We’ve just had some really exciting news - Elly has won the Bardic Chair! 

Our Elly wins Y Gadair, the Bardic Chair!

The original bards were from Iron Age poets-mystics who kept the lore and history of their tribes, held high status and fulfilled an important cultural role. They were closely akin to the Druids; it’s believed that when occupying Romans destroyed or drove the Druids underground, their knowledge and rites were passed on to the Bardic Order.

The bardic tradition today is kept alive through the Eisteddfod,  the Welsh festival of literature, music and performance that dates back at least to the 12th century.  The first Eisteddfod can be traced back to 1176, when Lord Rhy held a grand gathering, and invited poets and musicians from all over the country to his castle at Cardigan (not too far from where we live). A chair at the Lord’s table was awarded to the best poet and musician, which is why they “chair” the bard today.  

The Welsh love their music and poetry the way that Americans love football, and as soon as they’re old enough to walk and sing, children start training for the competitions. They compete first at the local level, and the winners go on to compete at higher and higher levels, culminating at the National Eisteddfod. 

The National Eisteddfod is like the American Superbowl - they erect the equivalent of a small town each year especially for the purpose of housing the massive competition, and contestants come from all over the country to sing, recite and play instruments. It’s televised, and everyone follows it closely…hotel rooms are sold out for miles around, and hordes of people descend on the site.

The competition that Elly won with her original poem is one step before the National, so she’ll go now to compete against other poets from all over the country! And it’s not the first time for her, either - she won one in primary school as well…

The ceremony of chairing the Bard is very old, and very beautiful. First, judges read the comments on the winning poem and the poem itself, although no one yet knows who the the author was. All the poems were submitted under bardic names - Elly’s was “Batman.” 

Then the judges said, “Will Batman, and Batman alone, stand up.”

There was a long moment of silence as everyone wondered who Batman was. Then Elly stood up, and everyone screamed! (Ceris smuggled in a camera, and took these photos - outsiders weren’t allowed.)

"Batman" stands up

Then the Bard is met and dressed in a ceremonial, floor-length cloak by chosen friends, who led her up to the stage, where the great wooden chair was waiting…

She was seated on the chair, and they did a traditional dance in her honor, sang songs for her, and recited poems in her honor! Imagine, we’ve got to try to get her to do dishes after all that…

Elly's friends put on her floor-length ceremonial cloak

A sword was held over her head, and pulled out of its sheath. Three times they pulled out the sword, and each time asked the question, “A oes heddwch?” (Is there peace?)

And when the crowd shouted back, “Heddwch!” (Peace!) they re-sheathed the sword. 

This comes, as closely as I can figure, from a gathering of druids in 1772 when the chief Druid, Iolo Morgannwg, called on the goddess of liberty to bring an end to slavery. (The Welsh were, of course, horribly oppressed by the English throughout their history.) Morgannwg laid a bare sword on the altar stones and the bards sheathed it.

The sword is sheathed over Elly's head

Then they gave her a trophy, shaped like the bardic chair, with the date engraved on it. She gets to keep the trophy forever, although she only retains her position as Bard for a year and a day, when the next Bard will be chosen. National Eistedfodd, here we come…