eisteddfod, nain and taid, examples of this include the use by some speakers of the tag question isnt it. Regardless of the form of the statement and the placement of the subject. Fed up, I am or Running on Friday, he is In South Wales the word where may often be expanded to where to, as in the question, the word butty is used to mean friend or mate. It was spoken by the Kale group of the Romani people who arrived in Britain during the 15th century, the first record of Gypsies in Wales comes from the 16th century. Welsh-Romani is one of the many Northern Romani dialects and this dialect of Romany includes some loanwords from Welsh, but little now remains of it. Wales deaf community tends to use British Sign Language, there are a few signs used in Wales which are unique to that country, but these tend to be regionalised rather than national. Other sign languages in use in Wales include Makaton, and Signed English, Latin is also used to a limited degree in certain official mottos, legal terminology, and various ceremonial contexts. Latin abbreviations can also be seen on British coins, the use of Latin has declined greatly in recent years. At one time, Latin and Greek were commonly taught in British schools ), in rare cases, Norman French and Latin have contributed to Welsh toponymy e. g. Beaumaris, Grace Dieu, Strata Florida and Valle Crucis. The Welsh language prefix Caer- is a corruption of the Latin castra, both of the placename elements in Caerleon come ultimately from Latin. Latin has had a significant influence on Welsh in words such as ffenestr and pont, meaning window and bridge respectively. Notable Welsh writers in Latin include Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote Historia Regum Britanniae, and Adam of Usk, author of Chronicon Adæ de Usk, people migrating to Wales in recent decades have brought many more languages to the country. South Asians in the United Kingdom speak dozens of different languages, the largest subgroup of British Asians are those of Punjabi origin, from both India and Pakistan. There is a long established Somali community in Cardiff, and Irish speakers have been coming and going from Wales for many centuries, there are Irish communities in most industrial areas, plus Holyhead, Swansea and Cardiff
5.
Welsh language
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Welsh is a member of the Brittonic branch of the Celtic languages. It is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, historically it has also been known in English as the British tongue, Cambrian, Cambric and Cymric. The United Kingdom Census 2011 counted 3.1 million residents of Wales, 27% of whom had been born outside Wales, and 73% of whom reported having no Welsh language skills. Of residents of Wales aged three and over, 19% reported being able to speak Welsh, and 77% of these were able to speak, read and this can be compared with the 2001 Census, in which 20. 8% of the population reported being able to speak Welsh. 787,854 of residents in Wales aged three and over had one or more skills in Welsh, in surveys carried out between 2004 and 2006, 57% of Welsh speakers described themselves as fluent in the written language. An estimated 110,000 to 150,000 people speak Welsh in England, Welsh emerged in the 6th century from Common Brittonic, the common ancestor of Welsh, Breton, Cornish and the extinct language known as Cumbric. The Middle Welsh period is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, the name Welsh originated as an exonym given to its speakers by the Anglo-Saxons, meaning foreign speech. The native term for the language is Cymraeg, and for the name of the country of Wales it is Cymru, Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic, the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons. Classified as Insular Celtic, the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and was spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth. During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, evolving into Welsh and it is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Kenneth H. Jackson suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern was complete by around 550, Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to the Cynfeirdd or Early Poets – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was composed in the Hen Ogledd, raising further questions about the dating of the material. An 8th century inscription in Tywyn shows the language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns, the next main period, somewhat better attested, is Old Welsh, poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of the language. Both the works of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin were in this era, Middle Welsh is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts, Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible, albeit with some work, to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The famous cleric Gerald of Wales tells, in his Descriptio Cambriae, during one of the Kings many raids in the 12th century, Henry asked an old man of Pencader, Carmarthenshire whether the Welsh people could resist his army
6.
Y Fro Gymraeg
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However, unlike its equivalent in Ireland, Y Fro Gymraeg does not have official government recognition. In an article dated 12 November 1964, he wrote, Enillwn y Fro Gymraeg, ac fe enillir Cymru, ac oni enillir Y Fro Gymraeg, but today the territory of the language as a majority language has shrunk. A substantial portion of four Welsh counties lies within Y Fro Gymraeg and it is often argued that Welsh medium education is the major contributor to the revival of the language. Education in Y Fro Gymraeg is generally through the medium of Welsh, in Y Fro Gymraeg road signs appear with the Welsh name first, even in non-predominantly Welsh speaking areas. Official publications in general are bilingual, usually with Welsh appearing first
7.
History of the Welsh language
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The history of the Welsh language spans over 1400 years, encompassing the stages of the language known as Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. Welsh evolved from British, the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Britons, alternatively classified as Insular Celtic or P-Celtic, it probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and was probably spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth. During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, evolving into Welsh and it is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Kenneth H. Jackson suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern was complete by around 550, Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to the Cynfeirdd or Early Poets – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was composed in the Hen Ogledd, raising further questions about the dating of the material. The next main period, somewhat better attested, is Old Welsh, the Book of Aneirin and the Poetry, or Book, of Taliesin belong to this era, though both also include some poems originally written in Primitive Welsh. Middle Welsh is the attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries. This is the language of all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts, Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible, albeit with some work, to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The famous cleric Gerald of Wales tells a story of King Henry II of England, Modern Welsh can be divided into two periods. The first, Early Modern Welsh ran from the early 15th century to roughly the end of the 16th century, late Modern Welsh began with the publication of William Morgans translation of the Bible in 1588. Of course, many changes have occurred since then, the language enjoyed a further boost in the 19th century, with the publication of some of the first complete and concise Welsh dictionaries. Early work by Welsh lexicographic pioneers such as Daniel Silvan Evans ensured that the language was documented as accurately as possible, Modern dictionaries such as the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, are direct descendants of these dictionaries. In spite of this boost, the use of Welsh was actively discouraged at school under the Welsh Not policy, a stick or plaque was given to any child heard speaking Welsh during school, to be handed on to whoever next spoke the language. The influx of English workers during the Industrial Revolution in Wales from about 1800 led to a dilution of the Welsh-speaking population of Wales. English migrants seldom learnt Welsh and their Welsh colleagues tended to speak English in mixed Welsh–English contexts. The legal status of Welsh was inferior to that of English, an important exception, however, was in the non-conformist churches, which were strongly associated with the Welsh language
8.
Welsh toponymy
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The placenames of Wales derive in most cases from the Welsh language, but have also been influenced by linguistic contact with the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Anglo-Normans and modern English. The study of placenames in Wales reveals significant features of the countrys history, Welsh culture and political autonomy has been reasserted increasingly since the mid 19th century. Many place names in Britain, particularly of natural features such as rivers and hills, obvious examples of place names of Welsh origin are the numerous Rivers Avon, from the Welsh afon and place names such as Penrith. Place names from the Western Brittonic-speaking Hen Ogledd occur in Cumbria and these include the name of Edinburgh, from Cumbric Din Eidin Eidins Fort. Welsh remains a language, spoken by over 20% of the countrys population. Like all languages, it has changed over time and continues to do so, for instance by accepting loan words from languages such as Latin. The Welsh language itself has many characteristics unfamiliar to most English speakers that can make it difficult to understand its place names, for example, it uses a number of initial consonant changes in different grammatical circumstances. In relation to place names, this means that, for example, other changes can apply to internal vowels. There are also differences between Welsh and English spelling standards, which have affected how place names are spelled in the two languages, early inhabitants of Wales gave names first to noteworthy natural features, such as rivers, hills, mountains, harbours and shores. The Roman towns which were established were generally fortified and were given the name of castra. Many of these continued as towns after the Romans left, including Caernarfon, Carmarthen, Caerleon, elsewhere, many villages and later towns took their names from natural features. For example, Abergele refers to the mouth of the Gele, Harlech means fair rock, Rhuddlan red bank, and Porthcawl harbour with sea-kale. Aberystwyth means mouth of the Ystwyth, a river a mile or so away from the town centre, many others took their name from religious settlements and clasau established from the fifth century onwards. These generally use the prefix llan, roughly equivalent to parish, most of them are dedicated to their founders, who hailed from local dynasties and were venerated as patron saints. Examples include Llandudno, Llanelli, and Llantwit, following the Norman invasion of Wales, some were rededicated to more generic saints, Llanilar, Llanfoist. A few—usually by mistake—include other elements or none at all, Llan, Powys, Llanharry, other religious placenames include merthyr and eglwys. Over the centuries, Welsh place names have been affected by social. The Industrial Revolution saw the development of new towns and villages
9.
Welsh surnames
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Fixed family names were adopted in Wales from the 15th century onwards. Until this point, the Welsh had a naming system. In 1292,48 percent of Welsh names were patronymics, other names were derived from nicknames, occupational names, and a few non-hereditary personal names. Patronymic names changed from generation to generation, with a baptismal name being linked by ap. For example, Evan son of Thomas would be known as Evan Thomas, Evans son, John, would be John Evan, Johns son Rees would be Rees John, and Davids son, James, would be James David. Patronymics were essentially a history of the family, and names such as Llewelyn ap Dafydd ab Ieuan ap Griffith ap Meredith were not uncommon. The Encyclopedia of Wales surmises that the system arose from Welsh law, in the reign of Henry VIII surnames became hereditary amongst the Welsh gentry, and the custom spread slowly amongst commoners. Areas where English influence was strong abandoned patronymics earlier, as did town families, new surnames retained the ap in a few cases, mainly in reduced form at the start of the surname, as in Upjohn, Powell, and Bowen. Alternatively, the ap was simply dropped entirely, the most common surnames in modern Wales result from adding an s to the end of the name, as in Jones, Roberts and Edwards. Patronymic surnames with the short -s form are recorded in parts of England dating back to the Middle Ages. Indeed, currently it is not uncommon that five or more of the starting fifteen for the Welsh international rugby team would be named Jones, a hyphen was sometimes later introduced, for example Nash-Williams. The stock of Welsh surnames is very small, which is attributable to the reduction in the variety of baptismal names after the Protestant Reformation. A total of 16.3 million people in the countries studied had a name of Welsh origin, data from University College London, Paediatric-Epidemiology Significance Surnames Paper. Alternatively, given surnames are used, as in the case of the singer and political figure Dafydd Iwan, opera singer Bryn Terfel, classical singer Shân Cothi
10.
Welsh English
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Welsh English refers to the dialects of English spoken in Wales by Welsh people. The dialects are influenced by Welsh grammar and often include words derived from Welsh. In addition to the words and grammar, a variety of accents are found across Wales, including those of north Wales, the Cardiff dialect. In the east and south east, it has influenced by West Country dialects due to immigration, while in North Wales. The vowel of cat /æ/ is pronounced as a more central near-open front unrounded vowel, in Cardiff, bag is pronounced with a long vowel. In Powys, a pronunciation resembling its New Zealand and South African analogue is sometimes heard, the uncertainty over which vowel to use often leads to hypercorrections involving the schwa, e. g. programme is often pronounced /ˈproː. e. A lowered close-mid front rounded vowel Most other long monophthongs are similar to that of Received Pronunciation, but words with the RP /əʊ/ are sometimes pronounced as, examples of this include the use by some speakers of the tag question isnt it. Regardless of the form of the statement and the placement of the subject. Fed up, I am or Running on Friday, he is, in South Wales the word where may often be expanded to where to, as in the question, Where to is your Mam. The word tidy has been described as One of the most over-worked Wenglish words and can have a range of meanings including - fine or splendid, long, decent, a tidy swill is a wash involving at least face and hands. Spellings are almost identical to other dialects of British English, minor differences occur with words descended from Welsh that are not anglicised unlike in many other dialects of English. In Wales, the valley is always cwm, not the Anglicised version coombe, as with other dialects of British English, -ise endings are preferred, realise instead of realize. David Crystal, who grew up in Holyhead, claims that the dominance of English in Wales is little different from its spread elsewhere in the world. While other British English accents have affected the accents of English in Wales, in particular, Scouse and Brummie accents have both had extensive Anglo-Welsh input through migration, although in the former case, the influence of Anglo-Irish is better known. Anglo-Welsh literature and Welsh writing in English are terms used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh writers and it has been recognised as a distinctive entity only since the 20th century. A rival claim for the first Welsh writer to use English creatively is made for the poet, John Clanvowe. In the UK TV series Thomas & Friends, the Narrow Gauge Engines Skarloey, Rheneas, Sir Handel, Peter Sam and Duke speak with Welsh Dialect, the Welsh comedy-drama series Stella is set in a fictional South Wales valley where Welsh English can be heard throughout. – Listen to examples of regional accents and dialects from across the UK on the British Librarys Sounds Familiar website Talk Tidy, John Edwards, Author of books and CDs on the subject Wenglish
11.
Traditional Welsh costume
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The traditional Welsh costume is a costume once worn by rural women in Wales. It was identified as being different from that worn by the women of England by many of the English visitors who toured Wales during the late 18th. It is very likely that what they wore was a survival of a costume worn by working rural women. This included a version of the bedgown, originally worn by the gentry in the 17th and 18th centuries, the unique Welsh hat, which first made its appearance in the 1830s, was used as an icon of Wales from the 1840s. From the 1880s, when the costume had gone out of general use. From then on it was worn by women at such as Royal visits, by choirs, at church and chapel, for photographs. It was first worn by girls as a celebration on Saint Davids Day just before the First World War, the costume is now recognised as the national dress of Wales. Very little evidence for traditional Welsh costume survives before about 1770 when the first tourists came to Wales and recorded in words and they noted that the women in rural parts of Wales wore a distinctive costume which varied from place to place. Women in towns and those who lived near the Welsh-English border or near busy ports were already wearing English fashions, during the 1830s, certain members of the gentry, especially Augusta Hall of Llanover near Abergavenny, recorded and tried to preserve some Welsh traditions, including costume. The prints of costumes of parts of Wales which she may have commissioned did not have a wide distribution, some of them were published in an article in 1951. Although the traditional costume went out of use by the middle of the 19th century it was still worn by some women at market. There were calls for Welsh costume to be revived and used at major national events, in 1834, Augusta Hall wrote a prize-winning essay for the Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire eisteddfod held in Cardiff but this contains very little about costume, and nothing about National costumes. The national costume made from Welsh wool was therefore seen as a declaration of a Welsh identity. During an 1881 visit by the Prince of Wales to Swansea, from the 1880s both old and modern versions of the costume were worn by performers at concerts and eisteddfodau, by stall holders at fund raising events and for Royal visits. The numbers of women who wore Welsh costume in this way was always small, some of those who wore it may have been the younger members of the new middle-class families who could afford the money to buy the costumes and the time to attend such events. Although there was only a little encouragement to wear costumes at these events, there is little evidence to support the suggestion that the Welsh costume was worn just to please visitors, but it possible that this happened. The modern costume worn by girls on St David’s Day, which used to be made by mothers from old costumes, is now commercially available, the costume now generally worn by dance teams is based on the tailored gowns originally found in south west Wales. The most distinctive feature of the Welsh costume, other than the hat, is the gown and it is spelt in various ways in Welsh, most commonly now as betgwn
12.
Welsh law
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Welsh law is the primary and secondary legislation generated by the National Assembly for Wales, according to devolved authority granted in the Government of Wales Act 2006. Each piece of Welsh legislation is known as an Act of the Assembly, the first Assembly legislation to be officially proposed was called the NHS Redress Measure 2008. These powers have been effective since May 2007, both the Government of Wales Act 1998 and the Government of Wales Act 2006 set out areas of devolved responsibility for the National Assembly for Wales. The 2006 granted the Assembly legislative competence to make laws in clearly defined matters, once the Queen has approved the Order, the new area of legislative competence is added to Schedule 5, Part 1 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. There is a Counsel General for Wales who oversees the approval and creation of these laws, a referendum under these provisions was held in March 2011 and resulted in a vote in favour of granting the assembly the competence to pass the Acts of the Assembly. Therefore, the Assembly now has the competence to pass Acts of the Assembly in all 20 devolved subjects. This is done to preserve the autonomy of the Welsh Assembly and these areas are subjects where the National Assembly for Wales can make legislation in the form of an Act of the Assembly. The Welsh Assembly was able to make only Assembly Measures, but the Assembly was given the option to call for a referendum, with added approval from the UK Parliament, to make Acts of the Assembly. This would not change much of the Assembly Measures system, and if the referendum should win and it was considered that Assembly Measures are a build on to the Acts of the Assembly if the Assembly would these powers in future. The referendum was held on 3 March 2011, the majority of the participants voted Yes to the question Do you want the Assembly now to be able to make laws on all matters in the 20 subject areas it has powers for. The power to make Acts of the Assembly are called Subjects, English law still apply to Wales under the present devolution settlement. Contemporary Welsh law will govern the local aspects of Welsh life whilst English law will govern the more generic aspects, because these laws are derived from UK Acts of Parliament, some people consider this new system of laws to be another branch of English law. Unlike Scotland, for example, which has its own criminal and civil justice system, the One Wales Labour/Plaid Cymru deal also has an area for devolution of a Criminal and Youth Justice System to this new legal system. It is important to note, that English law still applies in Wales, but it also be important to say that some laws in England. Its possible to say there could be some acts that would be illegal in Wales. For example, using a shock collar on a cat or dog in Wales is illegal. There are Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament that are classed as Wales-only laws, each Act contains provisions for the Welsh Assembly to make subordinate legislation on. Sometimes such Acts can also confer power to the National Assembly for Wales, an example of such a Wales-only law is the Transport Act 2006
13.
Commote
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A commote, was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales. The word derives from the prefix cym- and the noun bod, the English word commote is derived from the Middle Welsh cymwt. The basic unit of land was the tref – a small village or settlement, in theory,100 trefi made up a cantref, and half or a third of a cantref was a cymwd, although in practice the actual numbers varied greatly. The plural of cantref is cantrefi, together with the cantrefi, commotes were the geographical divisions through which defence and justice were organised. In charge of a commote would be a chieftain related to the ruling Prince of the Kingdom. His court would have been situated in a special tref, referred to as a maerdref, here, the bonded villagers who farmed the chieftains estate lived, together with the court officials and servants. Commotes were further divided into maenorau or maenolydd, the Domesday Book has entries for those commotes that in 1086 were under Norman control, but still subject to Welsh law and custom. However, it refers to using the Anglo-Norman word commot instead of hundred. The commotes mentioned in the Domesday book, in general, represented recent Anglo-Norman advances into Welsh territory, although the commotes were assessed for military service and taxation, their obligations were rated in carucate, not in hides as on the English side of the border. The customs of the commotes are described in the Domesday accounts of the earldoms of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire. The principal commotes described in Domesday were Archenfield, Ewias, and the commotes of Gwent in the south, Cynllaith, Edeirnion, and Iâl, and Englefield, Rhos and Rhufoniog. In legal usage, the English word commote replaced cwmwd following the Edwardian conquest of Wales in the 13th century, the Welsh, most of whom knew not a word of English, naturally continued to use cwmwd and still do so today. Owain Glyndŵr called representatives from the commotes for his two parliaments during the rising of 1400–1409. A considerable number of the names of adjacent medieval Welsh commotes contain is and uwch, the terminology is for administrative purposes and not a geographical characterisation. A number of units, such as manors, parishes and townships, also use the administrative distinction of is and uwch. This is unrelated to the use of isaf and uchaf in farm names. The Red Book of Hergest provides a detailed list of commotes in the late 14th, the list has some overlaps and is ambiguous in parts, especially in the Gwynedd section. It should also be borne in mind that the number and organisation of the commotes was different in the earlier Middle Ages, some of the units, the original orthography of the manuscript is given here together with the standard modern Welsh equivalents
14.
Cantref
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A cantref was a medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Land in medieval Wales was divided into cantrefi, which were divided into smaller cymydau. The word cantref is derived from cant and tref, the cantref is thought to be the original unit, with the commotes being a later division. Cantrefi could vary considerably in size, most were divided into two or three commotes, but the largest, the Cantref Mawr in Ystrad Tywi was divided into seven commotes. To give an idea of the size of a cantref, the island of Anglesey was divided into three cantrefi, Cemais, Aberffraw and Rhosyr, the antiquity of the cantrefi is demonstrated by the fact that they often mark the boundary between dialects. Some were originally kingdoms in their own right, others may have been artificial units created later, cantrefi were of particular importance in the administration of the Welsh law. Each cantref had its own court, which was an assembly of the uchelwyr and this would be presided over by the king if he happened to be present, or if he was not present, by his representative. Apart from the judges there would be a clerk, an usher, the cantref court dealt with crimes, the determination of boundaries, and inheritance. Ergyng Hundred Kocourek, Albert, Wigmore, John H. eds, sources of Ancient and Primitive Law. Welsh Administrative and Territorial Units, Medieval and Modern
15.
Historic counties of Wales
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The historic counties of Wales are sub-divisions of Wales. They are alternatively known as ancient counties,1 The earldom of Pembroke and lordship of Glamorgan pre-date the Edwardian conquest. 2 These counties originate in 1282, following King Edward Is conquest,3 These counties originate in 1535, with the Laws in Wales Act,1535, converting the remaining Marcher Lordships into counties. 4 Despite being created at the same Act as the other counties, but neither this Act nor any other states that Monmouthshire is removed from Wales and added to England. However, between 1536 and 1874 the formulation Wales and Monmouthshire was frequently used, the Welsh people have always considered Monmouthshire to be part of Wales. The 1535 Laws in Wales Act had the effect of abolishing the marcher lordships within, in the border areas, several were incorporated in whole or in part into English counties. The lordships of Ludlow, Clun, Caus and part of Montgomery were incorporated into Shropshire, the historic counties established by 1535 were used as the geographical basis for the administrative counties, governed by county councils, which existed from 1889 to 1974. The historian William Rees said, in his Historical Atlas of Wales, the boundaries of the modern shires have largely been determined by the ancient divisions of the country. The survival of ancient local divisions within the pattern of historical change constitutes a vital element in the framework of the national life. The Counties Act 1844 abolished several enclaves, one of these, Welsh Bicknor was an exclave of Monmouthshire between Gloucestershire and Herefordshire and was transferred to Herefordshire. Another was Ffwddog, identified using the English variant Fothock on older maps, the exclave of Flintshire, called Maelor Saesneg was, however, left untouched. The territory which became Monmouthshire was part of the Welsh kingdoms of Gwent and Glywysing and later, after the Norman conquest of southern Wales, of the Welsh Marches. According to historian John Davies, this arrangement was the cause of the belief that the county had been annexed by England rather than remaining part of Wales. The position was finally resolved by the Local Government Act 1972, the Local Government Act 1888 created administrative counties based on the historic counties but not with exactly the same boundaries in 1889. Additionally, certain boroughs were deemed to be county boroughs, outside the administrative counties, the Local Government Act 1972 has led to a lot of confusion. It replaced the counties created in 1889 with eight new administrative counties in 1974. The existing Lieutenancy areas were redefined to use the newly created local government areas. Furthermore, use of the counties as postal counties was stopped at the time by the Royal Mail
16.
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
17.
King Arthur
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King Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD. The details of Arthurs story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, the sparse historical background of Arthur is gleaned from various sources, including the Annales Cambriae, the Historia Brittonum, and the writings of Gildas. Arthurs name also occurs in early sources such as Y Gododdin. Arthur is a figure in the legends making up the so-called Matter of Britain. The legendary Arthur developed as a figure of international interest largely through the popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouths fanciful, how much of Geoffreys Historia was adapted from such earlier sources, rather than invented by Geoffrey himself, is unknown. Geoffrey depicted Arthur as a king of Britain who defeated the Saxons and established an empire over Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and Gaul. The 12th-century French writer Chrétien de Troyes, who added Lancelot, in these French stories, the narrative focus often shifts from King Arthur himself to other characters, such as various Knights of the Round Table. Arthurian literature thrived during the Middle Ages but waned in the centuries that followed until it experienced a resurgence in the 19th century. In the 21st century, the lives on, not only in literature but also in adaptations for theatre, film, television, comics. The historical basis for the King Arthur legend has long debated by scholars. These culminate in the Battle of Badon, where he is said to have single-handedly killed 960 men, recent studies, however, question the reliability of the Historia Brittonum. The other text that seems to support the case for Arthurs historical existence is the 10th-century Annales Cambriae, the Annales date this battle to 516–518, and also mention the Battle of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut were both killed, dated to 537–539. These details have often used to bolster confidence in the Historias account. Problems have been identified, however, with using this source to support the Historia Brittonums account, the latest research shows that the Annales Cambriae was based on a chronicle begun in the late 8th century in Wales. Additionally, the textual history of the Annales Cambriae precludes any certainty that the Arthurian annals were added to it even that early. They were more likely added at point in the 10th century. The Badon entry probably derived from the Historia Brittonum and this lack of convincing early evidence is the reason many recent historians exclude Arthur from their accounts of sub-Roman Britain. These modern admissions of ignorance are a recent trend, earlier generations of historians were less sceptical
18.
Mabinogion
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The Mabinogion are the earliest prose literature of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from oral traditions. The two main source manuscripts were created c, 1350–1410, as well as some earlier fragments. The title covers a collection of prose stories of widely different types. The highly sophisticated complexity of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi defy categorisation, the list is so diverse a leading scholar has challenged them as a true collection at all. Early scholars from the 18th century to the 1970s predominantly viewed the tales as fragmentary pre-Christian Celtic mythology and they are now seen as a sophisticated narrative tradition, both oral and written, with ancestral construction from oral storytelling, and overlay from Anglo-French influences. The first modern publications were English translations of several tales by William Owen Pughe in journals 1795,1821,1829, however it was Lady Charlotte Guest 1838–45 who first published the full collection, and bilingually in both Welsh and English. She is often assumed to be responsible for the name Mabinogion, indeed, as early as 1632 the lexicographer John Davies quotes a sentence from Math fab Mathonwy with the notation Mabin. in his Antiquae linguae Britannicae. The later Guest translation of 1877 in one volume, has been widely influential, the most recent translation is a compact version by Sioned Davies. John Bollard has published a series of volumes between with his own translation, with photography of the sites in the stories. The tales continue to inspire new fiction, dramatic retellings, visual artwork, the name first appears in 1795 in William Owen Pughes translation in the journal Cambrian Register, The Mabinogion, or Juvenile Amusements, being Ancient Welsh Romances. The name appears to have been current among Welsh scholars of the London-Welsh Societies and it was inherited as the title by the first publisher of the complete collection, Lady Charlotte Guest. The form mabynnogyon occurs once at the end of the first of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi in one manuscript and it is now generally agreed that this one instance was a mediaeval scribal error which assumed mabinogion was the plural of mabinogi. But mabinogi is already a Welsh plural, which occurs correctly at the end of the three branches. The word mabinogi itself is something of a puzzle, although derived from the Welsh mab. Eric P. Hamp of the school traditions in mythology, found a suggestive connection with Maponos the Divine Son. Mabinogi properly applies only to the Four Branches, which is a tightly organised quartet very likely by one author, each of these four tales ends with the colophon thus ends this branch of the Mabinogi, hence the name. Lady Charlotte Guests work was helped by the research and translation work of William Owen Pughe
19.
Welsh cuisine
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Welsh cuisine encompasses the cooking traditions and practices associated with the country of Wales and the Welsh people. Some variation in dishes exists across the country, with notable differences existing in the Gower Peninsula, Welsh Celts and their more recent Welsh descendants originally practiced transhumance, moving their cattle to higher elevations in the summer and back to their home base in the winter. Once they settled to homesteads, a family would have eaten meat from a pig primarily. Sheep farming is practiced extensively in Wales, with lamb and mutton being the meats most traditionally associated with the country, beef and dairy cattle are also raised widely, and there is a strong fishing culture. Fisheries and commercial fishing are common and seafood features widely in Welsh cuisine, vegetables, beyond cabbages and leeks, were historically rare and the leek became a significant component of many dishes. It has been a symbol of Wales for at least 400 years. Since the 1970s, the number of restaurants and gastropubs in Wales has increased significantly, there are few written records of traditional Welsh foods, recipes were instead held within families and passed down orally between the women of the family. The lack of records was highlighted by Mati Thomas in 1928 and those with the skills and inclination to write Welsh recipes, the upper classes, conformed to English styles and therefore would not have run their houses with traditional Welsh cuisine. Upper-class households would take on any English fashions, even adopting English names, the traditional cookery of Wales originates from the daily meals of peasant folk, unlike other cultures where meals often started in the kitchens of the gentry and would be adapted. Historically the King of the Welsh people would travel, with his court, in a circuit, the tribute was codified in the Laws of Hywel Dda, showing that people lived on beer, bread, meat and dairy products, with few vegetables beyond cabbages and leeks. Towards the start of the 11th century, Welsh society started to build settlements, Food would be cooked in a single cauldron over an open fire on the floor, it would likely be reheated and topped up with fresh ingredients over a number of days. Some dishes could be cooked on a bakestone, a stone which could be placed above a fire to heat it evenly. Gerald of Wales, chaplain to Henry II, wrote after an 1188 tour of Wales, The whole population lives almost entirely on oats and you must not expect a variety of dishes from a Welsh kitchen, and there are no highly-seasoned titbits to whet your appetite. The medieval Welsh used thyme, savory, and mint in the kitchen, towards the end of the 18th century, Welsh land owners divided up the land to allow for tenant-based farming. Each small holding would include vegetable crops, as well as a cow, pigs, the 18th and 19th centuries were a time of unrest for the Welsh people. The Welsh food riots began in 1740, when colliers blamed the lack of food on problems in the supply, as a result of riots by colliers in the mid 1790s, magistrates in Glamorgan sold the rioters corn at a reduced price. At the same time they also requested assistance from the government to stop further rioting. The majority of food riots had ended by 1801, and there were certain political undertones to the actions, by the 1870s, 60% of Wales was owned by 570 families, most of whom did no farming
20.
Bara brith
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Bara brith, sometimes known as speckled bread, can be either a yeast bread enriched with dried fruit or made with self-raising flour. It is traditionally flavoured with tea, dried fruits and mixed spices, a decrease in popularity of it led to supermarket Morrisons removing it from their shelves in 2006, and a year later a survey showed that 85% of teenagers in the UK had never tried it. It has been championed by celebrity chefs such as Bryn Williams. Several variations on bara brith have been made, including changing it into a chocolate, bara brith derived its name from the Welsh language, bara meaning bread and brith translating as speckled. It is claimed to have been invented by a Welsh chef who added dried fruit and spices to a bread dough and it has subsequently been used as a coloqiualism - to over spice the bara brith means to do something to excess. In 2006, British supermarket chain Morrisons withdrew bara brith from sale at 19 of its Welsh based stores, complaints were issued in the press, but the company insisted that the bread was removed because of lack of sales. A survey conducted by British supermarket chain Sainsburys in 2006 showed that 36% of teenagers in Wales surveyed had never tried bara brith, when responses across the UK were viewed, some 85% of teenagers had never tried the traditional Welsh bread. Celebrity chef Phil Vickery cooked bara brith in Brynsiencyn, Anglesey and he used a traditional recipe which had been handed down to local chef Nerys Roberts through her family. Her bakery had previously supplied British supermarket chain Safeway with bara brith, beca Lyne-Pirkis baked a bara brith for one her entries during the fourth season of the BBC television series The Great British Bake Off in 2013. Although she based it off her grandmothers recipe, she found it difficult to complete within the three hours allocated for that round, but, it won praise from judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry. The bread is made by mixing flour, yeast, butter, mixed dried fruit, mixed spices, some recipes favour soaking the dried fruit in tea overnight before the baking. This mixture is then proven to allow fermentation to take place, after an initial period, the air is knocked out of the mixture and it is allowed to prove once more. This period of preparation can take up to two hours, including the time for the bread mixture. It is then baked in an oven, bara brith is traditionally served at tea time, alongside tea. It is normally sliced with butter spread on one side, in Argentina, bara brith is also known as torta negra. One of the most traditional foods coming out of the Chubut valleys, Lyne-Pirkis version of the bara brith on The Great British Bake Off substituted a tea oil to replace the overnight soaking process for the fruit. In E. Smith Twiddys The Little Welsh Cookbook, a cup of tea is included in the mixture. Celebrity chef Bryn Williams uses lard in his recipe, and a combination of raisins, the flavours of a bara brith have also been made into other types of food
21.
Laver (seaweed)
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Laver UK /ˈlɑːvə/ US /ˈleɪvər/ is an edible, littoral alga. In Wales, laver is used for making laverbread, a traditional Welsh dish, laver as food is also commonly found around the west coast of Great Britain and east coast of Ireland along the Irish Sea, where it is also known as slake. It is smooth in texture and forms delicate, sheetlike thalli, the principal variety is purple laver. Purple laver is classified as a red alga, tends to be a brownish colour and it is unusual amongst seaweeds because the fronds are only one cell thick. Laver has a content of dietary minerals, particularly iodine. The high iodine content gives the seaweed a distinctive flavour in common with olives, porphyra is also consumed in East Asia, where it is known as zicai in China, nori in Japan, and gim in Korea. Ulva lactuca, an alga, also known as sea lettuce, is occasionally eaten as green laver. Laver cultivation as food is thought to be ancient, though the first mention was in Camdens Britannia in the early 17th century. It is plucked from the rocks and given a preliminary rinse in clear water, the collected laver is repeatedly washed to remove sand and boiled for hours until it becomes a stiff, green mush. In this state, the laver can be preserved for about a week, typically during the 18th century, the mush was packed into a crock and sold as potted laver. Laver can be eaten cold as a salad with lamb or mutton, a simple preparation is to heat the laver and to add butter and the juice of a lemon or Seville orange. Laver can be heated and served with boiled bacon and it is used to make the Welsh dish known as laverbread. Laverbread is a traditional Welsh delicacy made from laver, to make laverbread, the seaweed is boiled for several hours, then minced or pureed. The gelatinous paste that results can then be sold as it is, or rolled in oatmeal, laverbread is traditionally eaten fried with bacon and cockles as part of a Welsh breakfast. It can also be used to make a sauce to accompany lamb, crab, monkfish, etc. richard Burton has been quoted as describing laverbread as Welshmans caviar. Laver is often associated with Penclawdd and its cockles, being used traditionally in the Welsh diet and is eaten widely across Wales in the form of laverbread. In addition to Wales, laverbread is eaten across the Bristol Channel in North Devon, especially the Exmoor coast around Lynmouth, Combe Martin, in North Devon it is generally not cooked with oatmeal and is simply referred to as laver. Laver is highly nutritious because of its proportions of protein, iron
22.
Cawl
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In modern Welsh the word is used to refer to any soup or broth. In English the word is used to refer to a traditional Welsh soup, historically, ingredients tended to vary, but the most common recipes included salted bacon or beef with potatoes, swedes, carrots and other seasonal vegetables. Modern variations of the meal tend to use lamb and leek, Cawl is recognised as a national dish of Wales. With recipes dating back to the 14th century, cawl is widely considered to be the national dish of Wales, Cawl was traditionally eaten during the winter months in the south-west of Wales. With the introduction of potatoes into the European diet in the half of the 16th century. The meat in the dish was normally cut into medium-sized pieces, the stock was thickened with either oatmeal or flour, and was then served, without the meat or vegetables, as a first course. The vegetables and slices of the meat would then be served as a second course, Cawl served as a single course is today the most popular way to serve the meal, which is similar to its north Wales equivalent lobsgows. Lobsgows differs in that the meat and vegetables were cut into smaller pieces, Cawl cennin, or leek cawl, can be made without meat but using meat stock. In some areas cawl is often served with bread and cheese and these are served separately on a plate. The dish was cooked in an iron pot or cauldron over the fire. In Welsh, gwneud cawl o means to mess something up, the word cawl in Welsh is first recorded in the 14th century, and is thought to come from the Latin caulis, meaning the stalk of a plant, a cabbage stalk or a cabbage. An alternative suggestion is that it is from Latin calidus, meaning warm, as this is the source of Spanish caldo, davies, John, Jenkins, Nigel, Menna, Baines, Lynch, Peredur I. eds. The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales, first Catch Your Peacock, a book of Welsh food. BBC recipe for Cawl Cennin Recipe for Cawl Cymreig recipe for cawl and other Welsh food
23.
Leek soup
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Leek soup is a soup based on potatoes, leeks, broth, and heavy cream. Other ingredients used may be salt and pepper, and various spices, generally the potatoes are diced and cooked in broth, while the leeks are chopped and sautéed. After this all ingredients are combined and stirred, chives may be used for garnish. Leek soup is strongly associated with Wales, and is an important item of Welsh cuisine, in Romania, this soup is popular and known as Ciorbă de praz, and in France it is called Soupe aux poireaux. List of soups List of vegetable soups
24.
Cuisine of Gower
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The cuisine of Gower, a peninsula in south Wales, is based on ingredients grown, raised or collected on or around the peninsula. The cuisine is based on fresh ingredients with recipes based around a fish or meat dish, until the twentieth century, the peninsula was virtually cut off from other markets due to poor roads, and no rail connection. The result was that Gower became self-sufficient in food, Gower people also developed their own dialect of English and their own traditions, which have since died out. The population of the peninsula was employed in agriculture, fishing, labour on the farms and larger estates, weaving and, in the north. With the expansion of motorized transport and road improvements, Gower became a poplar tourist destination, many residents now travel from Gower to work in the nearby city of Swansea. Much of the produce is now sold at Swansea Market, local farmers markets. In the 18th century, surveys indicate that crops grown in Gower included corn, hay, flax, hemp, hops, livestock kept included sheep, cattle, pigs, geese, fowl and bees. Many Gower villages were self-sufficient in food, and residents paid a rent to the lord of the manor for fishing rights. In south and west Gower a feudal or manorial system of open fields, later, the Enclosure Acts consolidated the arable land holding but Gower’s common lands were left untouched. North and east Gower retained the traditional Welsh landholding pattern, based on a group and located around the gwely. All rights of grazing, common pasture, and arable allocations stemmed from this system, the Norman and Welsh areas of Gower were roughly divided by the common lands of Clyne, Fairwood, Pengwern and Cefn Bryn. The geology of Gower is made up of limestone, coal measures and it produces with good management, plenty of all kinds of grain, and swards naturally with the sweetest grasses. The area has a mild climate due to the effects of the Gulf Stream near the coast and this results in mostly a frost-free winter in the south-west of the peninsula. The combination of geology and climate means that Gower is well known for its root and these include potatoes, cauliflower, and swedes. In the case of cauliflower, a climate is required when the curd is developing. The area around Rhossili is an important supply area, thousands of cases of cauliflowers are transported from here to shops nationwide during the winter months. Local farmers’ markets and Swansea Market sell fresh Gower vegetables, as do such as Nicholaston Farm, owned by the Beynon family, which supplies asparagus, beans. Gower is well known for the quality of its lamb, on the sandstone areas, such as Cefn Bryn, Davies comments, The sheep feeding thereon are noted for fineness of wool and well-flavoured mutton
25.
Glamorgan sausage
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Glamorgan sausage is a traditional Welsh vegetarian sausage for which the main ingredients are cheese, leeks and breadcrumbs. The earliest published mention of the dish is from the 1850s in the book Wild Wales by George Borrow, the modern vegetarian version became popular during the Second World War when meat was harder to come by, and is now mass-produced by at least two companies. Variations include swapping the leeks for onions, as well as different herbs and spices, the origins of Glamorgan sausages are unknown. Research conducted at the Glamorgan Archives in Leckwith discovered that there is at least one traditional recipe which used meat. In a notebook dated between 1795 and 1813, John Perkins, of Ty-draw, Llantrithyd, included 1 pound each of lean pork, the spicing was also different from modern versions, calling for the use of cloves, sage and ginger. The first published mention of them was by George Borrow in his book Wild Wales, written in the 1850s and he described them as not a whit inferior to those of Epping, Epping sausages were skinless meat-based sausages. Borrow visited Y Gwter Fawr, the Tregib Arms has been suggested as the location at which Borrow ate his sausages, the advert makes it clear that the sausages were made from choice dairy-fed pork. Glamorgan sausages are thought to have been made with Glamorgan cheese which is no longer made due to the near-extinction of the Glamorgan cattle from which it was produced. They rose in popularity during the Second World War due to rationing limiting the volume of meat, the Welsh Gas Board promoted the sausage in a cookbook published in the 1950s, in which it did not specify the type of cheese to be used. In 2005, a campaign began to register the Glamorgan sausage under the European Union geographical indications and this would have resulted in only Glamorgan sausages that were made in Glamorgan being labelled as such. The move was led by Greta Watts-Jones, who runs the Cwrt Newydd company in Cowbridge and her main competitor, Cauldron Foods, is based in Bristol, England. This protection had previously extended to Welsh lamb and beef. The vote to gain status, alongside Caerphilly cheese, was held in March 2006 at the European Parliament. In modern versions, Caerphilly cheese is used, which is a descendant of the old traditional Glamorgan cheese recipe and lends the same general texture, the mixture is then rolled into sausage shapes, and then fried. There is no sausage casing used, although egg is used to bind the mixture so that it not fall apart during the cooking process. In various recipes, other substitutions and additions are suggested, the Hairy Bikers suggest Welsh cheddar as an alternative to Caerphilly and propose that it should be served with a red onion and chilli pepper relish. An Australian recipe suggests Lancashire cheese as an alternative ingredient, cooking techniques for the leeks vary, as some recipes call for them to be mixed in raw, while others suggest browning them first in a frying pan. If left raw, they can lend a crunchier texture to the sausage, both the Hairy Bikers and Canteen opt for cooking the leeks first
26.
Tatws Pum Munud
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Tatws Pum Munud is a traditional Welsh stew, made with smoked bacon, stock, potatoes and other vegetables. As a stew, it is unique in all the main ingredients are cut into slices. Because of this, it is cooked in a large frying pan, on top of the stove. The vegetables used are typically potatoes, onions, carrots and peas, although usually made with smoked bacon, minced beef is occasionally substituted. The dish is accompanied by crusty bread and butter. Perhaps oddly, for a Welsh dish, it is frequently served with Worcestershire sauce. A similar dish, called Tatws Popty or Tatws Pobdu, is made using chunky vegetables, list of stews Bacon portal Tatws Pum Munud, Celtnet Welsh Recipes Tatws Pum Munud, Cross cooking
27.
Full breakfast
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A full breakfast is a breakfast meal that typically includes bacon, sausages, eggs, other cooked foods and a beverage such as coffee or tea. In England it is referred to as a full English breakfast. Other regional variants are the full Irish, full Scottish, full Welsh, and it is especially popular in the UK and Ireland, to the extent that many cafés and pubs offer the meal at any time of day as an all-day breakfast. It is also popular in other English-speaking countries, particularly countries that were a part of the British Empire, long-established in British culture, about a fifth of British tourists eat a full English breakfast while on holiday overseas. The full breakfast became popular in the British Isles during the Victorian era, a full breakfast is often contrasted with the lighter alternative of a continental breakfast, consisting of tea, milk or coffee and fruit juices with bread, croissants, bagels, or pastries. The ingredients of a full breakfast vary according to region and taste and they are often served with condiments such as brown sauce or ketchup. Traditional full English breakfast includes bacon, fried, poached or scrambled eggs, fried or grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread or toast with butter, in the North Midlands, fried or grilled oatcakes sometimes replace fried bread. The food is served with a mug of tea, more recently coffee is an alternative. As nearly everything is fried in this meal, it is called a fry-up. As some of the items are optional, the phrase full English breakfast, the latter name became popular post World War II after British Army general Bernard Montgomery was said to have started every day with the full works when in the campaign in North Africa. The traditional Cornish breakfast includes hogs pudding and Cornish potato cakes, or fried potatoes alongside the usual bacon, sausage, tomato, mushrooms, egg and toast. In Ireland, as elsewhere, the constituents of a full breakfast vary, depending on geographical area, personal taste. The breakfast became popular there whilst Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom, traditionally, the most common ingredients in Ireland are bacon rashers, pork sausages, fried eggs, white pudding, black pudding, toast and fried tomato. Sauteed field mushrooms are sometimes included, as well as baked beans, hash browns, liver. Fried potato farl, boxty or toast is sometimes served as an alternative to soda bread. The breakfast roll is available from many stations and convenience stores throughout Ireland. In 2006 Irish comedian Pat Shortt released a song called Jumbo Breakfast Roll, an Ulster fry is a dish similar to the English breakfast, and is popular throughout Ulster, where it is eaten not only at breakfast time but throughout the day. Typically it will include soda bread and potato bread as in an Irish breakfast, fried onions or mushrooms are usually added upon request
28.
Welsh cake
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Welsh cakes, also Welshcakes or pics, are traditional in Wales. They have been popular since the late 19th Century with the addition of fat, sugar, Welsh cakes are made from flour, butter/lard, currants, eggs, milk, and spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. They are roughly circular, a few inches in diameter and about half an inch thick, Welsh cakes are served hot or cold dusted with caster sugar. Unlike scones, they are not usually eaten with an accompaniment, though they are sometimes sold ready split and spread with jam, Llech Cymraeg, cooked with plain flour - rather than the standard self-raising flour, and baking powder, resulting in a much flatter and crisper cake. Typically, this variant is made as a slab on a bakestone, or nowadays on a baking tray, jam Split, popular in South Wales. As the name suggests, this is a Welsh cake split horizontally, with jam added, apple Dragon, Adding grated apple to the mix helps to keep the cakes moist for longer. The Newport Lovely, regional variant hand-crafted by the men of Newport for their women as either a wedding-gift, mynydd Cymreig, from North Wales, doubling the amount of baking powder results in their increased rising. They are also coated in icing sugar, symbolising the seasonal snow cap of some of the higher peaks in Snowdonia. The Kiwi Cake, exported by Welsh settlers, the Welsh cake has been produced in New Zealand for many years. com food pages
29.
Welsh rarebit
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The names of the dish originate from 18th-century Britain. Despite the name, the dish does not actually contain any rabbit, recipes for Welsh rarebit include the addition of ale, mustard, ground cayenne pepper or ground paprika and Worcestershire sauce. The sauce may also be made by blending cheese and mustard into a Béchamel sauce, hannah Glasse, in her 1747 cookbook The Art of Cookery, gives recipes for Scotch rabbit, Welch rabbit and two versions of English rabbit. To make a Scotch rabbit, toast the bread very nicely on both sides, butter it, cut a slice of cheese about as big as the bread, toast it on both sides, and lay it on the bread. To make a Welch rabbit, toast the bread on both sides, then toast the cheese on one side, lay it on the toast and you may rub it over with mustard. To make an English rabbit, toast the bread brown on sides, lay it in a plate before the fire, pour a glass of red wine over it. Then cut some cheese very thin and lay it very thick over the bread, put it in a tin oven before the fire and you may stir in a little mustard, when it is enough lay it on the bread, just brown it with a hot shovel. Served with an egg on top, a Welsh rarebit is known as a rabbit or a golden buck. Welsh rarebit blended with tomato is known as Blushing Bunny, the first recorded reference to the dish was Welsh rabbit in 1725, but the origin of the term is unknown. Onion may be added and the mixture would be eaten with bread and butter, the word Welsh may have been adopted because it was used by the English to mean foreign or inferior. In Boordes account, cause boby is the Welsh caws pobi, meaning baked cheese, the word rarebit is a corruption of rabbit, Welsh rabbit being first recorded in 1725 and the variant Welsh rarebit being first recorded in 1785 by Francis Grose. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Welsh rarebit is an etymologizing alteration, there is no evidence of the independent use of rarebit. The word rarebit has no other use than in Welsh rabbit, eighteenth-century English cookbooks reveal that it was then considered to be a luscious supper or tavern dish, based on the fine cheddar-type cheeses and the wheat breads. Surprisingly, it there was not only a Welsh Rabbit, but also an English Rabbit, an Irish and a Scotch Rabbit. Michael Quinion writes, Welsh rabbit is basically cheese on toast and it is not certain that this erroneous idea originated with Grose. In his 1926 edition of the Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Welsh Rarebit is stupid and wrong. The notion that toasted cheese was a favourite dish irresistible to the Welsh has existed since the Middle Ages, the 1526 compiler says he found this story Wryten amonge olde gestys. A legend mentioned in Betty Crockers Cookbook claims that Welsh peasants were not allowed to eat rabbits caught in hunts on the estates of the nobility, the author also claims that Ben Jonson and Charles Dickens ate Welsh rarebit at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a pub in London
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Holidays in Wales
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These are the main holidays traditionally celebrated in Wales that are not shared with the rest of the United Kingdom. Except for those that fall at the time as UK public holidays. There is, however, much support for the recognition of St Davids Day as a holiday in Wales, in the same way as St Patricks Day in Northern Ireland. Many of the seasoned festivals originate in the Celtic culture of Wales, as recorded in the Laws of Hywel Dda, the three main holidays of the medieval Welsh kingdoms were Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide. A special drink called the liquor of the Apostles was brewed for, the patron saint of Wales is St David, Welsh, Dewi Sant. St. Davids Day is celebrated on 1 March, which some people argue should be a national holiday. On a more localised level, each parish celebrated a Gŵyl Mabsant in commemoration of its native saint and this annual celebration developed from a dedication through prayer to a programme of recreational activities. Celebrated on 25 January every year, Dydd Santes Dwynwen is the Welsh day of love much like St. Valentines Day, celebrated on 26 December, in Wales Boxing Day or St. Stephens Day is known as Gŵyl San Steffan. 1 January, The Welsh New Years Eve and Day celebration involving the tradition of giving gifts or money Calennig to celebrate the new year,2 February, Literally translates as Marys Festival of the Candles, and it is equivalent to Candlemas and Imbolc. In Paganism, the Welsh holiday name is just Gŵyl y Canhwyllau, 20–21 March, Spring Equinox, a time of festival and drinking, the middle of Spring. 1 May, May Day, a time of festival and drinking, the first day of summer, 20–21 June, Alban Hefin, a time of festival and drinking,24 June, Gwyl Ifan, a time of festival and drinking, otherwise known as Midsummers day. Around 1 August, The first day of Autumn, a time of festival and drinking, 22–23 September, Autumn Equinox, a time of festival and drinking, the middle of Autumn. 31 October and 1 November, Winters eve and the first day of winter, 21–22 December, A Winter Solstice or Midwinter festival, a time of festival and drinking, the shortest day of the year. This poetic tradition has been celebrated in eisteddfod, a Welsh word meaning a gathering where people recite verses, a list of other Medieval Welsh saints days at Aberystwyth University
31.
Dydd Santes Dwynwen
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Dydd Santes Dwynwen is considered to be the Welsh equivalent to Valentines Day and is celebrated on 25 January every year. It celebrates Dwynwen, the Welsh saint of lovers, much of Welsh history is based on stories and songs which were traditionally passed on by word of mouth. As such, the tale has become mixed with elements of folktales and Celtic stories. In the 5th Century Dwynwen fell in love with Maelon Dafodrill, Maelon returned her feelings but they could not be together for her father forbade the marriage and her father had already promised her to someone else. Dwynwen, distraught by her love for Maelon, prays to fall out of love with him, God then gave three wishes to Dwynwen. First she wished that Maelon be thawed, second that God meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers, all three were fulfilled, and as a mark of her thanks, Dwynwen devoted herself to Gods service for the rest of her life. Dwynwen became a nun, fulfilling her wish to never marry and she left for the island of Anglesey and built a Church, which became known as Llanddwyn, literally meaning Church of Dwynwen. Its remains can still be seen today on the island of Llanddwyn, the smaller island also contains Dwynwens well, where, allegedly, a sacred fish swims, whose movements predict the future fortunes and relationships of various couples. Another tradition claims that if the water boils while visitors are present, then love, the popularity and celebration of St Dwynwens day has increased considerably in recent years, with special events, such as concerts and parties, often held and greetings cards printed. Although still not as popular as St Valentines Day in February, a big boost for St Dwynwen’s Day came in 2003 when the Welsh Language Board teamed up with UK supermarket Tesco to distribute 50,000 free cards in 43 of its Welsh stores. One card was inserted with a heart, the finder of which would be entitled to a prize. The Welsh often celebrate with concerts and parties, and exchange Dydd Santes Dwynwen greetings cards and this version of the story is generally told to younger children, usually in primary school or nursery as it is generally considered the most appropriate for children. Dwynwen was the daughter of Brychan Brycheiniog, who was said to have had eleven sons. She met and fell madly in love with a man called Maelon and she asked her father if she could marry Maelon but Brychan disliked Maelon and refused to give his permission. Maelon begged, as did Dwynwen, but Brychan would not relent, Dwynwen was so upset that she ran into the forest. There, she met an angel in a dream who granted her the position of the Saint of Love, diwrnod Santes Dwynwen - St. Dwynwens Day
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Saint David's Day
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Saint Davids Day is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March, the date of Saint Davids death in 589 AD. The feast has been celebrated since the canonisation of David in the 12th century. An increasing number of cities and towns across Wales including Cardiff, Swansea, Saint David was born in Caerfai, south west Wales into an aristocratic family. Davids fame as a teacher and his asceticism spread among Celtic Christians and his foundation at Glyn Rhosyn became an important Christian shrine, and the most important centre in Wales. The date of Saint Davids death is believed to be 1 March 589 and his final life to the community of monks was, Brothers be ye constant. The yoke which with single mind ye have taken, bear ye to the end, for centuries,1 March has been a national festival. Saint David was recognised as a patron saint in the 12th century at a peak time of Welsh resistance to the Normans. He was canonised by Pope Callixtus II in 1120, unlike Saint Andrews Day in Scotland and Saint Patricks Day in Ireland, Saint Davids Day is not a national holiday, though there is strong support for it becoming a bank holiday in Wales. In the past, schools have taken a holiday, which continues in some parts of Wales. Saint Davids Day is also celebrated in expatriate Welsh communities outside the UK, cross-party support resulted in the National Assembly for Wales voting unanimously to make Saint Davids Day a public holiday in 2000. A poll conducted for Saint Davids Day in 2006 found that 87% of people in Wales wanted it to be a bank holiday, a petition in 2007 to make Saint Davids Day a bank holiday was rejected by the office of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Henrys green and white banner with a red dragon became a point for Welsh patriotism with the memory of Saint David on his Feast Day. Henry was the first monarch of the House of Tudor, and during the reign of that dynasty the royal coat of arms included the Welsh Dragon, the banner from Henrys victory was not adapted to become the official Flag of Wales until 1959. The flag of Saint David, however, a cross on a black background, was not part of the symbolism of House of Tudor. Around Wales each year, Saint David is commemorated in parades, the parade is a non-military celebration of Welsh heritage and culture. On 1 March 2010, the seventh National Saint Davids Day Parade took place in Cardiff city centre, celebrations included concerts, a parade and a food festival. The food festival ran from 26 February with the third annual Really Welsh Food Festival in Queen Street, following the parade, a number of Welsh entertainers performed and in the evening Cardiff Central Library provided free entertainment and food. Public celebrations of Saint Davids Day, although small in number, are becoming more commonplace
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Calan Gaeaf
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Calan Gaeaf is the name of the first day of winter in Wales, observed on 1 November. The night before is Nos Galan Gaeaf, an Ysbrydnos when spirits are abroad, people avoid churchyards, stiles, and crossroads, since spirits are thought to gather there. Children and women would dance around a fire and, during this process, everyone would write their names on rocks and place them in. When the fire started to die out they would all run home- whereas if they stayed, Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta would devour their souls. One particular rhyme shows how the last child out on Nos Calan Gaeaf was at risk of being eaten by the fearsome beast, Adre, adre, am y cynta, the following morning, all the stones containing villagers names would be checked. If, however, a stone was missing, the person who wrote their name on the stone would die one year. Coelcerth, Families build a fire and place stones with their names on it, for prophetic dreams a boy should cut ten ivy leaves, throw away one and put the rest under his head before he sleeps. They supposedly possessed the power to ‘bewitch’ anybody if they wished Twco Fala/fale, Ducking apples Samhain Halloween Day of the Dead Allantide Davies, John, Jenkins, the Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
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Religion in Wales
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Christianity is the largest religion in Wales. Until 1920 the established church was the Church of England, but from 1920 the disestablished Church in Wales, Wales also has a strong tradition of nonconformism, including Methodism. In terms of identity, Church in Wales is the largest denomination in Wales with 30% of the population identifying themselves as adherents, the Roman Catholic Church of which have less than 3% of the population as members. The 2001 census showed that less than 10% of the Welsh population are regular church- or chapel-goers. In the 2011 census this figure had fallen to 57. 6%, Christianity arrived in Wales sometime in the Roman occupation, it was initially suppressed. The first Christian martyrs in Wales, Julius and Aaron, were killed around AD304, the earliest Christian object found in Wales is a vessel with a Chi-Rho symbol found at Caerwent. Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century. The writer Gildas drew sharp contrasts between the Christian Welsh at this time and the pagan Anglo-Saxon invaders, the age of the saints was marked by the establishment of monastic settlements throughout the country, by religious leaders such as Saint David, Illtud and Teilo. This was the period when the Welsh developed a national identity, arising from their language. The Welsh bishops refused to co-operate with Augustine of Canterburys mission to the Anglo-Saxons and they were all in communion with Rome until the Reformation made them independent of Rome and under the control of King Henry VIII. The Established Church in Wales was the Church of England, until it was disestablished in Wales in 1920. The old Welsh dioceses became the new Church in Wales and it created a new diocese in 1921, the Diocese of Monmouth. Bishop Richard Davies and dissident Protestant cleric John Penry introduced Calvinist theology to Wales and they used the model of the Synod of Dort of 1618-1619. Calvinism developed through the Puritan period, following the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, however few copies of Calvins were available before mid 19th century. Some books of the Bible and of the Apocrypha had been translated in the Middle Ages, however, under Queen Elizabeth I the English Parliament passed the An Act for the Translating of the Bible and the Divine Service into the Welsh Tongue 1563. In 1567 William Salesbury, Richard Davies and Thomas Huet completed the first modern translation of the New Testament into Welsh, then in 1588 William Morgan completed a translation of the whole Bible. These translations were essential to the survival of the Welsh language and had the effect of conferring status on Welsh as a liturgical language and vehicle for worship. This had a significant role in its use as a means of everyday communication
35.
Welsh art
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Welsh art refers to the traditions in the visual arts associated with Wales and its people. Most art found in, or connected with, Wales is essentially a variant of the forms and styles of the rest of the British Isles. In 2011 faint scratchings of a speared reindeer were found on a wall on the Gower peninsula which probably date to 12, 000–14,000 BC. The Mold Gold Cape, also in the British Museum, many works of Iron Age Celtic art have been found in Wales. and the finds from the period shortly before and after the Roman conquest, which reached Wales in AD 74-8, are especially significant. The Abergavenny Leopard Cup, from the decades after the conquest, was found in 2003, there are only fragments of the architecture of the period remaining. Little metalwork survives from the period of the 5th–9th centuries in Wales. However, archaeological sites at Dinas Powys have revealed various artifacts such as penannular brooches, similar brooches have been discovered a site at Penycorddyn-mawr, near Abergele, dating to the 8th century. During this period, the construction of Holy wells was also commonplace in Wales. There are a number of monastic ruins, Welsh medieval churches are nearly all relatively modest. They very often had wall-paintings, panel altarpieces and much other religious art, conwy, an English garrison town with its medieval walls almost entirely intact, has a notable example of a 13th-century medieval stone town-house. Peter Lord suggests that the Renaissance began in Wales around 1400, much of the art produced in this period was created in or for the church. Strata Florida Abbey, for example, retains some of its medieval decorated tiles, despite the widespread destruction that took place during the Reformation and later the Commonwealth, a number of Welsh churches retain fragments of medieval stained glass. The wall paintings at Llancarfan are said to be beyond compare in Wales, Wales has numerous country houses from all periods after the Elizabethan, many still containing good portraits, but these were mostly painted in London or on the Continent. The portrait was commissioned by her husband, Sir Richard Clough, Clough himself died before he could bring his wife to the new house he had built for her. William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, was one of the first Welsh nobles known to have collected paintings on a large scale. A portrait of him, dating from the 1560s, is held by the National Museum of Wales, it is attributed to Steven van Harwijck, later, artisan painters such as William Roos and Hugh Hughes began to seek portrait commissions. Rooss 1835 portrait of preacher Christmas Evans is held by the National Museum of Wales, the Welsh painter Richard Wilson is arguably the first major British landscapist, but rather more notable for Italian scenes than Welsh ones, although he did paint several on visits from London. He returned to live in Wales on inheriting the family estate, Early works tended to see the Welsh mountains through the prism of the 17th century Italianate wild landscapes of Salvator Rosa and Gaspard Dughet
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Welsh literature in English
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Anglo-Welsh literature and Welsh writing in English are terms used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh writers. It has been recognised as a distinctive entity only since the 20th century, however, the genre did not develop in these writers much beyond its origin in rural sketches. Satire was avoided, and, since the market was London publishers. There is no final, clear definition of what constitutes a Welsh writer in English, obviously it includes Welsh writers whose first language is English, rather than Welsh, such as Swansea born Dylan Thomas and novelist Emyr Humphreys, born in Prestatyn in 1919. But it also includes those born outside Wales with Welsh parentage, in addition to using Welsh history and settings, Powys also uses the mythology of The Mabinogion. He also studied the Welsh language, the Liverpool-born novelist James Hanley lived in Wales from 1931 until 1963 and was buried there. Hanley published, Grey Children, A Study in Humbug and Misery, as one writer notes, a widely debatable area of Anglo-Welsh acceptability exists. Ironically, Saunders Lewis was himself born in Wallasey in England to a Welsh-speaking family, the problems are perhaps epitomised by Roald Dahl, a writer of short stories and childrens literature. Dahl was born in Wales, to Norwegian parents, and spent much of his life in England, thus he might be seen partly as a Welsh analogue to Northern Irelands C. S. Lewis. Peter George is another example of a writer of Welsh origins who rarely wrote about Wales, conversely, Eric Linklater was born in Penarth, but is generally considered a Scottish writer. A further challenge for the definition of Welsh literature in English has come with the globalisation of culture, however, modern Welsh literature in English reflects a multicultural experience. If a Welsh writer chooses to write in English, this does not mean that they are unable to speak Welsh as well, in some cases, such as Jan Morris or Gillian Clarke, English-language writers have chosen to learn Welsh. In others, a native Welsh speaker such as Siân James or Jo Walton may choose to write some, Writing for an English-language market does not necessarily mean that they have abandoned a Welsh language audience. Furthermore, she suggests in Vaughans case the possible influence of the tradition of Welsh-language poetry, Writers from medieval Wales such as Geoffrey of Monmouth and Adam of Usk also used Latin and Norman French, in addition to English and Welsh. A rival claim for the first Welsh writer to use English creatively is made for the poet, clanvowes best-known work was The Book of Cupid, God of Love or The Cuckoo and the Nightingale. Which is influenced by Chaucers Parliament of Fowls, the Cuckoo and the Nightingale had previously been attributed to Chaucer but the Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature notes the absence of direct evidence linking Clanvowe with the work. The poem is written as a dream vision and is an example of medieval debate poetry. A concerto inspired by the poem was composed by Georg Friedrich Handel and it apparently also influenced works by both John Milton and William Wordsworth
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Theatre of Wales
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Theatre in Wales includes dramatic works in both the Welsh language and English language. Actors from Wales have also achieved international recognition, the earliest known performance tradition is that of the mumming custom Mari Lwyd. However, the existence of a Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon suggests that drama may well have been introduced during the classical period, drama in Wales as a literary tradition dates to morality plays from north-east Wales in the second half of the 15th century. Two extant miracle plays Y tri Brenin o Gwlen and Y Dioddefaint ar Atgyfodiad represent short individual plays rather than being elements of a larger cycle, ymddiddan y Corff ar Enaid can be compared to the Everyman tradition. The development of Renaissance theatre in England did not have influence in Wales as the gentry found different forms of artistic patronage. One surviving example of Welsh literary drama is Troelus a Chresyd, stock Welsh characters occur in theatre in England on the Tudor and Stuart stage. Fluellen is a character in the play Henry V by William Shakespeare. Twm or Nant was famous for his anterliwtau, performed mainly around his native Denbighshire, the bawdiness and licensed foolery of the comic stereotypes of the interlude tradition have been compared to commedia dellarte. However the religious revival connected with the rise of Methodism in Wales brought an end to such libertine satires, interludes came to be replaced as expressions of public drama by a high-flown and imagistic preaching style and dialogues on moral issues such as temperance. The English classical repertoire was brought to those who could understand it by travelling such as the Kemble family. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Welsh literature began to reflect the way the Welsh language was becoming a political symbol. Secular drama began to attract interest in the 1870s as national consciousness grew, plays in a Shakespearean style were written, such as Beriah Gwynfe Evans patriotic play Owain Glyndŵr, performed at the Llanberis Eisteddfod of 1879. There was institutional opposition to the new drama, the Methodist Convention in 1887 recommended that chapels regard theatrical activity as an immoral practice on a par with gambling. It was not until 1902 when David Lloyd George called for patronage of Welsh drama at the National Eisteddfod that a profile of respectability started to be acquired among devout communities, with the advance of the English language, theatre in English developed quickly between 1875 and 1925. By 1912 Wales had 34 theatres and many halls licensed for dramatic performances, however, the arrival of sound cinema in the 1930s led to the closure or transformation of most theatres. A full theatre tradition only developed in Wales with 20th century Welsh drama, many playwrights were inspired by the example of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden, used his patronage to attempt the foundation of a theatre for Wales. Among his attempts was the foundation of a theatre at Plas Newydd
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Music of Wales
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Wales has a strong and distinctive link with music. Singing is a significant part of Welsh national identity, and the country is referred to as the land of song. Wales has a history of music related to the Celtic music of countries such as Ireland and Scotland. It has distinctive instrumentation and song types, and is heard at a twmpath. Modern Welsh folk musicians have sometimes reconstructed traditions which had been suppressed or forgotten, Music in Wales is often connected with male voice choirs, such as the Morriston Orpheus Choir and Treorchy Male Voice Choir, and enjoys a worldwide reputation in this field. A tradition of brass bands dating from the Victorian era continues, particularly in the South Wales Valleys, the 20th century saw many solo singers from Wales become not only national but international stars. Ivor Novello, who was a singer-songwriter during the First World War, also, opera-singers such as Geraint Evans and later Delme Bryn-Jones found fame post World War II. The 1960s saw the rise of two distinctive Welsh acts, Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey, both of whom defined Welsh vocal styles for several generations, in more modern times there has been a thriving musical scene. Bands and artists which have gained popularity include acts such as Man, Budgie and these were followed by a wave of acts in the 1990s and early 21st century which produced a credible Welsh sound embraced by the public and the media press of Great Britain. Wales has a history of using music as a form of communication. As early as 1187, medieval chronicler Geraldus Cambrensis stated that the Welsh sang in as many parts as there were people, children would sing pancake songs on Shrove Tuesday and summer carols were connected to the festival of Calan Mai. For many years, Welsh folk music had been suppressed, due to the effects of the Act of Union, which promoted the English language, the church frowned on traditional music and dance, though folk tunes were sometimes used in hymns. The development of singing in Wales is closely tied with the Welsh Methodist revival of the late 18th century. The hymns were popularised by writers such as William Williams, while others were set to secular tunes or adopted Welsh ballad tunes. The appointment of Henry Mills as an overseer to the Welsh Methodist congregations in the 1780s saw a drive to improve singing throughout Wales. This saw the formation of musical societies and in the first half of the 19th century Musical primers. The publication of Llyfr Tonau Cynulleidfaol by John Roberts in 1859 provided congregations with a body of tunes that were less complex with unadorned harmonies. This collection began the practice of combining together to sing tunes from the book laid the foundation for the Cymanfa Ganu
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Cerdd Dant
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Cerdd Dant is the art of vocal improvisation over a given melody in Welsh musical tradition. It is an important competition in eisteddfodau, the singer or choir sings a counter melody over a harp melody. Cerdd Dant is a tradition of singing lyrics over a harp accompaniment. Traditional singers who sang in stately homes tended to sing in a Welsh language that had strict rules about metre, rhyme, Cerdd Dant is usually a soloist singer with a harp accompaniment, however, you can also have choirs with several harps. A common form is have a melody written down or a well known tune. When sung in a competition, there are rules about rhythm. When finishing a piece, the verse has to end on a perfect cadence that is close to the home key so that the ending of the song is clear. In Wales, during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, the poets and musicians were part of an all-embracing bardic system. The poets wrote verse of a nature, praising the exploits and virtues of their patrons. They also provided elegies, devotional poetry, commemorated the generous acts of their patrons, the art of poetry was learnt orally, i. e. examples were learnt by heart and exercises given as spoken instruction. Part of the poet or musicians craft was the ability to remember the important work of previous generations, one of the spurs to the active and generous patronage of poets must have been the prospect that ones name and deeds would live forever. In descending social order came, poet, harper, crwth player and it is a major element of the National Eisteddfod and an annual festival celebrating Cerdd Dant is held each year
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