Day One of Celtic Studies

The first day of our Celtic Studies short course at Glyndwr University was packed. Before I talk a little about our day, though, I want to give you some brief information about recent events at Glyndwr.

The institution only recently became a university after England approved that status. Before that, it was called the Northeast Wales Institute (NEWI). Signs for the univeristy are a mix between the old and new names. This recent status upgrade might not seem that important, but to the Welsh people, it is vital. It parallels the attempts of the Welsh to gain greater prestige and autonomy, which many of the people feel have been taken from them by the English. Similarly to the university's recent upgrade, the town of Wrexham, where we are situated, is also applying for an upgrade to city status. The Welsh are becoming increasingly proud of their own institutions and towns, and especially of their own language, which had been specifically suppressed by the English in the past. I'll leave that for Elizabeth to discuss, though.

Now, here is a little about our first day of classes proper here. Besides an introductory and welcome session, our group listened to three lectures about the origin of the Celts, the Celtic languages and medieval Wales.

The first class basically discussed the Celtic peoples throughout their history; although they were the dominant people in continental Europe before the Roman empire, the spread of Greece and especially Rome pushed them to the fringes of Europe, making most of them insular Celts on the islands of Britain and Ireland. Even after the Romans left the Celtic lands, the Celts continued to move to the edge of society; Germanic or Saxon invaders pushed them to the furthest corners of the Celtic islands, to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. It is clear, then, that the Celtic race, which the Romans thought "barbaric," was once powerful in Europe; they were also quite advanced, as is seen in decorative archaeological finds.

The second class then moved to discuss the languages of the Celts, which proved very interesting to me, as a student of English. In fact, many of the subjects covered were similar to those that I would expect from Maryville College's history of the English language course. Our teacher for that session discussed how the Celtic languages, which evolved from Indo-European, sub-divided into continental and insular languages and then further sub-divided into Goidelic and Brythonic languages. Welsh is a Brythonic language, and unlike many of the other Celtic languages, it remains living and in use today.

Finally, our last session for the day covered the history of the Welsh desire for a figure called the "Son of Destiny," who, after the many Welsh kings failed to unify Wales and England as a Brythonic country, would finally come to unify both the Welsh and all of the Britons. This partially legendary figure represents a hope for the Welsh that has persisted for generations, but has not truly been realized; for most of Wales' history, the Welsh people have been subjugated by the English.

After our class sessions, we ate dinner at a local pub before venturing to a primary school (which, as a testament to the strength of the Welsh language, teaches its students only in Welsh) to hear a women's choir sing. They brought us tea and Welsh cakes while they sang traditional Welsh folksongs and invited us to sing some American songs and Welsh children's tunes. This provided the perfect finish to a very educational yet tiring day, as we were able to experience some of the Welsh culture firsthand.



Clearly, our group has been busy at work even in the first two days of our trip! We are trying to get everything we can from the people and culture of Wales; it is a beautiful and precious place, something that needs appreciation, especially because it is hard to say when we will be able to return.