Eisteddfod Puns

Helô Jan,

Dw i’n sefyll wrth giât. Dw i’n cerdded i fyny’r mynydd heddiw. Mae Cymru yn wlad o fryniau a mynyddoedd, ond mae hi hefyd yn wlad o gatiau! Cymaint o wahanol gatiau! Dw i’n mynd i ysgrifennu llyfr “Sut i agor gatiau”. Mae’r awyr yn llwyd ac mae hi’n bwrw glaw ond dw i’n hoffi cerdded yn y glaw. Mae hi’n heddychlon. Cerddodd dyn heibio. Dywedodd e yn siriol, “Bore da!” Gwenais i yn ôl. Dw i ddim yn deall. Dw i ddim yn siarad Cymraeg. Dw i’n wedi cyrraedd copa’r mynydd. Dw i’n estyn fy mreichiau ac yn troelli. Mae’r caeau gwyrdd yn ddiderfyn ac yn frith o ddefaid. Dw i’n teimlo llawenydd. Mae hi’n ddiwrnod perffaith.

Rwyt ti’n gwybod fy mod i’n dweud celwydd. Mae Cymru ar draws y cefnfor a dw i ddim yn gallu ddod. Ond dw i’n gallu freuddwydio.

Dw i’n cau fy llygaid. Dw i’n yno. A dw i’n siarad Cymraeg.

Cerdyn post neu e-bost / Postcard or e-mail – SSiW Online Eisteddfod (saysomethingin.com)

for Hedd Wyn, 1887-1917

Robert Graves met him once,
in the hills above Harlech,
the shepherd poet,
the awdl and the englyn in his blood
like the heft of the mountain
in the breeding of his flock.

In a letter from France, he writes
of poplars whispering, the sun going down
among the foliage like an angel of fire.
and flowers half hidden in leaves
growing in a spent shell.

‘Beauty is stronger than war.’
Yet he heard sorrow in the wind, foretold
blood in the rain reddening the fields
under the shadow of crows,
till he fell to his knees at Passchendaele,
grasping two fists-full of earth, a shell to the stomach
opening its scarlet blossom.

At the Eisteddfod they called his name three times,
his audience waiting to rise, thrilled,
to crown him, chair him,
to sing the hymn of peace,
not ‘the festival in tears and the poet in his grave’,
a black sheet placed across the empty chair.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi hapus folks Parti by Gwyn Thomas

"It is then a matter of little surprise that the Eisteddfod should impress the modern, enlightened spectator by its quaintness and crudeness; he finds it in striking contrast to the systemic, businesslike organisation, which in these days is applied to nearly all movements aiming at popular instruction"

Still a bit hangover from his first day on Eisteddfod in Tregaron, model-willem makes his way to the sandwich bar, ordering two sandwiches. He receives them both in a package made off carton, instead of the regular plastics. Walking back to his tent, he was greeted by a few other people that stayed at the campsite close to Eisteddfod, in Welsh of course. After having the sandwiches, he put on some nice clothes, ready to go to a smaller stage to speak there to some people who came here today.

“Bore da, ladies, gentlemen and others. How are we all doing today?” Willem began speaking on the stage as if it was nothing and just his regular thing and the crowd cheered.

“It is always great to be here at Eisteddfod and to be back in Wales. As we all know, Eisteddfod is a celebration of Wales and the Welsh language and culture and that’s something we all should protect. We have a unique culture, heritage and festivals and they should be expanded even more. But, sadly, I’m not going to talk about Welsh culture today, even though it’s one of my favourite things to talk about. I want to talk about Wales,” Willem grabbed the mic and started walking towards the front of the stage.

“Wales has always been a country that was in the shadows of England, but it always had its own ways of doing certain things. Our connection to England is strong and that’s a good thing, we cooperate on many issues and we rely on England for lots of things, but there are some things we need to do better. For instance, I live in Conwy, and I love it up there. I usually go by train to Cardiff or wherever I need to be because it’s a more eco-friendly way of travelling and you meet new people. But something that has been bothering me a lot is that if you want to go from Conwy, or Bangor towards this region or even to other places in South Wales, you can’t do it by train.” People were nodding and talking with each other, coming from all sorts of places across Wales to Tregaron for this festival.

“Or if you go by train, you have to go to England to get to South Wales, from the North. That’s why I want to ensure that we close the railway gap between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth, to let people travel within Wales from North to South and to get West Wales better connected to the rest of Wales and to England,” some people started cheering and clapping.

“We need people that fight for Wales in Westminster, we need people that will do whatever it takes to defend your ambitions, your ideas and your proble

The Eisteddfod has put up loads of content to listen to and view.

Here's a link to the playlists

It's a great opportunity to listen to lots of different accents.

I enjoyed these - more poets than you can shake a stick at ...

Mererid Hopwood interviews Mari George.

Mererid speaks with a nice southern Welsh accent.

Marged Tudur interviews music legend and poet Geraint Jarman.

I love Marged's Northern accent.

Also

Marged interviews fellow poet Rhys Iorwerth here.

The Eisteddfod is the biggest (traditional) arts festival in Wales, and Welsh poetry has the pride of place in this festival.

What do Europeans in general know about Eisteddfod, and is there an equivalent in your country where literature, music etc is celebrated, and especially poetry is the main highlight?