So, I will be preaching at a Church named St. David's next week......

.... it's St. David's Episcopal Church in South Yarmouth, MA

 It is named for  Saint Dafydd , the Patron Saint of Wales.


As I have thought about my impending visit to St. David's in South Yarmouth, I have mused upon the beauty of the Welsh language as it is spoken or sung.  I have not needed to understand the language in order to enjoy it  (although it would be lovely if I could speak some Welsh).

 Here are a few samples of singing in Welsh -  published here to give you goosebumps.


(1)  Gwahoddiad  ( In English "I hear Thy welcome voice").

https://youtu.be/b5mqR-ehY9s

(2)  The Welsh "National Anthem"  -  stirring indeed. Makes me teary eyed when they break into harmony.

https://youtu.be/0LFxK003nlA


(3)  "Myfanwy"   another tear-jerker

https://youtu.be/hNtn8B3zz8g

(4) "David of the White Rock"  (which I sang in English when I was in 5th Grade.  Even then it haunted me).

https://youtu.be/8lemqAXxFXE


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTES

(a)  Should you visit Brittany you would find many towns and villages which have names which could well be in Wales.   The Bretons and the Welsh have similar cultural, linguistic  and ethnic heritages. I was once at a Choral Concert in Roscoff,  Brittany.  When I closed my eyes and listened to the music I imagined that I was in Wales.

(b)  The Welsh language has survived in spite of the best efforts of Wales's English overlords to stamp it out for many centuries, right up until the mid 20th Century,

When you rob a people of their language, you also rob them of their history.

(c) When I asked my Mum why Welsh people were so disliked in our home City of Bristol (across the Severn Estuary from Wales)  she told me that "they" came to Bristol in the 1920/1930 depression and took "English jobs".

Such has been the complaint about every immigrant group --  "they are taking our jobs",

In this case the English residents of Bristol and the "immigrants" from Wales were each citizens of the same United Kingdom..  Go figure!


(d)  If all you know about Wales is based on the 1941 film "How Green Was My Family'  you need re-education.    The film itself is sentimental clap-trap.


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