*Ø* Blogmanac | Eisteddfod thrives as 18,000 visit festival
More than 18,000 people visited the Welsh National Eisteddfod field at Meifod, near Welshpool, on opening day on Saturday. Following a massive financial loss of more than £300,000 over the past two years, organisers were delighted with the turn-out. Attendance was well above expectation and 4,000 up on last year's event at Tyddewi.
Source
The National Eisteddfod is a Welsh-language festival which lasts for eight days at the beginning of August every year. Normally, it attracts a total of over 170,000 visitors and some 8,000 competitors and costs approximately $4m. It is, in fact, the largest popular festival of competitive music-making (including composition) and poetry and prose-writing in Europe. For thousands of Welsh people it is also a compelling and convivial gathering of the clans, many people regarding it as their annual holiday.
Actor Ioan Gruffudd returned to his homeland to join one of Wales' most elite cultural groups at the festival. The 29-year-old star of "Hornblower" and "Great Expectations" was made a member of the Gorsedd of Bards, the 'guardians' of Welsh language and culture.
Invitations to join the Gorsedd - which literally means "high seat" - are given to figures who have made a distinguished contribution to Welsh language and culture. The Welsh-speaking Hollywood celebrity, once voted the world's third most eligible bachelor, wore traditional white robes for the ceremony. He received the honour in an early morning open-air service at the Gorsedd Circle at Meifod.
Other members of the Gorsedd include the new Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, who joined last year when he was Archbishop of Wales.
The festival will continue until 9 August.
Source
BBC Wales Eisteddfod links page
More than 18,000 people visited the Welsh National Eisteddfod field at Meifod, near Welshpool, on opening day on Saturday. Following a massive financial loss of more than £300,000 over the past two years, organisers were delighted with the turn-out. Attendance was well above expectation and 4,000 up on last year's event at Tyddewi.
Source
The National Eisteddfod is a Welsh-language festival which lasts for eight days at the beginning of August every year. Normally, it attracts a total of over 170,000 visitors and some 8,000 competitors and costs approximately $4m. It is, in fact, the largest popular festival of competitive music-making (including composition) and poetry and prose-writing in Europe. For thousands of Welsh people it is also a compelling and convivial gathering of the clans, many people regarding it as their annual holiday.
Actor Ioan Gruffudd returned to his homeland to join one of Wales' most elite cultural groups at the festival. The 29-year-old star of "Hornblower" and "Great Expectations" was made a member of the Gorsedd of Bards, the 'guardians' of Welsh language and culture.
Invitations to join the Gorsedd - which literally means "high seat" - are given to figures who have made a distinguished contribution to Welsh language and culture. The Welsh-speaking Hollywood celebrity, once voted the world's third most eligible bachelor, wore traditional white robes for the ceremony. He received the honour in an early morning open-air service at the Gorsedd Circle at Meifod.
Other members of the Gorsedd include the new Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, who joined last year when he was Archbishop of Wales.
The festival will continue until 9 August.
Source
BBC Wales Eisteddfod links page
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