#Hedd Wyn

[abercynonhistoryblog]

Abercynon's Links to Two Chaired Bards

With the National Eisteddfod taking place in Pontypridd I take a look at Abercynon's links to two celebrated poets.

With the National Eisteddfod taking place in Pontypridd, I thought I’d just highlight Abercynon’s links to two of Wales’ most noted bards. John James Williams Born in Taigwynion, Cardiganshire in 1869, Reverend John James Williams was just a child when his family moved to the Cynon Valley. Settling initially in Penrhiwceiber the family then moved to Ynysybwl where they joined Tabernacle…

[aescheretalks]

Nid oes gennym hawl ar ddim byd,

Ond ar yr hen ddaear wyw;

A honno sy'n anhrefn i gyd

Yng nghanol gogoniant Duw

We have no claim on anything save

This old earth's withered façade,

And the things that come apart in chaos

Amid the glory of God.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Eisteddfod Chairs: Pick Your Winner!

It's almost June! Nearly time to reveal the 2023 Chair! So come, gather round Tumblrs, let me tell you of the furniture-based customs of my people

So Wales has been celebrating Eisteddfodau (festivals of poetry, music, and disco dancing), in some form or another, since at least the 1100s, when Lord Rhys of Dinefwr had one all formal-like and made it into a big fun party and that. The word basically means 'sitting place', and probably refers to the way people in summer would gather round the twmpath in the village to listen to bards that passed through and drink mead and shout 'hurrah!' a lot. Amazingly, this is not where the Chair Thing comes from.

Part of Welsh history is the Bardic Age, and it was custom for bards to travel the country and visit the courts of assorted gentry types (also normal people's houses and taverns and twmpaths but let's stay on topic) and play for them. If the lord paid well, great; if not, the bard would write a Super Mean Song about them and sing it everywhere, so they were pretty well treated.

But if they were particularly good, rather than making them play for the WHOLE meal, the lord would offer them a chair at the table to join in the feast as a guest, rather than a worker, and THAT is where the Chair Thing comes from.

Anyway that's preamble to say that every year in the biggest Eisteddfod of all - the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol - the highest honour awarded goes to the Prifardd - the bard who writes the winning cywydd (super complex Welsh poetry WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO EXPLAIN ALL OF THIS). And the prize for writing the winning cywydd is that you are awarded, you guessed it, the Chair.

Now these Chairs (capital C, please, we like a bit of Fantasy Novel Capitalisation and for this cultural reason I will never understand people who complain about it) are unique. They are thrones. They are carved each year by one chosen carpenter, who crafts a one-of-a-kind Chair with symbolism and that, never to be replicated. They usually have the year carved on, but otherwise, they vary wildly in aesthetic and symbolism. In a No Award year (because Eisteddfod judges don't subscribe to the Western idea that there HAS to be a first, second and third place; if no one is good enough there is no award, and I have seen choir competitions for seven year olds where there was no first or third place but there were two choirs in joint second), the Chair is sent back to the carpenter who carved it, and they get to keep it. In a year where the bard died before the ceremony, it is draped in black, and given to next of kin.

(That has only happened once. RIP Hedd Wyn, 1887-1917. Also the only reproduced Chair; the original, known as the Gadair Ddu (the Black Chair) is on display in his family home, but a 3D printed replica has been made for display by Amgueddfa Cymru)

BUT THEREFORE a big part of Eisteddfod fun is seeing what the Chair will look like this year. Traditional ones, see, we tend to think look like variants of this:

(Apologies for the substandard attempts at alt-text; I have no clue how to describe these properly)

This one is from 1896. The phrase "Y gwir yn erbyn y byd" means "The truth against the world", and was included in a lot of old ones. Modern ones tend to incorporate the druidic symbol for awen ("poetic inspriation") instead. Some of these incidentally turn up in lil' chapels and that about the country.

But actually even the old ones were mad different, look; clockwise from top left, these are y Gadair Ddu (1917), 1876, 1926 (when the carpenter was Chinese and enjoyed the cultural fusion), and 1908.

Still the same theme, though, but in the modern day the carpenters are all off the shits! They're all over the place! Fuck the rules! And I have Opinions.

Category: I See What You Did There

SYMBOLISM!!! 2011 is a pit wheel from Wrexham's mining past! 2013 is the head of a harp, from Denbighshire's cultural harp-making past! 2017 is fish, from Anglesey's maritime present! Fantastic. Love it.

Best in category: 2017. Why does Anglesey's have so many eyes on the fish? We don't know. Wylfa B protestors reportedly furious.

Category: The Modern Throne

TALL!!! That silhouette! That height!! They have the range, darling! Christ knows 2016 doesn't have anything else going for it! Shout out to the Conwy river on 2019, the different woods from the forests of Maldwyn for 2015, and the red kite symbolism for Ceredigion in 2022 (the spiritual home of the bird, where the species was first saved).

Best in category: 2019, Conwy. I like the bridge and the river lines and the water effect on the front of the seat it's just so pretty.

Category: That's Just A Chair

(I am actually friends with the Prifardd who won 2018 at the bottom there :D )

WHAT ARE RULES WE JUST WANT FUNCTIONAL CHAIRS. Man even so 2014 was fucking ugly. You could have 2018 in your house. Around your table, like. Even 2012 has a sort of IKEA vibe that's boring but palatable. 2014 is only coming in the house under sufferance.

Best in Category: 2018, easy, and not just because it's the one I'm most likely to get to sit in one day. It's pretty.

Category: NO GODS NO CHAIRS NO MASTERS

WHAT

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED IN 2010

BRO I DO NOT THINK YOU TRIED

Best in Category: OBVIOUSLY 2021 I COULD PHYSICALLY MAKE 2010 MYSELF

[lemuriiaart]

🐇 TRADITIONAL TRIO : Aoife, Eira & Siobhán

Aoife (left) and Siobhán (right) are in traditional Irish clothing, while Eira (middle) is in the traditional Welsh costume.

The two verses of the poem read from top left to bottom right, the top being in a rough Irish translation, while the bottom is in Welsh, it's original language. Written by Hedd Wyn, the English translation of the verse is:

"Like the old songs they left behind,

We hung our harps in the willows again."

[georgieluz]

Juleeees, how are you? I'll go with 4, 10, 11, 21 and 28 for the "not from the US" ask set

jess! hello!! i'm not too bad, thanks! just got back from braving the rain to buy christmas jumpers (it's christmas jumper weekend at work on friday so had to go searching), how about you?

4. favourite dish specific for your country?

probably glamorgan sausage, which isn't made of actual sausage. it's made of cheese, but it's a vegetarian alternative to normal sausage. but yeah, usually made with cheese and leek.

i do also love a slice of bara brith, but specifically the one served in the restaurant at my workplace!

if we wanna be really basic then welshcakes are always a good shout and i have one every friday with a cup of tea in work!

crempogs are soo very good also!!

10. most enjoyable swear word in your native language?

ooh okay so i don't know if it would necessarily be the most enjoyable but it's the one my friends and i used most whilst growing up and that's "cachau bant" which is a way of saying "fuck off" but if you translate it literally it's "shit away".. and then i can't not include "cont" which i imagine you can guess the translation of (we use it affectionately here though, so it's more like "alright, cont?" or "shwmae cont" when you greet your friend)

11. favourite native writer/poet?

okay, it's probably very predictable to choose dylan thomas but i do love his poems and his poetry is loved for good reason! he didn't write in cymraeg, only saesneg, but he's welsh and wrote about wales and life here, and i think the fact that he wrote in english and not welsh speaks a lot about the journey our language unfortunately went on

also r.s thomas' poems about wales are always interesting to study, in particular welsh history, which has the ending lines:

when we have finished quarrelling for crumbs under the table, or gnawing the bones of a dead culture, we will arise and greet each other in a new dawn

his other poems a welsh testament, welsh landscape, the village and sorry are all really interesting as well!

niall griffiths is a great welsh author too. his books set in aberystwyth are really really good!

oh and richard king!! both his books about music and his oral histories of wales book are 11/10!!

menna gallie's work is awesome as well, i loved 'the small mine' which explores how a fictional welsh village comes together after a mining tragedy. it focuses a lot on how women in the community deal with the loss. her other books are great too and she has a really witty writing style that i enjoy a lot

a few others: owen sheers, gillian clarke and sarah waters!

not quite relevant, but still worth a mention, is the story of the soldier-poet known as hedd wyn and the eisteddfodd of 1917!

21. if you could send two things from your country into space, what would they be?

ohhhh this is really hard.. does it have to be an object or can it be like just a welsh tradition or?? oH WAIT I KNOW i'd send mari lwyd up there!!! to maybe freak out all the aliens. it's one of my favourite welsh customs and traditions for christmas! this is what it looks like:

28. does your country have a lot of lakes, mountains, rivers? do you have favourites?

oh boy! it does indeed... if you wanna know how many mountains wales has, it's better to just look at this topography map

there aren't any genuinely flat areas of wales. my high school was near the top of a mountain, and my house growing up was halfway up the same one. we hated having to walk up it every morning, and yet, we still went down to the village on our lunch hour. maybe that's why we were all fucking tiny bc we trekked up a mountain twice a day.

here's one of our rivers, which we similarly have a fuck ton of

so yeah. a shit ton of rivers and a shit ton of mountains. my favourite mountains are the brecon beacons bc we used to go there so much when i was growing up. it's like a tradition for welsh people to climb there and hike there as soon as the weather gets milder!

oh wow, sorry this was SOOOO long but it was fun to talk about these things so thank you for asking!!

for this ask game!

[godeaterazathoth]

OUTDATED

More Hedd Wyn Lore time yay

Background

Hedd Wyn belongs to an ethnic group that resides in the mountains called Albion they used to be more prolific but due to persecution only one group remains, the Llewelyn clan, who are said to be dissidents of a great folk hero who guided the remaining people to the safety of the mountains. The land they call home is an old fort they converted into a village they call it Meirionnydd, but in the surrounding countries call it stormvail. The people mostly raise mountain live stock and hunt to survive. Albions are known for their black smithing, their swords never snap or even chip, they are also known for their tapestry’s, however they are mostly known for their work as mercenaries. The men are organised under the clan head and travel for work in war. The woman remain in the village doing most of the home keeping. People in Albion follow a different denomination of the church than most following a more Unitarian world view.

Family

Hedd Wyn’s father was a man named Dic Siôn Dafydd a man hated by Albion for turning his back on the people and culture for his own material wealth, Hedd Wyn’s mother is a woman named Rowena a madwoman, Dafydd’s proposal to Rowena was rejected by her family but he convinced her to run away with him to live in luxury, Rowena’s uncle sent a party to find them but they only found Rowena after a year living in a brothel with the infant Hedd Wyn after Dafydd ditched her when he found out she was pregnant. Upon returning to Albion Rowena was remarried to a man named Macsen Wledig, who already had one daughter named Elen. Rowena had gone mad with grief by this point blaming Hedd Wyn for Dafydd leaving her due to Hedd Wyn being born both male and female, Rowena believed her to be a demon and abused and neglected her never even giving her a name, Macsen hardly stopped this he and many other looked down on Hedd Wyn due to who her father was. Rowena eventually calmed down when she had a child with Macsen another daughter named Rhiannon.

Rowena’s uncle was the clan’s leader Gwrtheyrn, related through his sister Mirika. All of Gwrtheyrn’s sons died in battle and of Mirika’s children only Rowena survived until adulthood. Mirika was an important religious leader in the Albion Church and had as much power as her brother even in her old age.

Childhood

Upon Hedd Wyn’s birth Mirika had a vision of Albion being saved by a white dragon with bright eyes that pierced dark clouds, she was confused by this dream, the dragon could not have been her brother because his symbol was a silver boar, her questions went unanswered until the birth of Rhiannon where she met the unnamed child for the first time (when Hedd Wyn was 5), before this Hedd Wyn was raised like a servant and treated like an animal sleeping with the animals in the barn being fed leftovers and being ignored, however she never complained or showed any anger to her mother or even her step sister who mocked her for her body, Hedd Wyn’s eyes always stayed bright.

Upon seeing Hedd Wyn’s white hair and bright eyes Mirika knew she was the white dragon, she adopted Hedd Wyn as her own giving her her name, a symbol of her prophecy. Many were sceptical that the child of a traitor could bring any good but believed in Mirika’s judgment. Now living with Mirika Hedd Wyn caught the eye of her gate uncle Gwrtheyrn, who began teaching her sword play and letting her sit in on his councils, he began treating her as is she were is own personally teaching her swordsmanship. She received a vast education, politics, economics, literature recourse management, music, weaving hunting, anything Mirika thought would be useful. When Hedd wyn was 11 she contracted Tuberculosis. She decided not to tell anyone so Mirika wouldn’t worry she learned how to treat it by herself. Around here she found a young boy being raised by bandits Mirika decides to take him in as Hedd Wyn’s shadow naming him Blaidd.

Before the story

When Hedd Wyn was 15 Mirika passed away, Hedd Wyn was the one who to perform the funeral rights. After Gwrtheyrn adopted her and gave her his family name Llewelyn, At this point the people fully accepted Hedd Wyn, however Macsen and his supporters didn’t accept her, (Macsen was the only other person who could inherit from Gwrtheyrn) so to prove herself to them, she left Albion to kill Dafydd, taking Blaidd with her.

Prologue

Hedd Wyn and Tori were passing through on the day of the festival while exploring she saw a drunk man assaulting a woman and child she made her way through the crowd when Leon got involved then Chevalier got involved but before anyone could do anything Hedd Wyn punched the guy across the town square for putting a woman and child in Danger, this is what caught a certain minister’s attention.

Bonus!!!!

Hedd Wyn’s opinion on all the boys

Chevalier: ever since she saw him kill those assassins she’s been spellbound, Mirika told her she should pick a man that can dice up another man well, she sees him as the moon, a bright light in the dark, she points out that he is very human due to having ambition. She thinks he’s cute when he’s sleeping in the morning admires his conviction, she gave him an endearing nickname ‘Lia’.

Leon: Hedd Wyn’s casual with everyone even more so when it comes to Leon, in some ways he reminds her of her own brother Bran, as they are similar in temperament.

Luke: most of the relationship is one sided due to her reminding him of his sister, they both faced neglect from their mothers, Hedd Wyn was never close with her sisters, but she likes his chill vibes.

Yves: to Hedd Wyn he’s a girl and so she treats him like a girl, even calling him princess, to Hedd Wyn it’s the role you take that determines if your male or female, this came from the fact she was raised like a boy. Also since she treats him like she would a girl, she is unusually respectful towards him.

Licht: she likes that he doesn’t talk too much but she also thinks he doesn’t talk enough, she always wants to know what he’s thinking, in her culture twins are a good sign because they symbolise a woman’s fertility .

Rio: she tried to keep her distance and have the boss deal with him but he kept pushing she always denies his advances but she tolerates him.

Nokto: she finds his flirtation annoying, it’s not that she has an issue with sleeping around but rather that he is always alone despite it, also for her it’s normal for women to have multiple partners but men usually only have one, so she thinks he’s disloyal.

Jin: she hates his flirting, especially when he comments on her small height or flat chest or her more masculine features, she will hit him if he goes too far, she thinks he’s too old to be acting like a child.

Kieth: there’s the obvious caution when dealing with him not only because of the secret but also due to the fact she can sense his alter, she’s always somewhat on edge when he’s around always gauging him for small changes in personality.

Gilbert: he sets off all her warnings, every instinct in her body tells her to run (she can sense the yandere) when forced to be near him her sword is always close and she checks all her exits

Sariel: she hates lessons and his way of her doing her job, she’d rather watch from the shadows than parade around as someone she isn’t and attract unwanted attention.

Clavis: she called him ugly to his face

Silvio: he causes nothing but trouble so she avoids him like the plague, she thinks he has too much jewellery on, an obnoxious amount of jewellery.

Trivia

Blood type O

She is 16-18 years old

The stars in her eyes are a symbolic representation of her drive, not the actual shape of her eyes.

Her birthday is on January 1st.

Hedd Wyn still suffers from Tuberculosis, she occasionally has coughing fits and once a year she gets bedridden, Blaidd is the only other person who knows.

She still lives in a barn with her families animals, she actually enjoys being there.

Her golden earring was something she bought on campaign, Blaidd has the other one

She doesn’t like being touched much she’ll only let certain people touch her

Her clothes are practical and mostly handmade, she tans her own leather weaves or buys the best fabric and has multiple coverings for different weather.

She is trained in smithing and makes her own weapons

Her sword was a gift from Gwrtheyrn, it’s an heirloom

The ribbons on her are cultural, young girls give them to warriors going to war as a good luck charm, Hedd Wyn is very.

She doesn’t like to waste food and will eat anything given to her, even Clavis’s ‘cooking’

When she was 4 she got ran over with a horse, she was fine

She enjoys hunting

Her handwriting is like a child’s, you can tell a lot of effort was put into making it legible, so it’s bigger than needed and all capitalised, it takes her twice as long to write anything

When she’s drunk her cute side comes out, she falls in and out of consciousness and blurts out all her secrets.

She invited her own sword style, it has a special move called the water fell dance, it can cut an enemy to peace’s before they even notice

She doesn’t have any food she won’t eat but she isn’t a fan of sweet things

She loves spicy food

She prepares her own food from hunting it to preserving the leftovers

She doesn’t sleep in her bed, she’ll sleep on the sofa, floor even on the roof, back home she slept on a pile of hay

[wildlife17love]

Oregano Oil Antibiotic

[urbanhermit]

If you want historical fiction & not a biography, then read ‘Francis Ledwidge: Song of the Blackbird’ (2000) by Elizabeth Cassidy Olson. Elizabeth definitely kissed the Blarney Stone, her story is full of malarkey, meaningless nonsense. Or the little people rewrote her work. Elizabeth is the daughter of Thomas Cassidy born in Ireland. His uncle, the object of her book, was Francis (Frank) Ledwidge, the Poet Laureate of Ireland in the early 20th-Century. Her father related stories on Ledwidge which are the basis of the book. She ‘researched in Ireland & in local archives’, Elizabeth is a retired English school teacher. She writes a book which made me fall in love with Francis Ledwidge, oh but if it were true. His mother did not die when he was a child (his father died when he was 5 y/o). His 2 siblings also did not die when he was a child. Francis was the 8th of 9 children, & he was close with his younger brother. He never traveled to the US to live with his mother’s sister ‘Nan’ & her family. And he never met Lord Edward Drax Dunsany on the return voyage, but their close relationship developed after meeting in Ireland. Elizabeth tells a beautiful story. I just wish it was not imbedded with fiction. She made me fall in love with her ancestor Francis Ledwidge. I have ordered two other biographies today on Francis Ledwidge: - ‘Eire’s WWI Poet: F E Ledwidge’ by Miriam Kilmurry, MA [her dissertation] - ‘Soldier’s Heart: Francis Ledwidge at War’ by Frank Ledwidge [great-nephew of Francis. A barrister & former British military intelligence officer. Who served in the Balkans, Iraq & Afghanistan.] Lance Corporal Francis Ledwidge died in the 3rd Battle of Ypres, Belgium, on the same day as the Welsh poet Private Ellis Humphrey Evans – better known as Hedd Wyn. Francis was killed by an exploding shell during the campaign, in July 1917. He was just a few weeks shy of his 30th birthday. His mother would die in 1923. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnPy9smJm6s/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thesecretsocietyofafailedyouth]

Rhyfel

Gwae fi fy myw mewn oes mor ddreng,

A Duw ar drai ar orwel pell;

O’i ôl mae dyn, yn deyrn a gwreng,

Yn codi ei awdurdod hell.

Pan deimlodd fyned ymaith Dduw

Cyfododd gledd i ladd ei frawd;

Mae sŵn yr ymladd ar ein clyw,

A’i gysgod ar fythynnod tlawd.

Mae’r hen delynau genid gynt,

Ynghrog ar gangau’r helyg draw,

A gwaedd y bechgyn lond y gwynt,

A’u gwaed yn gymysg efo’r glaw.

~ Hedd Wyn (1918)

[breuddwydcymraeg]

Rhyfel gan Hedd Wyn

“Gwae fi fy myw mewn oes mor ddreng,

A Duw ar drai ar orwel pell;

O'i ôl mae dyn, yn deyrn a gwreng,

Yn codi ei awdurdod hell.

Pan deimlodd fyned ymaith Dduw

Cyfododd gledd i ladd ei frawd;

Mae sŵn yr ymladd ar ein clyw,

A'i gysgod ar fythynnod tlawd.

Mae'r hen delynau genid gynt

Yng nghrog ar gangau'r helyg draw,

A gwaedd y bechgyn lond y gwynt,

A'u gwaed yn gymyg efo'r glaw.”

Translation:

“Alas, this is an age so mean

That everyman is made a Lord,

For all authority's absurd

When God himself fades from the scene.

As quick as God is shown the door

Out come the cannons and the sword:

Hate on hate on brother poured

And scored the deepest on the poor.

The harps that once could help our pain

Hang silent, to the willows pinned.

The cry of battle fills the wind

And blood of lads--it falls like rain.”

Original- Hedd Wyn, Poetic Translation- Louis Flint Ceci

[hypable]

5 awesome movies set in Wales to watch this St. David's Day

We've already celebrated some of our favorite Welsh actors here on Hypable. Now, we're sharing five awesome movies set in Wales in honor of St. David's Day.

[mariocki]

Sand portrait of Hedd Wyn (Ellis Humphrey Evans, 1887 - 1917) on the beach at Colwyn Bay today.

From the ITV site:

"The faces of more than 30 British service people who died during World War One have been etched into the sand at a number of beaches to commemorate the centenary of the Armistice.

The portraits, part of filmmaker Danny Boyle’s UK-wide 'Pages of the Sea' project, were drawn into the sand and then washed away by the tide."

(https://www.itv.com/news/2018-11-11/armistice-day-sand-portraits-drawn-on-beaches-across-uk/)

[bookjotter6865]

A Poem by Hedd Wyn

A Poem by Hedd Wyn

We commence the first week of Reading Wales 2022 with a poem written by the Welsh-language poet Hedd Wyn To mark Saint David’s Day and the start of Dewithon 2022, I share the moving poem Rhyfel (War) in both English and Welsh. It is one of Hedd Wyn’s best known and most frequently quoted works in which he interweaves ideas about faith, music, class and conflict in a lament for the brutality and…

[alamutjones]

Why must I live in this grim age, When, to a far horizon, God Has ebbed away, and man, with rage, Now wields the sceptre and the rod?

Man raised his sword, once God had gone, To slay his brother, and the roar Of battlefields now casts upon Our homes the shadow of the war.

The harps to which we sang are hung, On willow boughs, and their refrain Drowned by the anguish of the young Whose blood is mingled with the rain.

Translation of Rhyfel (”War”) by Hedd Wyn. 

Hedd Wyn was awarded the Bard’s Chair at the National Eisteddfod of Wales (for a different poem) on September 6th 1917...but never stood to claim his prize, as he had been killed in action on July 31st, the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele/Third Ypres. The Chair was draped in black cloth and sent to his parents.

[tinknevertalks]

I hate my life. I was writing a post about englynion and strict meter Welsh verses and I PRESSED THE WRONG NOTIFICATION SO TUMBLR ATE IT! *Cries*

Let it be known that I bow down to anyone who writes englynion like R. Williams Parry, or to anyone who can write poems full of cynghaneddion (found out the term in English is 'chiming' because that's the sound the words make).

And now, the first of Parry's Englynion Coffa Hedd Wyn, because it is awe inspiring to me (and what I instantly think of when someone says the word englyn).

Y bardd trwn dan bridd tramor, - y dwylaw

Na ddidolir rhagor:

Y llygaid dwys dan ddwys ddôr,

Y llygaid na all agor.

And now, to bed, before Tumblr eats this post.

[lolaslifelessons]

Hedd Wyn Wild Oil of Oregano - Review - Benefits