THE WELSH EISTEDDFOD - A Tournament of the National Arts, from the Memoir of Carolyn T. Arnold

A misty morning in Wales. Photo by Carolyn T. Arnold

Think Edinburgh Fringe crossed with Glastonbury – and then think Wales – and you’ll be halfway to picturing the National Eisteddfod, the must-do event in the Welsh festival calendar. Here is a report by my husband’s Aunt Carolyn on the Eisteddfod, which she experienced at the end of her year as an exchange teacher in Wales in 1953.  She did not take any photos of the Eisteddfod.  You can see some images at:  http://www.eisteddfod.org.uk/english/about-us/

The Welsh Eisteddfod, a kind of tournament of the national arts, is the highlight of the year in Wales.  The roots of this ceremony are derived from very ancient times when bards wandered from village to village and from chieftain to chieftain singing their songs and recounting their stories. It means “a sitting” or “session”. The first authentic Eisteddfod was held at Caerwys and Cardigan in 1176.  The prizes are two chairs or thrones–one for the best performer on the harp, and the other for the best poet.
Various local Eisteddfods are held during the year all over Wales.  Successful competitors attend the National Ceremony [held during the first week of August in a different place each year, usually alternating between north and south.]
The National Eisteddfod begins early in the day with the Ceremony of Gorsedd.  Officials place a circle of stones in a meadow with the entrance facing east.  In the center is the altar stone.  The “druids” are elderly or middle-aged men robed in white.  The druids, bards, and novates (women) form a procession and march into the center of the circle.  Between the ranks strides a man in green bearing a double-handed sword.  Behind him comes the chief Druid who takes his place at the high altar.  Others group around the circle.
The Great Sword is unsheathed and one by one the druids advance and place their hands on it.  The chief Druid lifts his voice and cries in Welsh, “Is there peace?” He calls three times and three times a resounding shout comes from the crowd, “THERE IS PEACE!”  The chief Druid then delivers a long speech in Welsh.  He is followed by other speakers.
The ceremony is over, and the Eisteddfod is opened.  Bands play and the air of festivity heightens.  Competition begins for the performers.  (The judges are out of sight to maintain their impartiality.) Children under the age of 18 compete in the penillion http://www.music4musicians.com/penillion.htmsinging.  This is a difficult art as the harpist plays the melody while the vocalist sings the accompaniment.  In other words, the technique of modern singing is reversed.  The children who use the counterpoint prove what an extraordinary part music plays in ordinary homes in Wales. [To hear a lovely example of penillion singing, click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CLQ-KUOljM ]
The competition goes on for several days.  In the evening, concerts attract large crowds which are not competitive.  Some say the Eisteddfod is the voice of Wales.

Wales.  Valle Cruces Abbey near Langollen. Photo by Carolyn T. Arnold

Note:  Perhaps the original intrepid tourist was Carolyn Arnold, my husband’s aunt.  A single school teacher in Des Moines, she began traveling abroad when she was in her forties, beginning with a bicycling trip through Ireland in 1950.  She went on from there to spend a year as a Fulbright Exchange Teacher in Wales, to more trips to Europe and beyond, and eventually became a tour leader, including all her nieces and nephews (including my husband Art) on her travels.  When she retired from teaching, she wrote of her experiences in a memoir called Up and Down and Around the World with Carrie.  Today, as I read of her travels, I marvel at her spirit of adventure at a time when women did not have the independence they do today.
Read more of Aunt Carolyn’s travels:
ROLLING THROUGH IRELAND, July 29, 2013
CYMRU AM BYTH - Welcome to Wales, October 7, 2013