The Eisteddfod
5 Aug
The Eisteddfod. What a festival. Even as an English person, who admittedly felt anxious on what I perceived as my presence being an imposition, I felt completely welcome and very much enjoyed the experience. My initial aim was to attend and find the stone circle, whilst also experiencing the Welsh music, art and poetry festival I had learnt so much about. However, it turned out to be such a deeper experience that, despite not getting a very good picture of the stone circle that was there (see down below), it was still one of my favorite visits to any place I have been to so far.
As can be seen here, the stone circle is obscured by the sound system and stacks of chairs that were in the process of being packed away. This was because, unfortunately, I had missed the ceremony of the bards that must have taken place earlier in the day before I arrived. This was a shame as I had been excited to experience the ceremony that has taken place all around Wales in the stone circles I have been visiting. However, this did not take away from the amazing time I ended up having despite missing it. One thing of note that my not be observable in the picture, is that the ‘stones’ that made up the circle were not in fact stone, but rather made of some other lighter material that I could not identify. This is significant as it makes one wonder about whether this will be the permanent location of the Gorsedd stone circle for Ceredigion, or if they will move the site and place some actual stones there. Even deeper still, will this affect the way those who live in Ceredigion engage with their heritage? Important questions such as this need to be explored further, and I hope to do so sometime.
As mentioned above, the stone circle ended up being the least exciting and enjoyable attraction of the day. After staying at Aberaeron the night before (and having a wonderful meal and enjoying the sunset) I messaged my friend and course mate Elis to see if he would like to join me for the Eisteddfod. Being from Aberfan, Elis is a Welshman who is very proud to be such, and his company was something I have enjoyed for the entire time knowing him and he made the Eisteddfod a singularly awesome experience; something I wouldn’t have gotten without him there. Reassuring me that even English people are welcome at the Eisteddfod, Elis helped me enter the arena, find out where we wanted to go and helped me get up the courage to order food and drink in English without feeling too out of place. Then, sat in front of the main stage with pint and pork roll in hand, he entertained me with singing along to the male voice choir that was performing and translated some of the verses for me. It impressed upon me how important singing and music is to Welsh heritage, as, even with the age gap between himself and the choir, he still knew all the words, which I am sure many more generations to come will also.
A shocking event also happened when we were walking around the festival. We found a small book stall and were perusing the selection when Elis nudged me and we turned around to see the first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford walking amongst the crowd. We watched as a camera crew followed him along as people came up to shake his hand and get pictures. I nudged Elis telling him to go up and ask for a picture and I would take it. Here is that picture.
One of my favorite pictures I had taken so far. It was lovely to see such a high ranking official of the Welsh government walking around and getting involved with people, something that I’m sure no English official would dare to do without a security team at their side.
So I had experienced Welsh food and drink, Welsh music, Welsh politics, and all that was left was for the Welsh art, something that also did not disappoint. This image down below is of some artwork by Natalia Dias from Cardiff, who won the gold medal for art and design this year. Dias was originally from Portugal, but was a student at Coleg Sir Gar, and in her work she celebrates the power of woman in relation to nature. These statues were breathtaking in the central area of the gallery, strikingly beautiful and ornate, both me and Elis marveled at the intricacy of them.
After having our fill of the festival (of which Swansea University was disappointingly lacking representation by the way), me and Elis headed back to the car park and both headed back to Swansea to go for a pint at our regular pub. Overall, the Eisteddfod was an experience that I would highly recommend to anyone who is interested in Welsh heritage, art, music or poetry. It was a wonderfully welcoming space with so many fascinating things to look at and interact with, even if you can’t speak Welsh. Of course, it does help!
