I was born in North America and raised with the 'GREAT MELTING POT' concept of the continent--what matters is not where we came from, but rather that we have made it HERE. The unfortunate aspect of this concept is that one's history begins at Ellis Island (or whatever point of entry one's family used). The preceding centuries (or millennia) bear little importance in the defining of who one is. I have come to reject the concept that my family history is only 150 years old and to replace it with an understanding that my family's history reaches back into the ancient Celtic peoples.
Why
Wales? My family's roots come from the Celtic people; the Irish, Cornish,
and especially from the Welsh. It is from the Welsh that I received
my family name and it is to Cymru that I look for my history, my culture,
my roots, my ancestral home. The Welsh have a word
hiraeth, (it lacks a literal translation into English)
that describes a concept of longing or missing. I believe that hiraeth
describes my needs and feelings about my history. It explains my
yearning to return to a place I've never been before but one which I have
always known.
Inherent in this yearning is a need to further "KNOW" the culture of my forebearers; the music, the art, the literature, and it's faith. To truely understand ones history one must be able to feel the throb of the heart beat of their people, a beat most easily felt within the arts.
WELSH ENGLYN
Englyn a thelyn a tha^n-ac afal
ac yfwyr mewn diddan
a gwin melys a chusan
dyn fain lwys, dyna fyw'n la^n.
(A Translation)
A poem, a harp, a fire-and an apple
and drinkers in merriness
and sweet wine and the kiss
of a slim pure girl, that's the fine life
My love for Wales/Cymru is not based on a concept of superiority, as if the Welsh are somehow better than other people; but rather, in the simple sense of this is who I am and who my forebearers were and I take pride in it. Mae gen i hiraeth am Cymru i awn!
The History and Culture of the Welsh People
A Great Weekly Newspaper,The County
Times
Excerpts
from Welsh Literature
Welsh Music in Midi Format
A Music Magazine,
Curiad
And,
if you like castles....
