|
Gorseth
Gorsedd Cymru (), or simply the Gorsedd or the Orsedd ( cy, yr Orsedd), is a society of Welsh-language poets, writers, musicians and others who have contributed to the Welsh language and to public life in Wales. Its aim is to honour such individuals and help develop and promote their fields in addition to maintaining relationships with other Celtic nations and Y Wladfa. The Gorsedd is most prominent at the National Eisteddfod of Wales where it is responsible for the main ceremonies held. Name The word ''gorsedd'' (plural ''gorseddau'') means "throne" in Welsh. Equivalent terms exist in Cornish (''gorsedh'') and Breton (''goursez''). When the term is used without qualification, it generally refers to the national ''Gorsedd'' of Wales, namely ''Gorsedd Cymru''. Note that when referred to as simply "the Gorsedd" in Welsh, the initial g is dropped due to soft mutation, resulting in ''yr Orsedd''. Other ''gorseddau'' exist outside of Wales, such as the Cornish Gorsedh Kernow and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorsedh Kernow
Gorsedh Kernow (Cornish Gorsedd) is a non-political Cornish organisation, based in Cornwall, United Kingdom, which exists to maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall. It is based on the Welsh-based Gorsedd, which was founded by Iolo Morganwg in 1792. History The Gorsedh Kernow ( Gorsedd of Cornwall) was set up in 1928 at Boscawen-Un by Henry Jenner, one of the early proponents of Cornish language revival, who took the bardic name "Gwas Myghal", meaning "servant of Michael". He and twelve others (including Kitty Lee Jenner) were initiated by the Archdruid of Wales. It has been held every year since, except during World War II. 1,000 people have been Cornish bards, including Dame Alida Brittain, Ken George, R. Morton Nance, and Peter Berresford Ellis. After 1939 the Council of the Gorsedd of Cornwall approved additional regalia, and asked Francis Cargeeg to design and execute new regalia for the Grand Bard, the Deputy Grand Bard and the Secretary, and two headpieces for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celtic Revival
The Celtic Revival (also referred to as the Celtic Twilight) is a variety of movements and trends in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries that see a renewed interest in aspects of Celtic culture. Artists and writers drew on the traditions of Gaelic literature, Welsh-language literature, and so-called 'Celtic art'—what historians call Insular art (the Early Medieval style of Ireland and Britain). Although the revival was complex and multifaceted, occurring across many fields and in various countries in Northwest Europe, its best known incarnation is probably the Irish Literary Revival. Irish writers including William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, "AE" Russell, Edward Martyn, Alice Milligan and Edward Plunkett (Lord Dunsany) stimulated a new appreciation of traditional Irish literature and Irish poetry in the late 19th and early 20th century. In aspects the revival came to represent a reaction to modernisation. This is particularly true in Ireland, where the relationship betwee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bard
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities. With the decline of a living bardic tradition in the modern period, the term has loosened to mean a generic minstrel or author (especially a famous one). For example, William Shakespeare and Rabindranath Tagore are respectively known as "the Bard of Avon" (often simply "the Bard") and "the Bard of Bengal". Oxford Dictionary of English, s.v. ''bard'', n.1. In 16th-century Scotland, it turned into a derogatory term for an itinerant musician; nonetheless it was later romanticised by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). Etymology The English term ''bard'' is a loan word from the Celtic languages: Gaulish: ''bardo-'' ('bard, poet'), mga, bard and ('bard, poet'), wlm, bardd ('singer, poet'), Middle Breton: ''barz'' ('m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goursez Vreizh
Goursez Vreizh (officially Breudeuriezh Drouized, Barzhed hag Ovizion Breizh) is the national gorsedd of Brittany ("Breizh" in Breton). It often has delegates from the Welsh gorsedd and Gorsedh Kernow in Cornwall. The Breton organisation is itself based on the Welsh-based Gorsedd, which was founded by Iolo Morganwg in 1792. History Théodore Hersart de la Villemarqué (1815-1895) was the first Breton to be made an initiate by the Gorsedd of Wales. He took the bardic name Hersart Kervarker. He created a "Fraternity of the Bards of Brittany" (Breuriez Breiz) but this did not lead to the creation of a Gorsedd. * 1838: La Villemarqué, Auguste Brizeux and Jean-François Le Gonidec are adopted as honorary members of the ''Cymdeithas Cymreigyddion y Fenny'' (Abergavenny Celtic Union). * 1843 (or possibly 1857, evidence is unclear): La Villemarqué founds the ''Breuriez-Breiz'' (Breton Brotherhood), whose activity is restricted to arts and linguistics, is founded. * 1867: A small Welsh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bardic Name
A bardic name (, ) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement. The Welsh term bardd ("poet") originally referred to the Welsh poets of the Middle Ages, who might be itinerant or attached to a noble household. Some of these medieval poets were known by a pseudonym, for example Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr ("Cynddelw the Master Poet"), fl. 1155–1200 and Iolo Goch ("Iolo the Red"), c. 1320 – c. 1398. The practice seems to have very ancient antecedents, as in the names of the presumably 6th century poets Talhaearn Tad Awen, Blwchfardd and Culfardd, mentioned by the Welsh historian Nennius alongside Taliesin and Aneirin, the last referred to as ''Aneurin Gwenithwawd'' ("Aneurin of the Corn Poetry"). The revival of bardic names became something of a conceit following the reinvention of medieval tradition by Iolo Morganwg in the 18th century. The usage has also extended to Breton and Cornish poetry. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Awen
Awen is a Welsh, Cornish and Breton word for " inspiration" (and typically poetic inspiration). In Welsh mythology, awen is the inspiration of the poets, or bards; or, in its personification, Awen is the inspirational muse of creative artists in general. The inspired individual (often a poet or a soothsayer) is described as an awenydd. Neo-Druids define awen as "flowing energy," or "a force that flows with the essence of life." In current usage, ''awen'' is sometimes ascribed to musicians and poets. It is also used as female given name. It appears in the third stanza of Hen Wlad fy Nhadau, the national anthem of Wales. Etymology ''Awen'' derives from the Indo-European root ''*-uel'', meaning 'to blow', and has the same root as the word ''awel'' meaning 'breeze' in Welsh and 'wind' or 'gale' in Cornish.Dr Ken George,''Gerlyver Meur'', Kesva an Taves Kernewek (Cornwall) 1993, p81. Historical attestation The first recorded attestation of the word occurs in Nennius' ''Histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ovates
In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovate (, ), are used as technical terms for ancient Celtic bards, prophets and philosophers. The terms correspond to a Proto-Celtic word which can be reconstructed as *''wātis''.Bernhard Maier, ''Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture'', trans. by Cyril Edwards (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1997), p. 278 .v. ''vates''Irish ' "prophet, seer". History of terminology The terminology discussed in this article relates to an Old Celtic word which can be reconstructed as *''wātis''. This word is not directly attested, but is known from renderings into Greek and Latin and from its descendants in later Celtic languages. ''Vates'' in English is a borrowing of a Latin noun :wikt:vates">''vātēs'' (), 'prophet, poet'. This Latin noun was either a cognate of Celtic *''wātis'' (whereby the two words were descended from a common Italo-Celtic origin),Michiel de Vaan, ''Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages'', Leiden Indo-Europ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Evans-Jones
Sir (Albert) Cynan Evans-Jones CBE (14 April 1895 – 26 January 1970), more commonly known within Wales by his bardic name of Cynan, was a Welsh war poet and dramatist. Early life Cynan was born in Pwllheli as Albert Evan Jones, the son of Richard Albert Jones and Hannah Jane (née Evans) his father was the proprietor of the Central Restaurant in Penlan Street, Pwllheli. He was educated at Pwllheli Grammar School and the University College of North Wales at Bangor, where he graduated in 1916. First World War On graduation Cynan joined the Welsh Student Company of the RAMC, serving in Salonika and France, initially as an ambulance man and then as the company's military chaplain. His wartime experience had a profound effect on his poetic works, to such an extent that Alan Llwyd claims that Cynan, not Hedd Wyn, is the premier Welsh war poet of the First World War. Hedd Wyn's poems relating to the war were written before he had enlisted and he was killed before he could recount hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carmarthen
Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, down from 15,854 in 2001, but gauged at 16,285 in 2019. It has a claim to be the oldest town in Wales – ''Old Carmarthen'' and ''New Carmarthen'' became one borough in 1546. It was the most populous borough in Wales in the 16th–18th centuries, described by William Camden as "chief citie of the country". Growth stagnated by the mid-19th century as new settlements developed in the South Wales Coalfield. History Early history When Britannia was a Roman province, Carmarthen was the civitas capital of the Demetae tribe, known as Moridunum ("Sea Fort"). It is possibly the oldest town in Wales, recorded by Ptolemy and in the Antonine Itinerary. The Roman fort is believed to date from about AD 75. A Roman coin hoard was found nearby in 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archdruid
Archdruid () is the title used by the presiding official of the Gorsedd. The Archdruid presides over the most important ceremonies at the National Eisteddfod of Wales including the Crowning of the Bard, the award of the and the Chairing of the Bard. Although Iolo Morganwg was the first to preside over the Gorsedd when the National Eisteddfod came into being, his successor David Griffith, under the bardic name "Clwydfardd", was the first to be known by the official title "Archdruid". The Archdruid's regalia, devised by the early revivers of the eisteddfod during the early 19th century, includes a crown, a sceptre, and a breastplate in the form of a torc. These were redesigned in 1896 by Hubert von Herkomer, to be made of gold and decorated with oak leaves, symbolising the sacred groves associated with druidry. (The Welsh word for "oak" is "derw" from which "druid" is thought to be derived.) A special ring of office was also introduced. The current sceptre has been in use since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Druid
A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. While they were reported to have been literate, they are believed to have been prevented by doctrine from recording their knowledge in written form. Their beliefs and practices are attested in some detail by their contemporaries from other cultures, such as the Romans and the Greeks. The earliest known references to the druids date to the 4th century BCE. The oldest detailed description comes from Julius Caesar's ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (50s BCE). They were described by other Roman writers such as Cicero, Cicero (44) I.XVI.90. Tacitus, and Pliny the Elder. Following the Roman invasion of Gaul, the druid orders were suppressed by the Roman government under the 1st-century CE emperors Tiberius and Claudius, and had disappeare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Druidry
A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. While they were reported to have been literate, they are believed to have been prevented by doctrine from recording their knowledge in written form. Their beliefs and practices are attested in some detail by their contemporaries from other cultures, such as the Romans and the Greeks. The earliest known references to the druids date to the 4th century BCE. The oldest detailed description comes from Julius Caesar's ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (50s BCE). They were described by other Roman writers such as Cicero, Cicero (44) I.XVI.90. Tacitus, and Pliny the Elder. Following the Roman invasion of Gaul, the druid orders were suppressed by the Roman government under the 1st-century CE emperors Tiberius and Claudius, and had disappeare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
