Welsh Language News Or News in the Welsh Language
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Cambrian Heritage Society Newsletters. Language note: The original title of our newsletter was Newyddion Cymraeg, literally Welsh Language News or News in the Welsh Language. Since most of the newsletter has been and will continue to be written in the English language but about Welsh-related issues and events, a more correct title would be Newyddion Cymreig (meaning Welsh News, where the title means related to Wales in general rather than the language). Some of the issues below were published under the former and less correct title bu thave had their titles changed below for the sake of correctness. Newyddion Cymreig Cambrian Heritage Society Madison, wisconsin Christmas 2012 newsletter Vol. 18 # 2 Do something Welsh with your family this Christmas! Please join us for a fun, interactive, child-friendly performace of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” a short story by Dylan Thomas Performed by Michael O’Rourke Saturday, December 8th, 11:00am – 1:30pm Sequoya Library 4340 Tokay Blvd. Madison, WI Te Bach (cider & snacks) to follow. Call Trina Muich at 957-2961 for details. Welsh Weekend #7: Mark Your Calendars By:Mary Williams-Norton Seventh Welsh Weekend for Everyone (Seithfed Penwythnos Cymreig i Bawb) is scheduled for May 3, 4, and 5, 2013, in Appleton. Following the very successful model of the weekend this past May in Reedsburg, the event will begin with a supper and “pub night” at the recommended hotel, the Radisson Paper Valley in Appleton, on Friday night, May 3, continue with workshops, children’s activities, displays, supper, Noson Lawen, and awarding of the Eisteddfod Chair on May 4, and conclude with the State Gymanfa Ganu on Sunday afternoon, May 5. Memorial Presbyterian Church in Appleton will host the event. Workshops, supper May 4, Noson Lawen, and Gymanfa Ganu May 5 will be held there. MaryLou Opgenorth, chair of the local committee, is working hard to arrange an exciting visit. She will be recommending interesting places for participants to visit on Saturday morning, May 4, and compiling a list of Appleton’s many restaurants to visit for lunch that day before the workshops and other events at the church begin. Workshops will be available on Welsh foods, heritage, language, and music and between workshop sessions participants will be able to view a variety of displays on Welsh-related topics and enjoy a te bach. After a supper (prepared in part by food workshop participants), a lively Noson Lawen will provide entertainment with opportunities for audience participation. Come prepared to sing, play, recite, or just enjoy. There will be an Eisteddfod competition as part of the weekend. Because Appleton is in the heart of Wisconsin’s paper valley, the Eisteddfod theme is paper (papur). All who attend the weekend event are invited to write a poem of 50 lines or less or an essay of 750 words or less—yn Gymraegor in English--on that theme and submit it under a ffugenw (pen name). The prize will be this chair with small decorative pillow awarded with traditional pomp and ceremony! The State Gymanfa Ganu on May 5 at 2:30 p.m. will be directed by Mary Morris Mergenthal from Minneapolis. A te bach will follow the gymanfa ganu. Please mark your 2012 calendars and plan to attend the Seventh Welsh Weekend for Everyone with family and friends. As planning progresses, details will be available at http://www.ripon.edu/academics/faculty/nortonm/cymanfaoedd.html as well as in upcoming Cambrian Heritage Society newsletters. In the meantime, of course, think paper and begin your Eisteddfod entry! (More details about the Eisteddfod competition are available at a link on the web site given above.) Fun with Welsh(Hwyl efo Cymraeg): Game Show Question On a recently aired program of the ABC network Who Wants to Be a Millionaire game show, a Welsh language question appeared: What is the term in the Welsh language for “microwave oven”? Do you know? Check on another page of this newsletter for the correct answer, which was chosen by the contestant. 2012 Holiday Card Request! By :Mona Everett This article is appearing simultaneously in Ninnau & Y Drych. It is hard to believe, but it's that time of year again! Once again, the Briceville, TN Public Library is asking people to send holiday cards to the children of Briceville. Lynette Seeber, the librarian, puts them all in a basket and the children can each open one. If there is a little gift inside, the child keeps it, if there is money inside, it goes in the summer reading program fund. (You don't need to put anything in the card, though.) Lynette has all the cards they have received from all over, including Wales, in notebooks that she happily shows visitors. If you have a Welsh or coal mining connection and can include a short note to the children, that is really great, but all cards are gratefully received and mean a lot to the children. Briceville was settled by Welsh coal miners and was a real boom town in its day. Regular readers of Ninnau & Y Drych will have seen several articles about the Welsh coal-mining heritage of this area. There is also a wonderful website that showcases the many preservation activities regularly undertaken by the community. The Coal Creek Watershed Foundation http://www.coalcreekaml.com/ continues to work with school children to reclaim the creek for fish and also planted chestnut trees again. They have sponsored an Eisteddfod at the school for a couple years, too, and have preserved the Welsh church and much of the mining history of the area. The need is especially great this year. On a recent visit to Briceville, I was thrilled to hear that the funding for the new library had been approved and they hope to move in by next summer. Lynette graciously had asked all her 'regular donors' to direct their money to the building fund, but that has left her without funds to support her extra programs for the children, so she has been bearing most of those costs herself. She works very hard to help the children keep reading all year long and provides school supplies that they can just come in and take when they need them. For anyone traveling in the vicinity of Knoxville, I highly recommend stopping in Briceville— you will find a very gracious welcome and history lesson at the library, and I guarantee you will come away with a warm feeling for the dedication of people like Lynette! Here's the address: Briceville Public Library Children's Christmas Card Lynette Seeber, Library Director P.O. Box 361 Briceville, TN 37710 USA *Be sure to put 'Children's Christmas Card' on the envelope so Lynette doesn't open it. Fun with Welsh: Game Show Answer Answer: popty ping Welsh, like any language, evolves and generates new terms for new devices. The term “popty ping”, which is especially popular in South Wales, is the combination of popty, one of the words for oven yn Gymraeg, and a word that sounds like the sound the oven makes at the end of a cooking cycle. Onomatopoeia is used in Welsh as well as in English, apparently! There is also a more formal term—popty microdon—for the same device. Although this term tends to be used in North Wales more frequently, Welsh speakers in North Wales also think popty ping to be a great term. Medieval Wales and Its Borderlands Tour with UW Plans are underway for the 38th Medieval Study tour through the UW Continuing Education Department.. Next fall’s (2013) seminar focuses on the rich historical landscape, art and architecture of Wales and its Borderlands. The tentative itinerary includes visits to Chepstow, Tintern, Cardiff, Caerphilly, Kidwelly, St. David’s, Harlech, Caernarfon, Beaumaris, Conwy, St. Winifred’s Well, Valle Crucis, Abergavenny, Tretower, Ludlow, Stokesay, Great Chalfield, Hereford, Worcester, Tewkesbury, Shrewsbury, Malmesbury, Berkeley, Lacock, Bradford-on- Avon, Ewelme, and Oxford. Tour information available after February 1, 2013, but you can 'lock in' a space, with no money down, by contacting the Department. For more information please contact: Professor Jane T. Schulenburg: 608-262- 8663; email: [email protected]; 21 N. Park St., 7th floor, Madison, WI 53715. Caerphilly Castle Conway Castle “Our Robert” Does Society Proud! Caption: Robert Humphries and his newly- minted diploma. Robert recently completed his Master’s degree course in Celtic Studies through what was then called the University of Wales, Lampeter. The institution hassince changed to the University of Wales Trinity S aint David. Photo courtesy Robert Humphries. The Cambrian Heritage Society of Madison, WI, is justly proud of Board member, Robert Humphries. Not only did he graduate with his Master's degree in Celtic Studies from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David(pre viously called the University of Wales, Lampeter) this year, he was invited to speak at the prestigious NAASW CH (North American Association for the Study of Welsh Culture and History) conference, which washeld in Ba ngor, Gwynedd, from July 26-28. Robert and his wife, Jenafer, live in Spring Green with their two children, Rhiannon, 9, and Rhys, 3. Robert has become very interested in the history of the Welsh in Southwestern Wisconsin. His dissertation is titled:“Yn eu Hiaith eu Hunain”/ “In t heir own language”: the Settlement and Assimilation of the Welsh in Iowa County , Wisconsin 1840- 1920. At the NAASWCH conference, Robert spoke on the topic: “Free Speech, FreePress a byth Free Men”: t he Welsh Language and Political Identity in Wisconsin, 1860- 1920.” Robert was in excellent company, and presented along with scholars in many fields.