Eisteddfod Chair

For several years now I have had the honour to be commissioned to make a chair for a local Eisteddfod. This is the first of the miniature chairs I made and the wood chosen was Elm.

An eisteddfod is a cultural festival, a celebration of the arts and with competitions in all sorts of arts from poetry, literature, music, dance, performance… The original eisteddfod happened in 1176 in Cardigan only a few miles from me. It was held by Lord Rhys of Deheubarth at his castle. Major work has been happening there for a few years now, both archaeological and restorative, since Cardigan castle came into public ownership. (There is also a shop there which includes a selection of my work on display.)

The National Eisteddfod is a very important cultural event for many people. There are fields and fields of caravans and acres and acres of tents of people staying for the week. All the local bus companies organise buses for the important days such as the Crowning and the Chairing ceremonies. The Maes (literally field), which is where the main pavilion is situated, also has representatives of all the major organisations in Wales, major businesses, charities, individual shops, organisations, anyone really who can afford it and wants to show a presence has a stall so it amounts to hundreds. The main pavilion is a very large marquee but there are smaller marquees for various other activities such as arts and crafts, the Welsh learners’ tent, technology, drama, one where the people compose poetry all week long. There is more than one “maes” too. There is one that appeals more to younger people which has bands and musicians. In the evenings there are plays and concerts. The main pavilion is where the main competing happens and include reciting, singing, playing instruments, dancing, choirs, short story as well as the various poetry competitions in free verse and “cynghanedd” which is strict metre. There is plenty of other competing going on elsewhere on the “maes”, especially writing poetry and verse. This cultural week moves each year between the North and the South of the country. It is the largest cultural festival in Europe and I think the largest in the world that moves from year to year. There are many who go who never go into the main pavilion and many who spend most of their time there. It is a chance to meet up with friends one only sees once a year. People will remember the year according to where the Eisteddfod was held or the particular Eisteddfod according to the weather.  It is many things to many people. There are people who come from all over the world. There are thousands of competitors and 150,000 or more visitors over the week. All the competitions are in Welsh and the main language heard throughout the National Eisteddfod is Welsh though obviously many non-welsh speakers also come and are very welcomed.

The giving of an Eisteddfod chair to a poet or bard is a tradition going back a long way. Lord Rhys gave a chair at the Lord’s table at his Eisteddfod. The ‘Chairing of the Bard’ at the National Eisteddfod is the highlight of the Eisteddfod and the literary highlight of the year within the Welsh language culture.

There are smaller Eisteddfodau (plural) held all over the country, for example in schools, chapels, villages and many societies, and indeed in other countries where there is a large Welsh presence such as USA, Australia and Patagonia in Argentina.”

The wikipedia entries for eisteddfodau are well worth reading for more information about these wonderful cultural events.