| The Welsh people are descended from antiquity;from dark,tempestous Iberian seafarers,who settled here over two thousand years before Christ,from the Bronze age Beaker Folk who brought their skills in working metal and making pottery,and from tall blond Celts with their fair skin and blue eyes,who were driven northwards from gaul by the Romans,Harried later by others invaders to English shores,the Celts held the mountains of Scotland and Wales,and the far distances of Cornwall and Brittany.With their dreams of fire and passion,their love of colour and vision,and their language,which made them a race apart,the Welsh,from an old teutonic word meaning "foreigner"called themselves the Cymry,"the brotherhood".From this melting-pot,rich with legend and mysticism was born the land of Wales,and the people we know as Welsh.All through the centuries English monarchs tried to conquer the land and put down its people,and the land was brought up in oppression,there are more castles per square mile in the country than in any other country in the world.In spite of the castles that loomed up,the bloodshed,the act of Parliment that stated Wales no longer existed as a seperate country,the Welsh refused to be conquered.If you cross the border,passed the the great dyke,built by King Offa of Mercia in the eighth century,which no Welshman could cross on pain of death,you will sense at once you are in a different land,Battles and sorrow there have been,and nearly every inch of its soil has been drenched in blood,where the Cymry have fought to preserve the freedom of their land and the sovereignty of its princes.But in spite of conformity and compromises,Wales remains free,and in mist covered mountains the figure of Arthur and his knights,or the spirit of Owain Glyndwr,hand on sword,wait to ride out once more to defend their country against the invader,and listens for the call to once again take up arms in the cause of their people.In ancient days,the tales of battles were sung around the fires telling of princes and chieftains,the bards would compose stories honouring them.So the history of Wales waschronicled and the exploits of great men and their deeds passed on,Today we are more realistic,but if we listen to the wind through the mountains,can we hear the harp singing,or imagine the flickering firelight and the sparks from the torches,throwing fleeting shadows into the darkness.This is the rightful setting for any account of Wales and its people. |
