Blog 2 of 3: The Welsh Not: How to Kill a Culture with Words

Welsh Language

On our way to celebrate my Aunt’s life, we drove from England to Wales. As soon as my Dad and I crossed the border, I noticed that the road signs had Welsh place names first, followed by the English. This is a relatively recent change thanks to the Welsh Language Act of 1993 (7) and the Welsh-first regulations of 2016. (8) As in Wales, signage in the modern Y Wladfa towns uses Welsh as well as Spanish and children are taught Welsh in schools. My Mum was born and grew up in Wales on a farm without electricity or running water near Bannau Brycheiniog. In 2023, the well-known Brecon Beacons National Park rebranded solely to its Welsh name Bannau Brycheiniog. (9) Though only 28% of Welsh people speak the language (10), Welsh and Welsh-first are a declaration of national pride. Welsh is one of the oldest languages in Europe. 

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The Welsh language evolved from Brythonic or Common Brittonic, a Celtic language spoken by the Ancient Britons beginning sometime between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. (11)

St Cadfan’s church in Tywyn, North Wales, houses a gravestone with possibly the oldest example of written Welsh, thought to be from 700 AD (image, 12) and there is much Medieval Welsh poetry attributed to the bards Taleisin and Aneirin. (13)

St Cadfan's Stone (12)

With such a longstanding and distinct language, it is easy to understand the interest in preserving it. The Welsh folkloric volume The Mabinogi or Mabinogion is thought to be a later 12th century compilation of oral tales and it is where much of the Arthurian legend is told. Welsh, then, cannot be uncoupled from Wales and it was important for the language and the history of the language to be a part of Y Wladfa without being lost several generations in. The preservation of the language was well-placed after a history of repression and colonialism. In 1535, King Henry VIII passed a law ensuring that English law and English language in respect of the law were to be imposed on the Welsh. (Image, 14) 

The Laws in Wales Act (14)

​​This was only repealed in 1993 with the Welsh Language Act. (15) Although Welsh was not actually banned (as popularly believed) by the Blue Book in 1847, the ‘Welsh Not’ was used in many schools. Children heard speaking Welsh would be forced to wear this wooden sign and the last child wearing it at the end of the day would be beaten. (16) It is somewhat of a triumph then, that the Welsh settlers were able to hold onto their language without English influence. A perhaps unforeseen upside was that the indigenous Tehuelche also learned some Welsh in the early years of the migration, including the word ‘bara’ meaning bread which they loved to trade for meat.

...many of the Tehuelche learned some Welsh and there is record of their descendants competing in the annual Eisteddfod in Trelew. (17)

Without English interference, Welsh life in Patagonia continued in the Welsh language as evidenced by diaries, record-keeping and letters from Y Wladfa. (18) However, it was not just in Wales that the Welsh language was threatened. The Buenos Aires government put policies in place in the early nineteenth century that put Welsh culture at risk. (19) Language of course is not an unchanging thing. In Y Wladfa, Spanish has influenced the Welsh language and there is now a distinct dialect called 'Patagonian Welsh'. Language expert and grandson of two early settlers, Dr Walter Ariel Brooks describes some examples: 

When you are invited to enter a Welsh speaker’s house in Patagonia, you may be greeted with ‘Pasiwch i mewn’ (‘Pass in’, which comes from the Spanish ‘Pase’) instead of the usual ‘Dewch i mewn’ (literally ‘Come in’) from Wales.

The phrase for speaking with someone on the phone is not the usual ‘Siarad ar y ffôn’ you would expect in Wales but ‘Siarad dros y ffôn’ (from the Spanish ‘Hablar por teléfono’). (20)

Song and Dance

​The Welsh National Anthem was adapted for use in Y Wladfa, keeping the tune and changing the lyrics. The first verse translates as follows:
​
'The land of Patagonia is dear unto me
A new Welsh country, kind is she
True freedom we’ll breathe in this country,
From the reach of oppression and treason, 
​
Land, land, I am true to my land.
While the sun is in the heavens above our land,
O, may the Wladfa endure.' (Image, 21)

Mhara Starling, during her talk at Witchfest 2023, discussed how much of the culture of Wales is carried in the language. To be able to read the oldest poetry and stories of the Mabinogi/on in their original language creates a new level of understanding. I attend a beginners’ Welsh class every Tuesday night and the tutor is keen to show us videos about Welsh culture at the end as part of each class. The following video depicts a Welsh lesson at Trevelin School in Patagonia where the children dance and sing in Welsh:

(7) Gareth, Label Source, https://www.labelsource.co.uk/news/post/why-are-signs-bilingual-in-wales-a-history-of-welsh-signs. ​
(8) Road Safety GB, https://roadsafetygb.org.uk/news/n-a-4985/.
(9) Nicola Bryan, “Brecon Beacons: Bannau Brycheiniog rebrand shows why names matter.” BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65310952
(10) Ceryn Evans, “10 Fascinating Welsh Language Facts.” Twinkl.  Accessed 10 December 2024, https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/10-fascinating-welsh-language-facts.
(11) Jessica Brain, “The Welsh Language,” Historic UK, Accessed 30 December 2024 https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/Welsh-Language/.
(12) Peter Boyle, Megalithic https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=16834 
(13) Evans, Twinkl.
​(14) UK Parliament, Parliamentary Archives. http://digitalarchive.parliament.uk/HL/PO/PU/1/1535/27H8n24.
​(15) Welsh Language Act 1993. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1993/38/contents.
(16) Twm Owen. “Was it illegal to speak Welsh in schools - history of the Welsh Not.” South Wales Argus. https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/23203614.illegal-speak-welsh-schools---history-welsh-not/.
(17) Author unknown, People’s Collection Wales.
(18) Brooks, Walter Ariel. “The Welsh language in Patagonia: a brief history.” British Council. https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/welsh-language-in-patagonia-and-wales. 
(19) Lublin, Geraldine. Memoir and Identity in Welsh Patagonia: Voices from a Settler Community in Argentina. (1st ed. University of Wales Press, 2017), https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.14491693.
(20) Brooks, The Welsh Language.
(21) FelinFach, Welsh National Anthem, Accessed 2 January 2024 https://www.felinfach.com/pages/welsh-national-anthem-wales-national-anthem