mad norm wrote: November 17th, 2022, 10:29 am
Kairdiff Exile wrote: November 17th, 2022, 10:04 am
The
social media reaction has been overwhelmingly, almost universally, positive. Particularly interesting to see so many fans who aren't Welsh speakers pledging to learn the words before Saturday to make it a real occasion. Wonderful to see.
"Llifed dagrau'r gwangalon;
A llyfed y taeog y llawr.
Er dued yw'r fagddu o'n cwmpas,
Ry'n ni'n barod am doriad y wawr!"
"Let the faint-hearted keep on wailing;
Let the serfs all grovel and fawn.
In spite of the darkness around us,
We're ready to greet a new dawn."
"Serfs all grovel and fawn"
Bloody hell! This is 2022 f.f.s.
If I do make it to Rodney Parade I'll do a banner ...."I'm not a serf"
Norm, point of clarity needed here. Yma o Hyd is not an anti English song. It is a song in defence of the Welsh language. You have to understand part of the history of the language to understand the problem.
Not so very long ago lots of teachers in Wales wanted to teach in English only. There was a policy (not government led) called Welsh not (knot) where if as a kid you spoke Welsh in class, you had a piece of wood hung around your neck for a day to punish you. This is in your own country. It was a feeble attempt to get everyone speaking English. Thank f*** it failed.
Fast forward over a hundred years. Welsh language promoters went to Prison to try and get Welsh recognised as an official language in their own country. Thank goodness they succeeded. It wasn’t so very long ago. Yma o hyd was written by Dafydd Iwan at around this time in defence of the language.
All I am saying Norm is get the translation in English and try and understand the context in which it was written.