Posts filed under 'Literature'
The 25th of January is St Dwynwen Day here in Wales, Dwynwen being the patron saint of love and friendship, and our equivalent of St Valentine. As with all these old Welsh folk tales passed down by word of mouth over the centuries there are a number of versions. Here’s one.
Dwynwen was the prettiest of the Celtic King Brychan Brycheiniog’s 24 daughters (he also had 11 sons!). At one of the parties that King Brychan held regularly Dwynwen fell in love with a handsome prince called Maelon Dafodrill. However her father refused her permission to marry him as he’d arranged for her to marry another. Maelon was so angry that he raped Dwynwen and left her.
January 24th, 2008
In common with millions I enjoy a good TV period costume drama. I don’t know how many versions of “Pride and Prejudice” I’ve seen ( I’ve watched the 2005 film version at least three times - perhaps Keira Knightley in the role of Elizabeth had something to do with that!). ” Do you Dance Mr. Darcy?”….. “Not if I can help it!” My answer to Keira would have been rather different. But then of course I’m no Mr. Darcy
January 22nd, 2008
Wales Week USA is an annual event that takes place around March 1 – St. David’s Day. Wales Week is co-ordinated by the Welsh Assembly Government in New York in partnership with a wide variety of organisations, artists, writers and performers in both Wales and the USA. Click on the link to find out what’s on the program of events this year. www.walesweekusa.com
January 21st, 2008
I heard an interesting thing on the radio this morning. It was the Prince of Wales speaking Welsh. Now my first language is Welsh and it’s the language spoken by about half a million of us in Wales, but it was still a surprise to hear Charles speaking it. He was obviously reading it from a script but nonetheless his pronunciation was passable. Apparently, he’s purchased the Llwynywermwd estate located in Myddfai in Camarthenshire and in the short clip I heard, he talked of his love of the area and how much he’s looking forward to coming there to stay. As it happens Myddfai has a prominent place in Welsh folk lore, being associated with the tales of the “Physicians of Myddfai” (”Meddygon Myddfai” in Welsh) and “The Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach” ( Morwyn Llyn y Fan Fach) dating back to the 13th century that are worth recounting.
December 14th, 2007
A young cousin of mine recently introduced me to the Harry Potter phenomenon and since then I have rapidly worked my through the first few books in the series and watched a couple of the movies along the way. Needless to say I am now hooked. So when it came to planning
this years annual November familiarization trip decided that it was vital for the team to head north of the English border to Scotland’s Capital city. Although Edinburgh doesn’t feature in the Harry Potter movies as do so many sights closer to home (Gloucester Cathedral, Oxford’s colleges and many sights in London), it is in the city’s cafes and coffee shops where Joanne Rowling first began scribbling down her notes on the young wizard called Harry and the magical world of Hogwarts. We would take this opportunity to remind ourselves just why Edinburgh is so inspiring.
December 6th, 2007