As an American whose first colonial ancestors sailed to Virginia from Wales over 400 years ago, bringing my surname and establishing my American patrimony, I’ve come to appreciate the small but tough – and darkly beautiful – country of Wales.
Against all odds, the Welsh have withstood the onslaughts of the Roman, Saxon, Gael, Viking and Norman over the centuries, and kept their culture and language despite being right next to the center of the British Empire.
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! (Happy St. David’s Day)
The Welsh, being a musical people, like to celebrate their national holiday with song, so here’s a patriotic Welsh song performed by a Welsh men’s choir:
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Daniel Clarke, my great ancestor arrived in North America in 1631 at age 16–by himself.
Thank you for uploading this – I wasn’t acquainted with any Welsh music until now. There’s nothing like choral singing to get you high. Great melody – but I think it would have been more beautiful if it had ended on a minor chord (giving away my Mediterranean heritage).
Yes good fighters and singers. But Gaels of Ireland converted the Saxons and much of Europe as well. The Welsh hated the Saxons too much to try and convert them. People, including my Father who were there, say that the xenophobia of the Welsh continues. I approve since that is how Nations survive. Sir Arthur Keith’s Law of Amity and Enmity: Amity for your own and Enmity for the other. This is the mainstay of Nations.
But are the Welsh resisting the onslaught of Third Worlders or are succumbing like everyone else?
My earliest American ancestors — Smith — arrived in Virginia as endentured servants in 1690. They were brothers, who believed a recruiter’s fraudulent sales pitch about the new world. History would repeat itself with me and my brother. But I’d hate to get into a white slavery diatribe.
Point being, they were Welsh. All the way back, even the intermixed partners and marriages over time were predominately Welsh, with a smattering of Scotch-Irish thrown in here and there.
Interesting. It was the same with the Prices until the Civil War, when they were uprooted and headed West. Now, Welsh is only a fraction of my ancestry.
I met a Pole whos ancestor fled from France and went to Poland in the 1500′s. His other ancestral tree moved from Italy to Poland in the early 1800′s. This man however, considers himself fully Polish and is extremely proud of it. I suspect that’s how it goes with other groups including those from Wales (didn’t the Vikings, Anglos, Saxons, and others not influence that area?).
I do however, understand the love of ancestral land,
Aw, your lot left before all the fun started!
Especially from 07:00-08:30.
Iechyd da!
Bill, the three generations prior to my mom’s were all pretty hardcore Mormom. My mom didn’t want any part of that, so I was spared growing up in the church. But when my great Uncle Elmer (seriously) passed away in 2003, I inherited about a dozen boxes of very meticulously kept genealogy records. Draft records, marriages, etc. Fascinating stuff.
Amazingly, my former boss happened to have a genealogy book some woman in my family had put together documenting the history of the descendants of John Price, who sailed from Wales to Jamestown in 1609/1610. I knew it was the same family because it featured 19th century figures I was related to, such as Confederate and Mexican War general Sterling Price (my great grandfather was named John Sterling Price — family name apparently). My branch of the family, as far as I can gather, headed west to Missouri very early, and made a decisive break with the South following the Civil War, ending up in Virginia City Nevada — just like Mark Twain. I think a lot of Missourians must have ended up in the Southwest, and mountain West in general. The accent in the SW in particular has a clear hint of Missouri influence.
BTW, there are some Mormons in my family, too. They must have been living in Utah and converted, I’d guess. I’ve never met them, but my dad told me about them years ago. Thanks to an Irish great grandmother (and the strong presence of the Catholic Church in the southwest) I ended up Catholic, although I’d guess the Prices were originally Church in Wales (Welsh Episcopalians).
Only a quick visit Mr Price. I trust all is well.
A belated happy Taffys day to you.
Land of my Fathers ( with lyrics )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTWtHJmGoHY
David is my first Christian name, so I’m familiar with St. David even though I’m not Welsh. My first ancestor in North America came to Quebec 10 generations ago. I traveled through Quebec with my mother and great-aunt several years ago, tracing the family tree back to the first one to come across on a ship. Obviously there were no white women for a lower class military man to marry in the colony, so my ancestor must have found a local Indian woman to help keep warm through the long winters.
This is really cool. Do you have more links to the same kind of music (same type of voices, same counterpoint and melodic qualities, etc)? If so, would love to see them.
I dunno, the Music is welsh? It seems to have strong eastern european overtones. Not quite as bad as, say, russian, but a strange mixing of almost polish and an undertone of almost honky-tonk-nordic stripping out the germanic feel.
Is this an old or new song? If it’s old, I have to wonder about the nordic tones in it instead of a more scots gaelic undertone.