In Welsh culture, an eisteddfod is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term eisteddfod, which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, according to Hywel Teifi Edwards, "sitting-together." Edwards further defines the earliest form of the eisteddfod as a competitive meeting between bards and minstrels, in which the winner was chosen by a noble or royal patron.Hywel Teifi Edwards (2015), The Eisteddfod, pages 5–6.
The first documented instance of such a literary festival and competition took place under the patronage of Prince Rhys ap Gruffudd of the House of Dinefwr at Cardigan Castle in 1176. However, with the Edwardian Conquest of Wales, the closing of the bardic schools, and the Anglicisation of the Welsh nobility, it fell into abeyance. The current format owes much to an 18th-century revival, first patronised and overseen by the London-based Gwyneddigion Society. It was later co-opted by , a secret society of poets, writers, and musicians founded by Iolo Morganwg, whose beliefs were "a compound of Christianity and Druidism, Philosophy and Mysticism."
Despite the Druidic influences and the demonstrably fictitious nature of Iolo Morganwg's doctrines, rituals, and ceremonies, both the and the eisteddfod revival were embraced and spread widely by Anglican and nonconformist clergy. The revival therefore proved enormously successful and is credited as one of the primary reasons for the continued survival of the Welsh language, Welsh literature, and Welsh culture after more than eight centuries of colonialism.
During his two 20th-century terms as Archdruid of , Albert Evans-Jones, whose bardic name was Cynan and who was a war poet and minister of the Presbyterian Church of Wales, created new rituals for both the and the eisteddfod which are based upon the Christian beliefs of the Welsh people rather than upon Modern Druidry. After watching the initiation of Rowan Williams into the at the 2002 National Eisteddfod, Marcus Tanner wrote that the rituals "seemed culled from the pages of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings."
Since its 18th-century revival, the eisteddfod tradition has been carried all over the world by the Welsh diaspora. Today's (plural form) and the National Eisteddfod of Wales in particular, are in equal parts a Renaissance fair, a Celtic festival, a musical festival, a literary festival, and "the supreme exhibition of the Welsh culture."
In some other countries, the term eisteddfod is used for performing arts competitions that have nothing to do with Welsh culture or the Welsh language. In other cases, however, the eisteddfod tradition has been adapted into other cultures as part of the ongoing fight to preserve endangered languages such as Irish, Cornish, Breton, Scottish Gaelic, Canadian Gaelic, Manx, Guernésiais, and Jèrriais.
Events
Proclamation As decreed by Iolo Morganwg during the late 18th century, each eisteddfod is proclaimed a year and a day prior to its opening day, by a herald from .
The proclamation is to read as follows, "When the year of Our Lord ----, and the period of the Gorsedd of the Bards of Britain within the summer solstice, after summons and invitation to all of Wales through the Gorsedd Trumpet, under warning of a year and a day, in sight and hearing of lords and commons and in the face of the sun, the eye of light, be it known that a Gorsedd and Eisteddfod will be held at the town of ----, where protections will be afforded to all who seek privilege, dignity, and license in Poetry and Minstrelsy... And thither shall come the Archdruid and the Gorsedd and others, Bards and Licensiates of the Privilege and Robe of the Bards of the Isle of Britain, there to hold judgment of Chair and Gorsedd on Music and Poetry concerning the muse, conduct, and learning of all that may come to seek the National Eisteddfod honours, according to the privilege and customs of the Gorsedd of Bards of the Isle of Britain: "Voice Against Resounding Voice Truth Against the World God and All Goodness."
The Maes
An eisteddfod is often held in a field or open central space, called the .
Historian Jan Morris described the National Eisteddfod "in full fig is rather like a military encampment. All its tents and pavilions are erected around a big central space, the , or Field, which is usually scuffed and slippery with mud by the end of the week."
Contests According to Morris, "the Eisteddfod is essentially competitive: there are competitions for , and , and male voice choirs, and poems in strict meter, and poems in free metre, and essays, and translations, and plays, and short stories." Also, according to Morris, "outside the , the Literary Tent, poets mutter couplets to themselves, or exchange bitter Bardic complaints."
However, the most important events at any eisteddfod are the chairing of the Bard who has written the best , a type of poem in strict meter, based on a title chosen by the judges, and the crowning of the Bard who has written the best , or poem in free verse, with a similarly predetermined title.
At the National Eisteddfod, the Archdruid of the Gorsedd reveals the identity of the winning poet after the (a trumpet) has sounded to the east, west, north, and south to symbolically call the people together from the four corners of Wales. The Gorsedd Prayer is then recited. Flanked by his fellow members of the Gorsedd, as well as the Herald, the Recorder and the Swordbearer, the Archdruid partially withdraws the Great Sword from its sheath three times, and asks, "?" (), to which the assembly replies, "" (). The Great Sword is then driven back into its sheath. "Green clad elves come dancing in", escorting a young local married woman, who presents the Horn of Plenty to the Archdruid and urges him to drink of the 'wine of welcome'. A young girl presents him with a basket of 'flowers from the land and soil of Wales' and a floral dance is performed.
The Archdruid then asks one of the judges to comment on the winning entry and explain the reasons why it was chosen. The Archdruid then announces that if the poet or writer whose , , or essay was submitted under a certain pen name is present, then he or she is to stand up.
In reality the poet has known for some time that they are the winner, but they pretend to be astonished and are raised to their feet and away up to the platform while feigning some resistance, escorted by Druids. The audience rises to its feet and the bard is enthroned upon his Bardic chair.
Winning the chair or the crown competitions, particularly at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, grants even previously unknown poets and writers enormous publicity and prestige. The winner of the bardic chair and crown at the National Eisteddfod both receive the lifelong title (). For the same poet to win both the chair and the crown at the same eisteddfod is unusual, but Alan Llwyd and Donald Evans have both succeeded in doing so twice.
The has been awarded at the National Eisteddfod since 1937 and has progressively grown in importance, "but still trails far in the wake of the Chairing and Crowning. The poet is not to be upstaged by novelist, short-story writer, autobiographer, biographer, or what have you. All attempts to transfer the Crown from poetry to prose have been forestalled, the poets rallying to the defense of what is 'rightfully' theirs with the cry of, 'What we have, we hold.'"
At the National Eisteddfod, a Gold Medal () is awarded annually in three categories; Fine Art, Architecture, and Craft and Design. Furthermore, the National Eisteddfod's open exhibition of art and craft, () is one of the highlights of the calendar for Welsh artists.
History Welsh bardic tradition According to Jan Morris, "Welsh creativity is unusually disciplined, for since the earliest times the Welsh artistic tradition has been governed by codes and conventions – perhaps since the Druids, relying as they did entirely upon their memories, drew up rules of composition to make it easier for themselves. In the Wales of the Independence the Bards and Harpers were institutionalised, with their own allotted places in society, their established functions to perform. They regarded poetry and music as professions, for the practice of which one must qualify, like a lawyer or a doctor. There were agreed measurements of value for a work of art, and the subjects of poetry were formalized, consisting at least until the fourteenth century mainly of eulogies and elegies. Musicians were restricted by intricate rules of composition. Poets were governed by the Twenty-Four Strict Metres of the classical Welsh tradition. Among the the Metres still prevail."
According to Hywel Teifi Edwards, "The Eisteddfod, then, has evolved from a medieval testing-ground-cum-house of correction for professional Bards and Minstrels into a popular festival which annually highlights the literary scene with the aid of the Gorsedd. Lectures and discussions in , followed by reviews of the in a variety of publications help to encourage a deeper and more abiding interest in Welsh literature. That 'The National' acts as a means of heightening an awareness of language and literature as humanizing forces which no society can neglect with impunity is not too large a claim to make for it."
Also according to Morris, "literature is the first Welsh glory, poetry its apotheosis, and the company of poets is the nobility of this nation."
Eisteddfod origins According to Edwards, there is a legend that the first eisteddfod took place at the royal behest of Maelgwn Gwynedd at Conwy during the 6th century. It was Maelgwn's wish that the assembled bards and minstrels would compete against each other. First, however, Maelgwn decreed that they must all swim the River Conwy first and that the minstrels must do so carrying the harps on their backs. For this reason, the bards, whom Maelgwn favoured, ended up winning the contest.
According to legend, Gruffudd ap Cynan (1055–1137), the Dublin-born King of Gwynedd from the House of Aberffraw and the descendant of Rhodri Mawr, Sigtrygg Silkbeard, and Brian Boru, not only reformed the Welsh bardic schools to accord with those that trained the Irish language bards, but also served as patron to an eisteddfod at Caerwys during his reign.
1176 Cardigan eisteddfod
The first documented 'eisteddfod' was hosted by Rhys ap Gruffydd, the grandson of Gruffudd ap Cynan through the maternal line and monarch of Deheubarth through his paternal descent from the House of Dinefwr, at Cardigan Castle on Christmas Day, 1176. According to Hywel Teifi Edwards, what few details are recorded of the event in the , "encourage the view that it could not have been the first of its kind."
Rhys awarded two chairs as prizes, one for the winner of the poetry competition and the other for music. The bardic chair went to a poet from Gwynedd, while the musical chair went to the son of Eilon the Crythwr, a member of Rhys's court. Armchairs were a valuable asset, normally reserved for people of high status.
In 2007, Welsh historian Roger Turvey, writing of Dinefwr Castle, suggested that The Lord Rhys's idea for a competitive festival of music and poetry at Cardigan Castle may have been inspired by similar contests in other parts of Catholic Europe. The Lord Rhys, Turvey suggested, may have learned about the Puy tradition from the Cambro-Normans in the Welsh Marches or from Welsh mercenary soldiers returning from France.
In those other countries, aspiring poets were trained through apprenticeship to master craftsmen or by attending schools run by poets' guilds such as the Puy of France, the Meistersingers of the Holy Roman Empire, or the Rederijkerskamers of the Netherlands, all of which also organized eisteddfod-like contests between poets on patronal feast days of the Roman Catholic liturgical year.
Medieval Wales