Happy Saint David's Day

[oldfrat]

Especially to those of you with some Welsh blood in you!

St. David's is not as well known as St. Patrick's. I think this is because the Welsh tend to spend it going to a church to sing with others, while our Celtic cousins tend to spend it going to a bar and drinking and singing with other intoxicated people.

To celebrate, turn your speakers on and listen to this rendition of "Land of My Fathers". AKA "Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", the Welsh national anthem. It is a truly stirring song that I learned from my grandmother while still a child. She was born in Wales, came here as a young child, but lived in a home where Welsh was the first language.

Note the spelling in the sub-titles as you listen. Welsh people clearly have to be very smart or they never can read the road signs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kUnC...eature=related

[LadyFisher]

New to me and very nice! Thanks so much for posting it.

[fishdog54]

oldfrat,

My human anatomy professor was from Wales, and would put various Welch, place names etc. up on the board, just to blow our minds! My head hurt just looking at them, let alone pronouncing them! After a while I started thinking that Chinese would be waaay easier to learn! LOL!!! I'm still fascinated by the language though!

Best regards, Dave S.

[oldfrat]

Many years ago, my bride and I rented a car at Heathrow and spent about a week driving around Wales. It is a very small and often quite beautiful country and many parts of it seemed to have a far larger population of sheep than of humans. Since we were driving a car with English license plates and dressed as we normally would, we found that the natives typically were quite reserved when we first met them --suspecting we were English. When we talked with them and they realized we were Americans, they warmed up quite a bit. When I explained that I was there to tour the country where my grandparents were born, they became incredibly hospitable. I was actually invited inside to tour the homes where both my Williams grandparents were born. That was an incredible experience!

Prior to that, I had a co-worker named Powell who told me he was going to celebrate his Irish ancestry on St. Patrick's day. I told him that Powell was actually a Welsh name. Most names that start with a P are Welsh names. In the old days, the Welsh used Ap followed by their father's first name to name the child. Powell was an English spelling of the Welsh name Ap Hywell. I met him again a few weeks later and he had asked his oldest living relative about this. "Darn you, Morgan, he said. I'll never be able to enjoy St. Patrick's day as much again!"

The Welsh are quite proud of their singing. I'm about 3/4 Welsh and 1/4 Dutch. No offense to the Dutch, but I wish I could sing like a Welshman.

And, while educating you all on this, please be aware that the term "welshing on a bet" is an English slur and we take it about as kindly as others do the N word.