Traditions & Customs

National Anthem

Here are the stirring lines of the Welsh National Anthem:

Crafts

Celtic Jewellery

Celtic Croft and varied shops still offer ranges of Celtic Jewellery, both from small independent manufacturers - one Scottish and One Irish. The jewellery is complemented with a range of pewter in traditional designs.

Jewellery is normally made to order, but Celtic Croft carries a large inventory.  You can call or visit the store to see the exciting range.

 Featured below are the Celtic Wedding bands, available in Silver and Gold.  These bands represent the highest quality workmanship

Each band is available in Sterling Silver, Gold and Platinum.  These classic designs are made from true Celtic Designs made in the Orkney Islands, off the North East coast of Scotland, and are some of the highest quality  available.  Each band is cast in  the desired style.

The National Welsh Museum

No other British museum claims such a dazzling range of displays on art, natural history and science. You can visit the spectacular exhibition on the creation of Wales, complete with animated Ice Age creatures and simulated Big Bang, discover one of the finest collections of art treasures in Europe.

The Welsh Museum of St Fagans

Wales’s wealth of tradition and culture is brought to life in one of Europe’s foremost open-air museums. Within a 100-acre parkland a unique collection of furnished re-erected buildings reflects the lifestyles of the past, both at home and at work from the nobleman in his Elizabethan mansion to the quarryman in his humble one-room cottage. Among the 30 buildings, there are cottages, farmhouses, a tollhouse, cockpit and chapel and even a Victorian school. Within the various working buildings craftsmen demonstrate their skills using traditional tools and equipment. They show working woollen and flour mills, a blacksmith's forge, and the saddler, cooper and wood turner's workshops. Cattle, sheep and poultry complete the rural scene. Recent popular acquisitions include a terrace of six cottages and a Victorian shop complex from the industrial valleys of South Wales. The most recent development is a Celtic village settlement where a primitive way of life is seen and experienced.

The Legend of the Lovespoon

The Welsh tradition of giving gifts of carved wooden spoons to loved ones to symbolise affection is a tradition which has its roots in centuries long past. In fact, the English expression –to go “spooning”- is believed to have its origins in this ancient Welsh custom.

It is sometimes thought that the love spoon represented an early type of engagement ring, or perhaps that the presentation and subsequent acceptance of the carved spoon at least confirmed the beginning of a serious courtship.

While there is much uncertainty about the exact history of the love spoon legend, it is generally widely accepted that certain designs incorporate specific meanings.

Here are a few of the spoon symbols and their significance:

¨ A Wheel: Willingness to work for a loved one.

¨ Keys, Keyholes My house is yours

¨ Single Heart My heart is yours

¨ Double Hearts We feel the same about each other

¨ Anchor Steadfastness or my love is safe with you or home to say

¨ Celtic Cross Faith or marriage

¨ Leaves Growing Love

¨ Bells Marriage

¨ Horse Shoe Good luck and happiness

¨ Barley Sugar Twist Derived from the rope theme carved by sailors

¨ Flowers Courtship

¨ Ball in Cage Captured love or No. of children desired or Years together

¨ Chain Links Captured love or No. of children desired or Years together

¨ Double Spoons The couple

¨ Triple Spoons The couple and hoped for family

The National Costume

The Welsh national costume evolved in Wales in the late 18^th century as a development of the costume worn in town and country. The typical female costume, as designed and made popular by lady Llanover, was made up of the following: Tallhat, made out of hard board with thin beaver fabric glued on to it, white cap, worn under the hat, made of cotton or muslin with long frilled lappets extending down the shoulders, bed gown, petticoat, small shawl, cloak, apron. The garments are made of Welsh flannel.

The precise origins of the Welsh Costume are unclear, but there is some evidence of the 17^th

and 18^th Centuries.

The Welsh lady’s hat was originally believed to have been low-crowned, similar to hats worn by men of the period, whereas the taller, more familiar hat became popular at a later date.

In the 19^th Century, it was recorded that women were wearing Welsh flannel with checks and stripes, this development could have been the first evidence of the Welsh Costume as we now know it.

By the end of the 19^th Century, fashion dictated colour and style, where skirts and blouses of cotton and silk replaced the old, flannel bed gown, the original bonnet, which had been worn under the hat, was replaced with lace under the hat itself. Lace was also added to the bodice and cuffs and a smaller apron were considered more fashionable.

The costume is usually worn by young girls throughout Wales on St David’s Day.

The Eisteddfod

On St David’s Day it is customary for schools, colleges and various Welsh Societies to hold an Eisteddfod. The Eisteddfod is a competitive festival of song, dance, music, drama and literature. The term “eisteddfod” is much older than the festival itself, it was originally used for any king in session, but was later restricted to a session of the bards held to discuss matters relating to their craft and to codify the regulation of their guild. These early eisteddfodau were not necessarily competitive.

The most coveted prize in the eisteddfod is the ceremonial chair. Why a chair? A thousand years ago in the courts of the independent Welsh kings and princes the official court poet had his seat or “chair” in the royal household. The first competitive eisteddfod is believed to have been held by Lord Rhys in his new castle in Cardigan in 1176. There were two chief contests –one was poetic, to test the skill of the bards in the traditional Welsh meters, the other was musical, open to minstrels and pipers of any nation.

The present form o the eisteddfod is a nineteenth century creation. Wales at time was country where the national language and culture lacked patronage because the property owning gentry had become Anglicised, so the medieval meeting of the bards called an eisteddfod was revived as a means of attracting patronage for Welsh cultural activity. At first competitions were confined to poetry composition and harp playing, but today choir singing, brass bands, acting, recitation, fiction writing, painting, cultural competition for writers, poets and musicians and much more is judged at an eisteddfod.

The ceremonies of this Eisteddfod are carried out by the Gorsedd of Bards, which is an association of people interested in Welsh literature and music. The members dress in white, blue or green robes according to their rank or order and elect from themselves a leader who is known as the Arch druid. This year’s Eisteddfod will be the turn of Llanelli, in SouthWest Wales to welcome the first Eisteddfod of the 21^st century.

Dancers, singers and choirs from every part of the world converge to take part in this global festival of music. This history event will be situated on the Waterfront Millennium Coastal Park, which is currently being re-developed with National Lottery Assistance. The main sponsor for the year 2000 Eisteddfod will be Carmarthenshire County Council.

Builth Wells High School Eisteddfod, Friday February 18^th 2000

Monday, February 7^th

Every year at BWHS, a festival called Eisteddfod takes place. This year it was on Friday February the 18^th 2000, in the sports hall of the school. Many categories were represented such as song, drama, music, and so on. The whole day, all the pupils confronted each other, in order to win a prize given by the headmaster. A few judges noted and judged them on their capacities and their performances on the stage in front of all the pupils of the High School who didn’t have any lessons during this festival. Eisteddfod consists of many disciplines, like plays, mimes, famous songs, poems in English, in French or in German and some extracts from classical music played by pupils. Two French students also participated by playing the violin and organ! It was a real pleasure to see and hear them and the Welsh students enjoyed it too…

Eisteddfod is really a big feast for BWHS and many other schools in Wales but it has also been a national festival since 1880 held annually alternately in North and South Wales.

Shrove Tuesday Customs

Like everywhere in Christendom it was the custom in Wales for people to go to Church on the morning of Shrove Tuesday to make their confession and to be absolved from their sins or ‘shriven’ before the start of Lent. In many places church bells would be rung to summon the faithful. In some place the custom of ringing the bell survived but only with different purpose –as a signal for pancakes to be put on the fire! Abstinence from rich food during the season of Lend remained a common observance in Wales and Shrove Tuesday was the day when pancakes were made to use up the last butter and fat in the kitchen.

On Shrove Tuesday it was the custom for children to go begging and singing for pancakes at the kitchen door. The rest of the day was a holiday and therefore a time for sports and games. The most popular was “the football match” , but played as a free-for-all without any rules to inhibit the fun! However there were two towns which stopped this game in 1838 because of the fighting which accompanied it.

In the evening, under cover of darkness, young men would also play a game with the Lenten Crock. This consisted of a hollowed turnip containing samples of the plain food of Lent such as bread, cabbage and leek. The crock would be placed on the windowsill of the house of a family who might be suspected of indulging in rich foods that were inappropriate for Lent. If any visitor is caught the rules of the game required him to clean the “best boots” of the house and before leaving he would be given a generous feast of pancakes.

Lent was recognised as a valuable time of preparation for Holy Week and the great Festival of Easter.

Bastien Pouvreau