Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Roger Lewis, Jasper Rees, and Welsh Twrcu!

Richard BurtonCover of Richard Burton



I want to thank Roger Lewis (who in my invincible ignorance had not heard of) for his review of Jasper Lewis’s  (who I have heard of) “Bred of Heaven”. Incidentally I do not read the Daily “We love Mussles”Mail, if I can help it, and had not read Uncl Roger’s review of  Iaspr’s book, only the assorted blogposts associated with it. However I have got Jasper’s book and it is a very good read. Is this the theory of unintended consequences? A guy not only writes a scathing review  of a work but demonises a whole language, so that people go out and get the book?

There are those who defend Lewis’s attack under the guise of the freedom of speech.

You could not call Roger Lewis a racist, because he is Welsh, and identifies with the nation (I think).

You could call him a “Cymraegthrope”?  Surely language is a part of Being rather like skin color?

Surely a Welsh speaker who grew up speaking the language from infancy (rather like Richard Burton) to be told that something that is part of their being is like something that is strangled and dying, is inappropriate as Willy Rushton (dead) describing German as sounding like “someone being sick on a 747” or  P J O’Rourke’s comment about French being a “wimpy language”. these 2 are (were) humorists, whilst Lewis is something more serious.

when Welsh joins the Dodo in extinction only history can tell (along with English), certainly not Roger Lewis, jasper Rees, or even me.

You cannot hide this type of bigotry under the freedom of speech like the case where it is ok for the KKK to burn a cross on a African American’s lawn! just aint right.

I Am quite surprised to find that many of my customers know about Wales and even the “beautiful language” a far cry from a “turkey being strangled”. One of my older customers who asked where I was from, and said “Cardiff” told me that the Welsh language was a precious thing “and must be saved” brought tears to this monolingual Welshman. If we can save rare animals so we can save languages.

My daughter is learning Welsh, and when we were last in Wales when to Urdd camp at Llangrannog. What Welsh needs is LLangrannog’s all over Wales. Just as much in Monmouth as in Cardigan.

That is the challenge.

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Sunday, August 7, 2011

National Pilgrimage to St David's 2012

at St. David's CathedralImage by bookish in north park via Flickr

In the Middle Ages people rarely travelled outside the confines of their own communities , the exceptions were for war, trade and pilgrimage. In Britain there were a numbers of places that were popular for pilgrimages. Canterbury (the tomb of St Thomas A Becket), Walsingham (a shrine dedicated to Our Lady and her home in Nazareth, and finally St David’s in Wales. And its St David’s shrine that I am interested in. in the 12th Century Pope Callistus proclaimed that “2 pilgrimages to St David’s equal one to Rome, and 3 equaled one to Jerusalem’. This made St David’s one of the most popular places of pilgrimage  and the least known. possibly because of the damage from the Reformation and the removal of the bishop’s residence to Camarthen, and the continuous protestantisation of Wales and its culture.

However that sad situation was reversed with the arrival of the Oxford Movement and the  Catholic revival in the Church in Wales, and folk started to go on pilgrimage again. In Wales Anglicans go to Walsingham and Penrhys to honour Our Lady, whilst Roman Catholics add Our Lady of the Taper (sic) in Cardigan. Yet I have not heard of a formal pilgrimage to St David’s one of the most important places of pilgrimage in Europe in the Middle Ages.

What I would like to do next year is to see a walking pilgrimage to St David’s next year very similar to those ones that go to Santiago De Compostella and Walsingham. I cannot see why this could not happen. It would be a great experience for all involved.

All we need is for it to happen.

If anyone would like to participate please contact me at michael.cridland@live.com or 00 620 339 1507. (mobile)

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