In honour of St David, the patron saint of Wales and his day which falls the first of March and is the chance for everyone to eat cawl and Welshcakes and of course the kids get to dress up in national dress.
A dodgy business this as this so called national dress was the brainchild of an overly romantic Victorian - Lady Charlotte Guest - sister to one of the most powerful industrial magnates of that era who, though she had some very good ideas about the preservation (and some might say, the invention) of Welsh culture, was never-the-less not fond enough of the Welsh to ensure that the workers of Merthyr Tydfil had clean water to drink let alone decent wages.
Sorry, the old Chartist blood in me just rising to the surface there. Moving on...
A dodgy business this as this so called national dress was the brainchild of an overly romantic Victorian - Lady Charlotte Guest - sister to one of the most powerful industrial magnates of that era who, though she had some very good ideas about the preservation (and some might say, the invention) of Welsh culture, was never-the-less not fond enough of the Welsh to ensure that the workers of Merthyr Tydfil had clean water to drink let alone decent wages.
Sorry, the old Chartist blood in me just rising to the surface there. Moving on...
One of the very best things about daughters is how adorable they look in national dress
And of course I was full of pride when all my girls won prizes for their art work
Rose came third in her class, Eden first and Lily second in theirs.
Eisteddfodau are all about competition, singing, poetry, art and recitation. It can be quite hard going sometimes hearing the same poem over and over again, but fortunately ours is a small school and we only have to hear each entry three times. Not bad considering that in some eisteddfodau the audience can be inflictd with ten renditions of the same poem or song...So just to give you a tiny taste you can see this short clip of Cofio Dewi - Remember David - an all round good bloke apparently.
Rose is in there somewhere...Happy St David's Day when it comes!
8 comments:
I think you'll find that was Lady Llanover, wife of Benjamin Hall and friend of Charlotte Guest who 'invented' the costume, and some would say that she was benevolent to the Dowlais workers especially in building the school but had no power over the workers of Merthyr.
Happy St Davids day to you too! See you tommorrow at church.
Those three young ladies look so charming, and they all sing so prettily, too! I used to know a fellow of Welsh extraction who introducted me to some wonderful LPs of men's choruses. I enjoyed them so much I have since downloaded some (love Men of Harlech!) from iTunes. I'm going to have to google cawl and Welsh cakes, though. Happy St. David's Day to you, too!
Thanks for the glimpse of this celebration. I particularly enjoyed your soap box ranting.
I think festivities are a nice way to keep sane through all this long winter, LOL!
Kids look happy and their costumes are wonderful - aw! Cakes! mmm!
Sian- It's good to keep the Welsh traditions alive. Your girls are so charming and pretty.
Just like mum.
Sian, your daughters look adorable in their national dress... I love all of the details...I can see a drawing in them.
To Be 6 Again
A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, observing his wife, looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off he asked what she'd like to have for her birthday.
'I'd like to be six again', she replied, still looking in the mirror.
On the morning of her birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Lucky Charms, and then took her to Six Flags theme park. What a day!
He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Monster roller coaster, everything there was.
Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down.
He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake.
Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite candy, M&M's. What a fabulous adventure!
Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted. He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, 'Well Dear, what was it like being six again?'
Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed. 'I meant my dress size, you idiot!!!!'
The moral of the story: Even when a man is listening, he is gonna get it wrong.
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