I gained 6% Welsh DNA this year. Well, not really. From the day I was able to vocalize what I was, I always said I was half Welsh and half English. My Mum is English. My Dad is Welsh. A 50/50 split made complete sense to me. It turns out that I am 56% Welsh and 15% English. I'm also Scottish and Irish. Despite the science, my ethic association won't change. However, it did get me thinking of what it means to be Welsh. I sometimes have an internal struggle with my ethnicity. I feel very Welsh but I don't speak the language except for the most basic words and phrases. In a country where the language is so revered as one of the threads that holds the culture together, it feels somewhat disrespectful to identify so strongly as Welsh. It was an interesting dynamic to grow up around family and family friends that spoke English as a second language or sometimes barely spoke English at all.
I write this post mostly for those of you who know very little, if anything at all, about Welsh culture. Most people are very familiar with English culture, and rightly so. England is a country steeped in history and tradition and I love to think that's where I get my passion for those two areas from -- it's in my blood. It has beautiful villages and countryside and is home to some of the most famous historical sites and people in the world. It truly is a magnificent country. I was born there. My Mum is from there. I love gravy. It's a done deal.
However, not many people know about Wales or who the Welsh are. The most common things I have said to me when I say Wales are, "Oh! Princess Diana!" (She was lovely but not Welsh) and "Tom Jones!" (He is Welsh but he isn't Wales). We are a nation of around three million people. We have our own language, Cymraeg (Welsh). We have over 600 castles, most of which were put there to subdue us. Our flag features a dragon and is therefore the best flag in the world. We are known as the Land of Song and our male voice choirs are to die for. We love our rugby but we won't talk about how our national team is doing this year. We are a resilient people. We are Celts. And that barely scratches the surface.
Growing up, I think I understood that being Welsh was a little different. This sounds silly but I used to read Horrible Histories growing up and some of the two groups that make up modern-day Englishmen and women, the Normans and the Saxons, had books named the Smashing Saxons and the Stormin' Normans. Pretty neutral and related to their conquests. Makes sense! Then, the book about the Celts was named Cut-throat Celts with a man on the front holding a dagger and skull. I remember thinking, even as a kid, "Wow. We were very angry and vicious". A sad first look at my heritage.
However, a great thing about growing up Welsh was living in a magical state of mind due to living in a magical land.
Growing up on Ynys Mon (Anglesey), you are aware that you are living on Druid land. I remember reading a story about Anglesey being one of the final areas in Britain that was conquered by the Romans. The legend goes that the Romans started to row across the Menai Straits and were greeted by the Druids, who were naked and casting spells towards them. The Romans said, "NOPE" and left. They did eventually get to Anglesey once they had destroyed the Druids, but our island held them off for a long time.
We are given tales of fairies as children and I was left gifts by the fairies (*ahem Mum...*) and the fairies wrote notes for me. I'd look for them in the garden and collect ornaments of them to decorate my room. We even have a picturesque area in Betws-y-Coed named the Fairy Glen. If it doesn't get more magical than that, nearly everyone lives near a castle. They are a huge part of our history, not always for good reason, but we have redefined them as something that makes us unique -- we have more castles per square mile than anywhere else in Europe! There is nothing more magical than living in a land known for magic men, with fairy legends, and castles everywhere you look. On top of that, at least in the north, we have mountains, waterfalls, beaches, standing stones, and forests. Perhaps the true magic is that we have pubs older than the United States...
Being Welsh for me was going to an English-speaking school but having to say "yma" instead of "here" when your name is called. It was learning in English but having to take Sali Mali books home to read. It was walking down the street and having people greet you and speak about your family and your Nana having to speak and translate for you. It was never having enough representation on television for a young girl to look up to and it was never learning enough about your history in school besides mining and slate quarries. I really struggled with not seeing people like me "doing things" in the world. It was hard enough to find global examples of successful Welsh people besides Catherine Zeta Jones, Tom Jones, and Anthony Hopkins, but even harder to find examples of successful people who were half Welsh and half English like me. Now there's a couple of examples in George North and Taron Egerton.
Here's what else growing up in Wales was for me. It was growing up in a quiet village that was endlessly safe. It was climbing up to the top of the swing set with my brother and seeing the Snowdonia mountain range on a clear day. It was trips to the beach on freezing days and coming home to hot tea. It was being surrounded by Celtic heritage in the form of crosses and jewelry that was bought for me by my Dad. It was spending summers with my Nana and waving to my "Uncle Harry" as his blue tractor went to the farm each day. It was stopping in every day to see my Nana's friends down the road who became my family -- Auntie Eirlys, Aunty Ann and Uncle Glyn. Uncle Glyn would be sat there every day reading the Daily Post and Auntie Ann would be boiling the kettle. It was everyone in town knowing your family and telling you how wonderful they are. It was being surrounded by GOOD good people. I treasure every single second of my early life there.
I think the saddest thing, besides Welsh history, is its lack of global awareness. Everyone knows England and Ireland and Scotland, but Wales seems to be underrepresented. It's a shame because we have a beautiful country and language, rich traditions, gorgeous nature, lovely warm people, and a lot of heart.
Did you know we have St. David's Day two weeks before St. Patrick's? Did you know that the titles Prince and Princess of Wales were taken from us and that we used to have our own royalty? Did you know that our National Eisteddfod (a festival of music, literature, and other performances) dates back to the 12th century and still goes on today? Did you know that there is a colony of Welsh speakers in Patagonia Argentina? Did you know that Mount Everest was named after Welshman Sir George Everest? Did you know that Menai Bridge, linking Anglesey to the mainland, was the first suspension bridge in the world built to hold traffic? Did you know Saint Patrick was actually from Wales? Did you know a Welsh mathematician invented the = sign? We have a lot of contributions!
I highly recommend taking a look at what Wales has to offer. There's a fantastic documentary on Wales here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfKYqjempvc&list=PL72jhKwankOgCdrNZXKeciurUHYov2k88 and a lovely page on Facebook dedicated to user photos of Anglesey here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/angleseyboy1
Wales is a very special place to me and I would love to see it gain awareness and for people to understand our culture. If you even have a molecule of Welsh heritage, I would love to share more about it with you. I love my 56% Welsh DNA. It makes me a perfect mix of my parents too. My Mum is 9% Welsh and my Dad is 90%. I am right there in the middle -- the perfect mathematical exemplification of two nations coming together and moving forward.
Go visit Wales when it is safe!
Comentários