"The Nineteenth century saw a great Springtime of Nations as the revolutions of 1848 saw new countries created the length and breadth of Europe. In our world today we are now seeing our own Spring Awakening with people and cultures that have long been dormant and subdued asserting their right to exist, their right to dream." Adam Price MP
Inspiring pictures, thx for posting them, Alan.
ReplyDeleteI'm Welsh on Mom's side, the Powells-- or, perhaps more appropriately, the ap Hywel clan. :) (We're trying to Celticize our names as much as possible, my cousin has already legally changed his surname to ap Hywel while my good friend recently went from Mellon to Ó Mealláin!)
It fills my heart with joy to see Welsh tradition and culture featured so prominently like this. It's part of the long-overdue resurgence of pride and cultural celebrations among the Gaels and the people of Cymru to rediscover our own identity outside of the Anglo-Saxon straitjacket imposed upon us for centuries.
That both Scotland and Cymru will likely soon become countries in their own right is sweet indeed, I'm just looking forward to Gaelic in both its branches (Irish and Scottish) as well as Cymraeg becoming important Western languages again in their own right.
I'm gradually trying to improve my own Cymraeg skills though being the tone-deaf plodder that I am, might take a few years.
Thankfully, my nieces and nephews have actually had part of their education conducted in the Welsh medium.
In fact, my son-- who is an engineer, and of both Welsh and Scottish Gaelic origin, living in very Celtic Ontario, Canada-- recently published one of his critical papers in German rather than English.
As some of your other posters have noted, one of the best ways to ensure the future of minority languages such as Cymraeg and Gaelic is to "spread the wealth" among the elite global Western languages to include not only English but also German and French in particular, reducing the pressure on the Celtic peoples to gravitate toward one language (especially English) in particular and drop our own tongues. German is already coming back strong as an international language for technical communications and the sciences, just as French has long been for the culinary arts as well as fashion and photography, so it's the perfect opportunity for peoples of Celtic background to both maximize our international exposure *and* preserve our minority tongues. When I can actually speak decent Cymraeg myself, I plan to move in the same direction.
Dymuniadau gorau,
Owain